I was One Day from Death

If my birthday was just one day later, last year I could have died and not lived to see 2018. My birthday is on the 30th December and last year my partner organised a surprise seaplane flight for us for my birthday. It was a perfect summers day with beautiful blue skies. I had no idea what or where we were going until we drove up to the Seaplane Terminal in Rose Bay. I couldn't contain my excitement. The seaplane was taking us to a 3 course sunset dinner at the scenic Jonah’s Restaurant in Palm Beach. This experience was definitely always one on my bucket list and a perfect birthday gift, I really felt spoilt.

Before boarding the plane, we met our pilot. He introduced himself as Gareth. He wished me a happy birthday and took a photo of me and my partner in front of the plane. He was lovely, friendly and seemed kind in nature. I was a bit nervous and although I fly a lot, over the years I have developed a small fear of flying, especially during take-off. Once we were up in the air, my nervousness dissipated as I marveled at our beautiful city of Sydney. It was such a beautiful scene and in that moment, I felt so happy and grateful to be alive.

Although it was a short plane ride, no more than 20 minutes or so, I sometimes suffer from motion sickness and half way through, I started to feel a bit sick. I was now looking forward to landing and getting off the plane. We landed on water and Gareth, our pilot, helped me out of the plane. He waited with us until the boat that was taking us to shore arrived. Gareth spoke to me and asked if I was okay, as he could visibly see I wasn’t feeling too well. As I slowly started to feel better, we got talking and chatting about his job. I asked him if he loved his job, in which he replied, that although he loved it, ultimately this was not what he wanted to do forever and wanted to get into commercial flying someday soon. Essentially he told us that although he loved what he did, he was not in his dream job and was thinking of moving on soon to work somewhere else. It was a normal conversation about life and work and probably one that I would not remember today if the next 24 hours didn't unfold the way it did.

I had a lovely dinner and birthday and was on a high the next day, until I turned the TV on and there was news of a seaplane crash in Sydney. Of all my years being brought up in Sydney, I never heard of a seaplane crash. In fact, I remembered really well our pilot telling me how safe seaplanes were and there had never been a crash. Could this be the same company that we used just the day before? As the day went on, I found out not only was it the same company, but it was around the same time as we had taken our flight the day before. I was shocked. Then the final blow - it was being piloted by Gareth - our pilot from the day before. All 6 lives on board, passengers and pilot had died. I just couldn’t believe it. It didn’t seem real and I couldn’t help but think, “that could have been me, I could have died".

After I stopped thinking about myself, I started thinking of the victims who died, especially the pilot that we were just talking to the day before. Talking about his dreams and future plans – unfortunately that would never be. The big thing for me was remembering how he dreamt of his “one day” to do something else - to get his dream job, his dream life. Everything that he thought he had more time to do and get around to one day. Then I got to thinking about my "one day". I had a huge list of "one day". "One day I'll start writing, one day I'll go to a yoga retreat, one day I'll put my health first, one day I'll learn to play tennis, one day I'll be happy". Then it hit me - one day may not ever come. All we have is this current moment to change and do something now. We think we have all the time in the world, but tomorrow isn’t promised.

After the accident happened, I made a decision to live this year differently, to make my life mean something, to create meaning and live the life I have always wanted to live. It was a lightbulb moment that made me really take a look at my life and reassess things. I looked at my relationship, my health, my friendships, my life’s work and mission. It put things in perspective and really made me think about everything I was doing. I stopped doing things I no longer wanted to do and started living for me. I just started doing and no longer putting things off.

It has been almost one year to the day and as I reflect back on that tragedy, I think about the year I have had and try to imagine if this whole year didn’t exist. I wouldn’t have got engaged, I wouldn’t have gone to Europe or Hawaii, I wouldn’t have seen seven of my close friends have their children, I wouldn’t have started writing, I wouldn't have become the strongest, healthiest and fittest I've ever been, I wouldn’t have had the best year ever. Whenever I'm having a bad day, I think of the 6 people who lost their lives: Gareth Morgan aged 44, Emma Bowden, aged 48, Heather Bowden, aged 11, Richard Cousins, 58, and Edward and William Cousins, aged 23 and 25 respectively. I think about how they didn't get another day, let alone another year. So I lived this year always thinking of them and hoping I lived a life that they would be proud of. I know I am.

I'll leave you with this thought - if this was your final year, would you be happy with how you lived?

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