A Moment In Time
When I was a kid, I heard my dad tell someone on the phone that he hated me for ruining his life. My parents had me when they were 19. Growing up, I realized that my dad was only nice to me when I would do well playing sports. I ended up being very good at lacrosse, even having a scholarship lined up. And then it was all ruined in one instant.
In my grade 12 year, I took a cheap shot during a game that resulted in three breaks in my shoulder and a severed tendon. After surgery it didn’t heal right and I lost my scholarship, my dad stopped speaking to me, most of my friends stopped talking to me, and my girlfriend told me that I wasn’t worth her time anymore. I tried to deal with it for a few years. Then I hit a breaking point.
On my 20th birthday I went up to the roof of the building I worked at to jump. Right before I got to the edge a friend of mine called me and asked if I wanted to go out for a drink.
She saved my life, and she doesn’t even know it. I’ve never worked up the nerve to tell anyone I was going to jump, or to tell her what she did for me.