Small Favors
I almost titled this post as “Small Miracles”, but then decided that might be stretching things a bit. So, I opted for the current title, instead.
Wednesday afternoon, as my wife and I were driving home from work, a car suddenly pulled out from the oncoming lane of traffic and was heading for us head-on. The oncoming car was very close to us with a relative closing speed of something like 90 mph. (The speed limit in that stretch is 45 mph, I was doing that, I assume the other car was doing about the same.) Acting completely on instinct, I steered my car to the right, onto the icy shoulder, then further right onto the verge barely avoiding the ditch. Somehow, I managed to avoid both the onrushing car and the ditch and steered back onto the road.
My wife, as white as a sheet, (I assume I looked the same) said, “I would have hit him. I don’t know how you did that.” Neither, quite frankly, do I. We both looked at the tracks the next day (when we were driving separately) and I missed hitting the ditch by less than a few inches. The car had to miss by the same or less. Small favors.
Friday, we stayed home after the massive ice storm that hit us Thursday. When I was out in front of the house during the day, my across-the-road neighbor, a deputy sheriff, came over and told me that my next door neighbor had been involved (on Wednesday) in a very nasty automobile accident. He had turned in front of an oncoming semi and was in intensive care.
We went over to see the neighbor’s wife (who is house-bound). She told us he had just been moved out on the ICU and was expected to make a full recovery. Small favors.
Today, my wife checked her cell phone – usually left off on weekends – and found three voice mails. When she listened to them, she found out that her brother’s wife had been involved in a serious automobile accident. Someone had pulled out in front of her on Route 104 in Upstate New York. (That is a bad highway. Four lanes with multiple grade-level crossings). This happened yesterday. We just heard that she has been released from the hospital with two broken ribs and a lot of bruising. But she is okay. Small favors.
Personal Thoughts | Gaius December 21, 2008
By Larry Sheldon, December 22, 2008 @ 6:59 am
I could have accepted “miracles”.
Give thanks for them.
By sam, December 22, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
Glad you are OK.
By Sylvia, December 23, 2008 @ 3:34 pm
Yikes! Best wishes for the safety and quick healing of your family and friends.