Everything can change in an instant. A life-altering – even, heaven forbid, life-ending – moment. Too many of you know this in a way that transcends vocabulary. This time of year can be particularly excruciating for anyone whose life has been changed irrevocably by a diagnosis, by a red-light runner, by the worst kind of phone call.

Life can turn on a dime, as I learned – in the most minor of ways, let me emphasize – on Christmas Eve morning. For me, the turn occurred on my staircase. I was heading down, not in any particular rush – but when I looked up to my son at the top of the stairs to say something to him, I lost my balance, tumbled down and, before landing on the hard floor, managed to get sliced by his skis standing guard in the front hall, awaiting a snowier adventure.

No need for the gory details, but I spent some hours in the emergency room, getting x-rayed and CT-scanned and stitched up behind my ear by a very kind and knowledgeable (and skilled with a needle and thread) physician who was heading to Mexico with her family on Boxing Day.

No concussion, no broken bones. It could have been much worse. It could have been the worst. And for anyone who has suffered a loved one’s worst, this, I know, is nothing.

But can a slip-and-fall be a wake-up call?

© The Globe and Mail