By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

Clearly, life is what happens to each of us while we're busy making other plans.  As a child, I never expected to experience my mother's illness, or my father's financial challenges before health insurance.  But the two of them are my only heroes in Life, and my inspiration today.[2]

I would be remiss if I failed to mention a wonderful Iowa "farm girl" named Annette Greer.  She came to live with us in Westwood, near the UCLA campus in Los Angeles, after her husband died suddenly of a heart attack on a hunting trip.  She was looking for a home and a family; and she became a "second mother" to me.

Our family unit was a miracle, which I will always cherish; and I have written about it before.[3]  One of the downsides of life is that we do not expect our loved ones to die—and that includes our animals.[4]  If I have any regrets, they are that I didn't shower all three with money, gifts, and nice trips, although we did some of that.

A miracle too was that in high school, I worked for a drug store at Sunset and Barrington in Brentwood; and routinely I made deliveries in the owner's new small English Hillman Minx convertible.  One night I had just made a delivery at the fabled Bel Air Hotel; and I was coming down Stone Canyon toward Sunset Boulevard.  I had stopped at a stop sign, when all of a sudden another car plowed into the back of mine.

It forced me across the road; and my little car rolled over in an ivy-covered drainage ditch, and landed upright.  I held onto the steering wheel for dear life; and this was before the advent of seat belts.  I got out of the car and walked up to the road, where other cars had stopped; and I remember someone saying that the person in the car must be dead.  But I wasn't, which was a miracle.[5]

Next, I was hiking with friends in the mountains; and we had taken separate routes to the top.  I chose to climb up among large boulders.  At one point, my footing was precarious at best; and had I fallen, I might have been killed.  Fortunately, my footing held, just barely, and I reached the top.  I hiked the Grand Canyon too, reaching the Phantom Ranch on the river below where we stayed overnight.  One of my hiking partners had a panic attack and had to be helped down.  Someone might have died on that hike too.

Survey your own life experiences, and surely you will find forks in the road that changed your life forever.  An accident avoided?  An illness cured?  A relationship that began a new saga in your life?  Sometimes we need a miracle or two to get us over humps in the road, or to jumpstart our lives.  Or to give us hope once again, and the will to go on, especially after the loss of someone or a beloved animal.

Never forget that miracles come from God.  Perhaps "Footprints in the Sand" says it best:

One night I had a dream...
I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord, and Across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; One belonged to me, and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of my life flashed before us, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that many times along the path of my life, There was only one set of footprints.

I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in my life This really bothered me, and I questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, You would walk with me all the way; But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, There is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why in times when I needed you the most, you should leave me.

The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child. I love you, and I would never, never leave you during your times of trial and suffering. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you."[6]

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© 2025, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/   He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at The Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service).  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2024/05/12/legacy/ ("Legacy")

[3]   See, e.g., supra n.2.

[4]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2024/01/23/the-wonder-dog-is-dead-and-part-of-me-died-with-her/ ("The Wonder Dog Is Dead, And Part of Me Died With Her")

[5]  The driver was a visiting golf professional at the Bel Air Country Club, who turned himself in to law enforcement the next day.  His explanation was that he thought he had "hit something."

[6]  There is a continuing dispute over who wrote this.  See, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footprints_(poem) ("Footprints (poem)")