Do I Get Nine?

I was lying in bed last night thinking about how I don't think I've ever been happier. It seems like, lately, my life has just been getting better every day. While I was thinking about how much I love my life, my thoughts shifted south...like 6-feet-under-south. My flight of ideas went from looking back to how I got to where I am today...to thinking about the many memorable experiences I’ve had...to thinking about how virtually miraculous it is that I actually made it 26 years without dying. Here are a few instances where I escaped the Grim Reaper, and the causes for my insomnia last night:

• Falling out of a tree from 35 feet at age 9. Cause of Death= broken neck.
• In the most dilapidated shack-of-a-bar in the middle of Belize, for some reason I drank a pina colada (think: dirty glass, crusty blender, warm milk) when I very easily could have had a bottle of beer (sealed, sanitary, cold). Cause of Death= nice tall glass of botulism.
• My senior high school spring break in Myrtle Beach. Ericka, Sarah, and I hung out with some unbelievably shady characters....including a hillbilly named “C.L.” (for Country Lewis). Cause of Death= Chopped up into little bits behind a doublewide.
• Swimming at 2:00am in the pitch dark Atlantic Ocean. Cause of Death= Swallowed by a shark.
• Basically every late night in Europe when we left the bars and tried to find the way back to our hostel. Cause of Death= Mugging, (although we were always more concerned with starvation at that point).
• I was bitten by a Brown Recluse spider when I was 10. Cause of Death= severe necrosis progressing to renal failure.
• Riding in the back of our neighbor's pickup truck going 70mph down the Interstate. Cause of Death= Wreck, fall out, flip, truck tire, ...etc
• Camping in Yellowstone and forgetting about the crackers in my backpack...which was in my tent. Cause of Death= Mauled by Grizzly.
• Blow drying my hair recently. Cause of Death= electrocution from the sparks shooting at my freaking face.
• I fell asleep after that last one.

I consider myself a relatively careful, risk-averting, street-smart gal, but I don’t think I had ever really thought about how lucky I am to have my life, let alone actually enjoy it.