Your Wow Moment

[mythusmage]

What moment in your life made you utter a sincere, "Cool."

Mine was in March of 2005 when I had my stroke. As I'm waiting for the paramedics I couldn't do a damn thing with my right side. Wouldn't even twitch.

They get me to emergency. I get assessed and get to swallow a bunch of pills. By the time they get me upstairs, where I'll be observed and wait for an MRI to see where the blockage occured, I'm pretty much back to normal. A mostly full recovery. Back in 2000 it would've been a major stroke, and I'd be in rehab. Thanks to a small pill it's a minor transient ischemic event, and I'm pretty much over it. If that aint a wow moment, your standards are a little too strict.

So what was your wow moment?

 

[Fieari]

Einstein once said, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

I would hold to the latter, of course. And yes, a pill to stop a stroke like that is awesome.

 

[paradox42]

I agree with Fieari, FWIW. Minor miracles happen every day if you keep an eye out for them. Just this morning, for example, I was on my way home from work (third-shift job), in the first snowstorm of the season for us here in Chicagoland- when, in the middle of a particularly dense zone of snowfall, the clouds above suddenly thinned enough that for about 1/2 a mile actual sunlight- about two-thirds full strength- was shining down on the area, with the large clouds of snowflakes still falling all around. Simultaneous sunshine and snowfall is a pretty rare combination in my experience, and it did provoke a "wow reaction" from me as I was driving.

Pills to stop strokes are great, yes- and on other medical fronts, have any of you heard about the new cancer treatments that work by inducing your body's immune system to attack the cancer cells as any other diseased cell? They seem to be very effective, and it makes one wonder how far off a real cure can be. Admittedly, each cancer has to be cured separately, in the sense of a traditional cure, since each one has different causes and expressions at the cellular and genetic level- but seriously, that's a huge step forward that I'll bet nobody was seriously envisioning even a decade or two ago.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Simultaneous sunshine and snowfall is a pretty rare combination in my experience, and it did provoke a "wow reaction" from me as I was driving.

Come to Syracuse some time.

I think my biggest "wow" moment by far was reaching a breakthrough regarding my issues with my therapist. It was definitely a life-changing moment, for sure. I was so shocked at not just how much it held me back and how much I had to do with it, but how over time I gradually came to it without realizing it.

I must say, being a biochemist, the medical stuff doesn't give me a "wow", but I'm certainly impressed with the progress that's been made recently. Particularly the cancer therapies - first the cervical cancer vaccine, and then the breast cancer treatment. Of course, I also know the downer side of all of this too, so maybe that tempers it.

 

[Mycanid]

Come to Syracuse some time.

Hey, I grew up in Syracuse ... and let me tell you that this is nowhere near as bad as in the outer islands west of Scotland known as the Hebrides. Wow.

But back on topic for me it happened when I finally tracked down my biological father. A long story, but with a series of "WOW! Whoa...." experiences. I remember that I was literally trembling when I tracked him down and found his phone number.

 

[Darth Shoju]

The birth of my son was the biggest wow moment so far. A runner up came years ago at a stop-light that connected to the trans-Canada. Back in those days I had a fast car (and several speeding tickets) and loved to floor it as soon as the light turned green (accelerating=fun). For some reason, on this day, I didn't floor it when the light turned green and in fact I even hesistated for a couple seconds. Just as I was about to hit the gas a semi roared through the intersection at 110 km/h. It would have hit me on the driver's side; I'm quite certain I would have been dead. More of a "woah" moment than a "wow", but there ya go.

 

[megamania]

Mine was more about another person. Several years ago my wife was involved in a car accident. She either dented in or peeled away the sides of the car from front headlight to rear tail light on both sides going off the road through trees, telephone poles and culvert markers. She swears her deceased father helped guide the car once she crossed the road out of control.

She didn't have so much as a scratch but the car was ruined. That's not a wow but a Whoa! moment.

Though different from what you are getting at, I have a wow moment several years ago when diagnosed with cancer. I was told I would undergo chemo and radiation. This was Monday. On Wednesday the song from The Crow came on that referrs to 'Burn It Up'.

I had just stopped behind a preschool school bus when this song came on. I turned the radio WAY up and began punching the ceiling of my car. It was the exact moment I chose to fight this.

I understand why they did this but the teachers then all stared at me and pulled the kids behind them to shield them from me. Its all in the perspective.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

My biggest "Wow" moment was when my wife was walking down the aisle. Apparently everyone said that I had the biggest grin, from ear to ear, the whole time.

My biggest "Whoa" moment was when I was in a car accident. I was driving at 100km/hr (the speed limit for that section) on a straight road when another car tried to turn across the road in front of me. He took off that late that instead he hit my driver's side door. My car got airborne, spun around in the air, missed a concrete power pole, and the back of my car hit the back of another car in a sliplane.

My car was a write-off and my driver's side door was that badly damaged that you couldn't open it. I had to climb out the passenger side. Apart from minor whiplash, I was unhurt. Considering that my car supposedly had a poor safety record when it came to crashes I was extremely lucky. I do remember being surprisingly calm after the incident though. It was very strange.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Kid Socrates]

My biggest "Wow!" moment has really been a big "Wow!" three years, as I'm still just amazed and awestruck about how great my relationship is and how much my life has turned around. Three years ago I was living on a friend's couch in the living room of a too-small and too-full apartment, spending three hours commuting to mostly temp jobs in an attempt to save money and move to Overland Park, KS, to be with my girlfriend. Three years later, she and I have a place together, I'm at a job I love, my quality of life has risen dramatically, and I'm in a better financial position regarding debts from college than I've ever been. It's really amazing to be able to see and live all the hard work. And I definitely don't take it for granted.

Another "Wow!" moment that comes to mind was my first NFL game, watching my Washington Redskins narrowly lose to my second-favorite team, the Kansas City Chiefs, at Arrowhead Stadium in KC. When Chiefs RB took a screen pass and ran all the way for a touchdown, the way thousands and thousands of people leapt to their feets shouting and cheering, and you could feel the ground move a little and all you could hear was the roar of the crowd, it's awe-inspiring. I can't imagine how awesome it must be on the field, knowing they're all cheering for you.

 

[Mark Hope]

The birth of my daughter.