Yep, another one bites the dust...
(Yet another hangin'-by-my-seatbelt-doozy-of-a-crash one, too.)
Figure I better share with y'all about it, since some of you know pieces & may still be worried 'bout the (seemingly) constant danger that I find myself in...
One would think I was a bad driver or something (you may smile a little, tiny bit, but don't even think about laughing!), but I repeatedly contend that "I didn't do anything!!!" (I mean, nothing that I haven't done a million times over the years, & felt not-a-touch of danger those other 999,999 times!!!)
Come on now, though one other person that I know may disagree, I Am Not A Bad Driver!
These things JUST HAPPEN to ME...
Last years' experience was pretty scary, for those of you that don't know, & I remember what a good day it started as: I'd been kept from attending my classes for over a month, and was finally on my way back to school... Determined to catch up, though I wasn't sure how it could be done, as I was sooooo behind! Zeke had had RSV for an entire month, though he hadn't needed to be hospitalized, so I'd needed to stay home with him during that trying period. Then the girls got some stomach bug & spent a whole week puking their little guts out! Not to be outdone by my precious children, I proceeded to acquire the nasty flu that had been so virulent that season & was soooooooooooooooooo sick for, you guessed it, another week! (Honestly, I have NEVER had the flu even close to as bad as I had it that week; it was actually scary.) And it was all back-to-back-crazy!
Yeah, it'd been a loooong 6 weeks. =(
So, finally, I was ready & rarin' to go! It was St. Patrick's Day... I felt fabulous physically... (Had an adorable white shirt on, with big sparkly green words on it, so I felt oh-so-cute-&-festive...)
It was gonna be a great day! =)=)=)
Then I turned the corner to head up towards campus, the sun became blinding, I put my visor down (thought, "Gosh, I feel great today!"), and WHAM!!! slammed into a parked pick-up truck, flipped up & over through the air, landed with a glass-slamming crash on my side...
Hangin' sideways by my seatbelt.
They sawed into the windshield & cut my seatbelt to free me.
Miraculously, I only broke my left finger, (my hand hit the top of the window frame as I flipped) & had some scratches from the shattered window. Blew everyone away.
This time was even more astounding...
It was slushy & icy, but I wasn't too worried about it, cuz I'm used to driving in that kind of weather, you know? No big deal.
Unfortunately, the road itself disagreed.
I felt the tires slip out of control, there wasn't time to do much about it, I headed fast towards the high median in the middle of the road ("No, No, No, NO!"), then spun fast (in a full 360 through the giant semi-trucks) towards the right & onto the grass, and WHAM!!!!! hit a fairly sized tree stump, flipped completely upside down, landed with my head pressed against the shattered windshield ("Please, God, Please, God, Please, God")...
Hangin' upside down by my seatbelt.
*Listening to the steady, calming voice of Elder Wirthlin continue giving the conference talk "Come What May, and Love It".
(No joke. That's what I'd been listening to as my tires spun out of control, & it was still playing as I hung there.)*
A guy came & broke my passenger window, & held up my legs so I wouldn't fall as I unbuckled my seatbelt, in order to get me out.
Yeah, I was pretty devastated.
Buuut, I took stock (Elder Wirthlin helped me breathe & do that! =) & realized I wasn't really hurting & remembered that God always helps everything work out somehow...
Miraculously, after a full examination (ultrasound & everything), not a single scratch nor bruise upon me... & the baby is dandy.
NOT A SCRATCH OR BRUISE! AFTER all THAT!?!?!
That's a miracle. NO doubt about it. =)
And it gets better! I had just "happened" to meet a lady recently that had given me her number, which I called after I climbed from the wreckage (for reasons known only to God, at that point, cuz I sure didn't know what I was doin'!!!), & she managed to hook me up with another lady that resided relatively close by (which is a whole different set of miracles, in & of itself), as I was completely out in the middle of nowhere, not knowing a soul!
That beautiful, kind, generously-willing-to-be-of-service-to-a-stranger lady came & stayed with me in the hospital for several hours (it takes forever to make sure a body's okay nowadays! =), took me to her home & offered me a guestroom, took me to my car to snag what I needed from it, listened to me "unload" the pain & trials & faith of (what seemed like the entirety of) my life, & soooooooooooooooo much more!!!
I would rather have her in my life than my car, hands down... She'll be an eternal friend/sister, no question.
We wonder "Why is this happening to me?" (or "Why Do My Cars' Treat Me So?" =) & sometimes we miss out on the beauty & blessings of it all... The very question itself leads to lamenting, so we block the gifts God wants to shower down upon us, y'know? When we ask, in sincerity, "What is it God would have me learn from this?" or "What good purpose does He have in store amidst this situation?" then we can see clearly enough to catch glimpses of the joy & bounty He has sprinkled generously among the "wreckage" of whatever it may be that we're traveling through at the moment! I love it!!! =)=)=)
I'm just lucky enough that He helps make it easy for me to see. =)
*I mean, come on now, it's not every crash that plays "Come What May, and Love It", directly from an Apostle of the Lord, to you! How much easier could He have made it? Not much, I'd say. =)*
So, why DO my cars' "treat me so"?
The conclusion I've come to is this:
Cuz the car & the road & the sun & the slush, & the whatever else ya wanna throw in there, have learned to trust in God above & beyond anything else, that's why. "They" "know" a blessing will be received... somehow...
We're just a little slower than they'all are, sometimes. =)
Love you all,
Pray you're all doing as well & safe as I am,
And that you're seein' Gods' hands in EVERYTHING around you,
Even the wreckages,
Angelina
