The other day, I thought our gerbil met an untimely end. My boys had come home from school and the gerbil cage was open, bedding scattered everywhere and Zachary was nowhere to be found. We were sure the cat had eaten him. But, just when we had resigned ourselves to the fact that we still had to love our kitty even with the gerbil in her belly, Zachary turned up, safe and sound.

And it made me think about how lucky he was, and how the universe can sometimes grant us second chances. Even if we don't particularly deserve them.

I remember one wintry day on my way home from work when my car suddenly started sliding on a major highway. I spun a full 360 with traffic on both sides of me, and somehow miraculously ended up going the right way again without a collision. The universe gave me a second chance that day.

I believe that these near misses in our lives, even those that we may not realize have happened, are meant to teach us something. Sometimes it's to force us to slow down and appreciate the moment that is in front of us. Or to make us reflect on all of the little things we take for granted.

Some days I wake up and the entire week has gone by in a flurry of work meetings, rushing from one school activity to the other, a mash-up of thrown-together dinners and hurried conversations with my boys. And I am sad at the pace of life and how quickly they are growing, and away from me. I don't want the time I have with my boys to be a near miss.

On these days, I take a deep breath and try to remember that these near misses also lead to second chances. And I slow myself down after work to look them in the eye and ask them how their day was, or purposefully forget about all of the other "urgent" things and sit down with them to play a game. Those moments are even more special now that they are older and they don't necessarily want to spend as much time with their mom as they used to.

I believe that these second chances are our opportunity to do things differently, to look at life from new angles, and to live in gratitude for the miracles around us. So the next time you have a near miss moment, pause and think about what life is telling you. And take advantage of that second chance you've been given.