Has anyone ever rescued you, figuratively or literally?

I credit Dr. Zimmer, my long-time chiropractor, for rescuing me from severe pain, one of the two miracles in my life.  During a vacation in California, I threw my back out and spent an agonizing day laying in bed, barely able to roll over.  It was the day before returning home and the next morning things were no better and I realized I could never make it down the stairs, drive the car to the airport or tolerate a four-hour plane ride to Ohio.  As I laid there trying to figure out what to do, I thought about the position Dr. Zimmer sometimes puts me in while adjusting my back, that being laying on my side, bottom leg extended, the top of my foot on the other leg tucked up behind my knee, and turning my shoulders in the opposite direction.  This position forces my lower back to push forward.  I assumed that position and laid there for forty-five minutes.  Then I got up, all pain gone, carried two suitcases down the stairs, drove to the airport, and flew home.  Dr. Zimmer, plus some divine intervention, gets the credit for my California rescue.

The Department of Justice gets some credit, along with a pair of CIOs, for a substantial financial rescue late in my career.  I was on track to retire when I turned sixty-six and the house would be paid off.  But then Verso attempted to buy NewPage and become a much larger paper company.  The DOJ stepped in to evaluate their anti-trust concerns and this dragged the acquisition out for about a year.  Needing to retain talent, a few individuals, including myself, were offered a nice chunk of money to stay around.  Finally, the DOJ decided that NewPage/Verso would have to sell two paper mills before they approved the merger, and Catalyst Paper bought the Rumford, Maine and Biron, Wisconsin mills and was allowed to select people from the Dayton Head Office to staff the I.T., customer service, logistics, and other head office requirements.  I joined Catalyst Paper at that point and was given a nice signing bonus to make sure I stayed around a while.  Thanks to the DOJ for helping pay off the house early and allowing me to retire over three years early!

The only actual save-my-life rescue moment I know is through a story told to me later in life.  I was probably three or four years old when my parents walked me toward the deeper end of the pool at the Trotwood Aquatic Club.  They didn’t realize how short I was and before long I was completely submerged.  Someone, their identity I don’t recall, got my parent’s attention and they yanked me up and out of the water, allowing me to breathe again.  Some things in life should happen before you get old enough to remember, and I’m happy this is one of them.

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