Tuesday morning, November 8, 7:15am
It was foggy on the way to work that morning, the dense fog thicker than I'd ever driven in and getting thicker by the minute. I could barely see where I was going and I feared hitting a pedestrian or one of the Amish buggies that I'd frequently passed on this road. I'd been thinking hard for the past hour as I drove, worrying about finances, thinking how lean this Christmas would be. I prayed my children would understand how hard I'd been working to keep all of the bills paid and to provide for them on my own. I realized I'd have to take on the extra work hours that had been offered to me that week, even though it meant being away from the kids a little bit more each week. I felt discouraged and wondered how I was going to make the holidays happy for everyone.
Crawling along at 40 miles per hour, I realized I was going so slowly I could easily be hit by someone approaching quickly from behind. Alternately watching my speedometer and glancing at the yellow lines to guide myself, I increased my speed to 50 mph. Less than a minute after getting up to speed, I looked up and made out the unmistakable shape of the stop sign to my right and realized that I was already at the T in the road! I panicked and stomped my foot hard on the brake pedal. The car skidded out of control, tires screeching on the damp pavement as I continued to move forward at the same speed, my steering wheel completely useless.
"Help me, God!" I yelled as I turned the wheel to the right and tried ineffectively to regain control. I braced for impact, trying to remember what lie past the sign at this particular intersection, envisioning a field of trees. The car fishtailed and lurched to a sudden stop on the side of the road, facing the wrong direction. I looked out the window beside me and saw a tree so close, I could have reached out and touched it. Before I could even exhale though, I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw the lights of a vehicle in the wrong lane and heading straight for me, going way too fast.
"Please God! No!" I cried. Knowing there wasn't time to do anything else, I squeezed my eyes shut, covered my head with my arms, and waited for the crash.
When nothing happened, I opened my eyes and looked around wildly. There were no lights behind me, but on the road ahead of me I saw the back of a large white vehicle as it drove away from me. Shaking hard, I took a deep breath and pulled the car over to the right hand shoulder to get out of traffic.
Once stopped, I turned off the car, laid my head on the steering wheel and began to cry. I thought of what could have happened, of shattered glass and bloody bodies, of a police officer telling my children that their mother had died in an unfortunate accident. My body shaking uncontrollably, I lifted my head towards a sky I couldn't see.
"Thank you, God, for sparing my life," I whispered, still sobbing softly.
Out of the fog ahead of me, I saw a white vehicle approach and pull over to the opposite shoulder. Oh, great, I thought. Here it comes...the anger, wrath and scorn of someone whose day (or life) I had nearly ruined.
A well-dressed woman emerged from the SUV and walked quickly towards me, a bluetooth device clamped to her right ear. As she drew closer, I could see that she looked more concerned than angry and I wiped at my eyes before opening my door to stand and greet her. As I stepped around the door, her arms went around me and I felt myself grow weak. I sobbed an apology into her shoulder, "I'm sorry...I didn't mean...I couldn't see..."
"Shhh," she whispered. "I just had to come back to make sure you were okay." She leaned back and looked into my face, care and concern written all over hers.
"I'm okay, just a little shaken up," I said nervously. "I thought I was going to hit the tree and then thought you were going to hit me...how did you get around me like that?"
"Let's just say this ain't my first rodeo," she said cryptically. Before I had a chance to ask anything else, she pointed down the road from the way she had just come. "I know you're heading the other way, but I want you to drive down that way about a quarter of a mile. There's a driveway on the right you can pull into and turn around. I don't want you to get hit if you try to turn around in this fog."
"Okay," I replied. "Thank you so much."
"Have a good day," she smiled warmly, before turning around and heading towards her car.
I did as she'd instructed and drove down the road to turn around. On the way back I looked for her vehicle, knowing we would pass each other on the way to our respective jobs. Instead of seeing a white vehicle, though, I saw the yellow of a school bus stopped in the road at the intersection I had just slid through. No lights were flashing, but I slowed to stop, and that's when I saw the shiny pieces of yellow in the road. Looking up, I noticed the damage to the front of the bus. The pieces in the road were parts of the shattered hood of the school bus. Driving slowly around to see if I could park and help, I saw a small, black car behind the bus. It, too, was severely damaged, with windows smashed. People were milling about, some talking on cell phones and some crying.
Hearing sirens approach, I continued slowly on, knowing there was nothing I could do to help and that I needed to clear the way for rescue personnel. As I drove, I continued to search for the white SUV, but never did see it. About a mile down the road, the fog lifted and the sun shone brightly. By the time I got to work, it was all just a memory.
Throughout that day and several days that followed, I couldn't shake the feeling that something surreal had happened on the road that day. Why did my car stop just before the tree? Who was the woman who had seemed to come out of nowhere and then vanish? How had she managed to avoid my car? How did she know which way I had been intending to go?
I can't help but wonder if it was an angel, sent from God to protect me. If I had hit that tree I might have been seriously injured. If I hadn't driven down the road to turn around as the woman had instructed, I would have been in the same intersection with the school bus. If she hadn't stopped to comfort me, I might not have made it to work that day.
I heard on the radio the next morning that six children and a driver had been injured in the school bus accident. I don't know the extent of their injuries and can't bring myself to find out. I do, however, continue to thank God for sparing me that day, for not taking me away from my family or letting me become injured and unable to work. I know, now more than ever, that He has a plan for ME.
This year our holidays will be happy, after all. May God keep you and your family safe throughout this Thanksgiving and Christmas season.
