Tis the Season to be Grateful – Postcard from Prague

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but in some cases the picture cannot tell the whole story.

This particular one was taken during our one day exploration of the lovely city of Prague en route to Switzerland. We had just met up with my mom who was flying in from a different city and together had grand plans for our 24 hours in Prague: big breakfast followed by a guided walking tour of the old town, lunch at a quaint cafe, Prague Castle, the Cathedral and whatever else we could manage to squeeze in.

Except most of it wasn’t meant to be. Just 10 minutes after we set out from our hotel, my mom tripped going down a steep set of concrete steps not unlike the one in the picture. In that split second, all plans went out the window.

In my mind’s eye I can still picture it all happening in slow motion, the two of us rushing after Jimmy, a sense of urgency not to be late driving our pace, the crowd of people descending on the subway entrance in tandem…a tiny voice urging me to grab onto my mom’s arm as she rushed forward beside me. And then, not thirty seconds later, her foot missing the next step and the weight of her body sharply pulling down on my left elbow, drawing me forward momentarily before I pulled her back.

A split second, that’s all it takes for plans to change.

My mom ended up with a swollen ankle and a ride back to the hotel. I cannot even begin to tell you how grateful we were to be blessed with such an outcome. Given the steepness of the steps and her rate of descending, a broken leg and a visit to the ER would have been highly probable – and before our epic Swiss Tour had even started no less.

It was an example of a beautiful blessing in disguise, a jolting reminder to be vigilant, of both our steps as well as our words, to treasure each other and our health as we launched into our travels.