Rose like a Phoenix

Being in the parachute regiment, I once almost died. Having flown countless of times,jumping from the plane wasn’t new to me. This one fine day,as I jump from the plane, I realise my parachute failed to open. As I fall a multifold of feet downwards,and the gravity pulls me deeper into its arms; something clicks in my brain and I use all my might to shoot open the spare emergency parachute. Too late it was I guess,since I found myself inches away from the ground;miraculously found unconscious in a heap of cud kept for cows. Sounds filmy,but it happened anyway,what unfolded next was months of being in a coma,learning how to walk and talk again and a near death experience. A life I often narrate to my children like a phoenix that rose from the ashes. And before you ask,yes that didn’t stop me. And thankfully it never happened again. Now it’s been decades since I retired,but the memories I hold on to remind me how precious life is! Never back down. Never let death show you the upper thumb. Betray it. Kill the fear. And that’s the will power of being human.