Angels among us

This morning was one of the scariest experiences of my life.

Nick had a great night's sleep. Down by 8:00pm, only cried for 15-20 mins, and I had to wake him up at 7:15am to go to daycare because he was still in dreamland.

We were so ahead of schedule that I made myself a cup of caramel vanilla cream coffee (love that Keurig...although sadly, ours is on the fritz), put it in my travel mug, and out the door we went.

We cruised down the parkway towards the babysitters house, jammin' to some Christmas music and happily babbling to each other about what a beautiful day it was shaping up to be - albeit much colder than the last several days.

I noticed a huge 18 wheeler about 3 cars in front of me to my left. I only noticed it because of it's long black-tarp covered sides. I genuinely thought to myself "hmm, wonder what he's hauling!"

As we neared the back entrance to Huntsman shopping center, cruising along at the 50 mile an hour speed limit, I closed in on the 18 wheeler, coming up on his right hand blind spot. I intended to pass him, but was barely allowed the time, as suddenly a small compact car made a last minute u-turn right in front of the semi-truck.

A u-turn that brought the compact car within inches of being hit by the semi truck. A u-turn that caused the semi to slam on his brakes, burning rubber on pavement on all 18 of his tires, making the long bed of his truck teeter back and forth and buckle up against the cabin. He swerved right and left and managed to stop himself from both slamming into the compact car, and tipping over.

In the position that I was in my car, next to this semi truck, had he actually lost complete control and tipped over, there would have been nowhere for me to go. We would have been crushed in an instant.

The compact car darted across the two lanes of traffic, into a right-hand turn lane, and pulled into Huntsman shopping center. I silently cursed him, hoping he was pulling into the shopping center to gather his composure and think about what he just did - who he could have harmed - and how he will vow to be a more cautious, courteous driver. But in all reality, he was probably picking up his dry cleaning, or grabbing a cup of coffee. Something he clearly did not need to be in a rush for.

I instantly felt the hot sting of tears streaming down my face. As my baby continued to happily babble in the back seat, blissfully unaware of what had almost just gone down, I looked up to the sky and audibly thanked God for sending some angels to watch over me this morning.

The parkway is a dangerous road. Far too many lives have been lost there. Every time I venture down the parkway, I keep my eyes wide open for any danger - drunk drivers, deer, texters. I do not look at my phone. I do not drive over the 50 mile an hour speed limit. I'm not saying I'm a perfect driver, and there are plenty of times that I find myself at fault of not paying attention or driving too fast on other roads. But on the parkway, there is no room for error.

I shared my scary morning on facebook, and my mom reminded me of the trailer accident that my brother and I were in when we were very little. I briefly blogged about it recently when we had an earthquake in VA, but what I failed to mention was after my brother saved my life and I stepped out of that tiny, completely destroyed, upside-down trailer, without so much as a scratch on my body, I looked at my mom and said something to the effect of "the angels said they weren't ready for me yet, mommy!" Three years old. And I had never been to church. What did I know about angels?

Well, now that I'm older, I know for sure that angels exist. I'm not entirely sure who my guardian angel is -- there are many valuable people in my life who now watch over from Heaven. I like to think it's a combination of my great-grandmother (Gran-Gran), and Stef's mom (SYG), and my Aunt Debbie, and Donnie, and Peter, and my mom's muffin's Sasha and Katie...a veritable collection of people that were so meaningful in my life, and the lives of those that I love -- a collection of people that are constantly watching over me, my loved ones, and their own loved ones...because they know we all need each other...just as we need them. And while we might not be able to see their faces every day, I find pure comfort in knowing they are always here on earth, keeping us safe, holding our hands, walking among us.