Unexpected Noises

We were on a road headed to a beautiful overlook on the Oregon coast in the United States of America. This area has some of the prettiest coastline views, and I love to visit anytime I am in the region. This day, as we drove, we heard a noise that seemed to indicate something might have fallen off our pickup. I asked my husband if he had left his mug of tea on the bumper, which he denied. We did not see anything unusual in our rearview mirror.

After we had parked, I began to take pictures from a variety of vantage points overlooking the ocean. We walked up a trail and enjoyed the commanding views with waves crashing on the shore below. As we returned to the parking lot, my husband noted the hubcap was missing from the rear wheel. “Ah, that was likely what we heard making the noise!” Would we be able to find and reclaim the lost hubcap? We drove back to our campsite, found a place to park, and continued the search on foot. There it was! I shouted to my husband farther up the road. It was resting against the tall grass, in the shadows, shiny side down.

Thankfully, we were traveling slowly enough that we heard the hubcap rolling away from us. Also, we had taken note of what happened and were able to go back over our tracks and retrieve the lost item. At any other time, we likely would have been unaware of the incident, traveling on a noisy freeway at high speeds, and never would have recovered it.

How aware are we of what is happening within us? To our bodies? Are they “making noises” that may indicate something is not right? Maybe there is a pain that was not there before, an unusual symptom, or something out of the ordinary? Perhaps we are traveling so fast through life that we have not taken notice of potential warning signs or have been too busy to stop? I encourage you to push the pause button and give yourself a chance to be aware.

Take stock of what is happening with your health, and take action before it is too late or your “hubcap” becomes impossible to retrieve.

Terri Lea Gibson