Angels Among Us

For any of you that look at Annie's blog, here is the story.

Mom and I were both at work at The Silver Hanger on Friday. It was a pretty slow day there, other than the fact that there is always work to be done. And I did have one bride come from Georgetown to try on her wedding dress, even though the streets were snowy. At one point, mid day, I was thinking that if the snow continued and the streets were bad, mom and I would just go home in her car and I would drive. But by late afternoon, the snow had stopped and the streets were clear. Mom and I were closing up the store at 5:00. As she and I were both doing the tasks of turning off lights, locking doors, turning off computers etc. - the phone rang (probably about 5:10) Mom answered it and it was a call for me. While I was talking on the phone, mom decided to go ahead and leave to go home. (Not an unusual thing- we don't very often actually leave at the same time) It was probably about 5:30- 5:40 when I left the store. Which put me at the intersection of Franz road and highway 99 at the precise moment that another car decided to turn right in front of me.(Normally I would go home on I10. When I left the store I had decided to go home across Franz road rather than on I10 because all afternoon I10 had delays because of the weather and even though the roads were clear I10 was still backed up) I was driving east on Franz road, I had a green light and the other driver had a green light , but the other driver did not have a protected green arrow for turning left. (He was driving west bound on Franz and turning left to southbound 99) When I realized that he was turning in front of me- I hit the brakes and steered to the right, but I knew that I could not avoid a collision. After impact I ended up going over a cement curb and coming to a stop on grass. His car spun back around and came to a stop in the center of Franz, facing east. One possibility is that the first impact hit on my drivers side front corner and then the second impact was on my drivers side rear door. (that is an explanation as to why the front of the burb was all torn up and the rear door on the drivers side smashed in). Although I never really looked at the damage to his car or spoke to the other driver. I did see him get out of his car and he was limping around, but he did not leave in the ambulance- so I assume he was okay. I was busy with the three angels surrounding me. One was a lady that was in a car following me. She watched the entire accident from behind me. She saw my brake lights come on and she was the first person there to help me. Even though the burb stopped after I hit the cement curb, the engine was still running. Her first words were "turn it off". Then she helped me get the driver door open- it was jammed and hard to open. The two other people were in a car that was behind the other driver. So they witnessed the accident from behind him. They were also waiting to turn left onto south bound 99. They had no explanation as to why the driver decided to turn when he did. In fact they were completely surprised and could see that the only outcome was "bam". Those three people stayed by me on the side of the road and told the police man what they saw. I have some bumps and bruises and sore spots, but I was wearing my seat belt and did not hit the steering wheel or the wind shield. (no air bag in a 94 suburban:) I had to call Ron and ask him to come and pick me up. He had been sick all week and was at home taking a nap (because of the snow, he came home early from work) What a call to get when you are sleeping, "come and pick me up, I think the burb is totalled". So the burb is gone, but I am so grateful that I'm not gone :) While I am telling this with my funny sense of humor, I am serious about my gratitude. We take so many things for granted- one of which is how quickly something unusual can happen. We get so busy with the challenges of life, that we rarely ever think, "that in just a quick moment things can change forever". I am so grateful for those three strangers that were there as witnesses and for my aid. They each had other places to be, but choose to stay there with me. In a quick moment, their lives were affected also. So...sorry Karen... but the burb is gone. But it gave a good fight, even refusing to die until I turned it off :) And there really are angels among us- both the ones that are seen and the ones that are unseen.