One Year Ago Today, the Emergency Brakes Came On and Life Went Into a Tailspin. Today, It’s Nothing But Gratitude

Posted by Christopher Grubbs | May 7, 2026

A year ago today, life slowed me down in a way nothing else ever has.

For a few terrifying hours, I truly believed I was about to lose my wife. It’s hard to explain that kind of fear unless you’ve lived it. The world keeps moving around you, but inside your chest everything stops. Suddenly the things you spent so much time worrying about don’t matter anymore. Deadlines. Stress. Work. Plans. None of it means a thing when the person you love most is lying in a hospital bed and all you can think is, “Please God… not her.”

I remember sitting there wanting just one more normal day. One more morning coffee together. One more ride with the windows down. One more ordinary evening laughing about nothing important.

That’s the thing nobody tells you about moments like that. They change the value of ordinary life forever.

Thank God, we made it through. She’s still here.

And one year later, I catch myself seeing life differently than I ever did before.

The little things feel bigger now. Quiet mornings at home. Hearing Tonya laugh from the other room. Watching Winston follow her around the house. Saturday mornings with grandkids piled on the couch watching cartoons while the house somehow feels loud and peaceful at the same time. Family dinners that last longer than planned because nobody’s ready for the night to end. Road trips with nowhere important to be except together. Sunsets over warm ocean water that somehow hit deeper now than they used to.

Maybe that’s why this whole Grubbs Travel Adventures journey means so much to us. It was never really about miles or destinations. It was about moments. Time together. Collecting memories while we still can.

This past year gave us so many reminders of that. We watched our son Zack marry Ashlyn. We watched our son Dylan marry Mackenzie. We celebrated with family, hugged our grandbabies a little tighter, stayed around the table a little longer, and learned to appreciate the kind of moments that don’t look important until one day you realize they were actually everything.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped rushing so much. I take the back roads more often now. I sit in the driveway after motorcycle rides a little longer before heading inside. I watch sunsets all the way until dark instead of leaving early.

Because I understand something now that I used to only say without fully believing: Time is precious. Not in the motivational quote kind of way. In the real way. The kind of way you learn sitting in a hospital room praying for one more day with someone you love.

A year ago today reminded me there are no guarantees in this life. No perfect timing. No promise of tomorrow. Just today. Just the people we love. Just the moments we choose not to miss.

So today, more than anything else, I’m simply grateful. Grateful she’s still here. Grateful for every laugh from the other room. Every family dinner. Every grandkid hug. Every road trip. Every sunset. Every ordinary day we get together that doesn’t feel ordinary anymore.

And to our kids — and all the grandkids who call me Pop Pop — I hope you remember this: Slow down once in a while. Take the trip. Sit on the porch longer. Watch the sunset. Hug your people tighter.

Don’t spend your whole life waiting for the perfect moment to enjoy the life you already have. Because in the end, the good days with the people you love are the only things you’ll ever wish you had more of.

We love you all,

— Chris & Tonya

aka - Grammy & Pop Pop

#Gratitude

#GrubbsTravelAdventures