There are moments in life that are between: between the blow and the pain

There are moments in life that are between: between the blow and the pain, between the phone ringing and the answer, between the misstep and the fall. One that comes to everyone is a moment, or three, or five, between sleeping and waking, when the past has not yet been re-created out of memory and the present has made no impression. It is a moment of great mercy; disorienting, like all brushes with grace, but a gift nonetheless.

~ Julia Spencer Fleming, The Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Series, Books 4-6: To Darkness and to Death; All Mortal Flesh; I Shall Not Want  (Macmillan, Apr 21, 2015)