Note: I first posted this story back in 2010, but its message is just as real, if not more so, today.
You can plan carefully, take every precaution, and still, sometimes, we are at the whimsy of fate, as our Escapee friends Mel and Charlene Schwartz experienced recently while traveling through Utah.
About 3 p.m. on June 29, they were driving east on U.S. Highway 50 just outside of Delta, Utah, doing about 55 miles per hour, just enjoying the scenery on the two lane highway, when this limb broke off a tree beside the highway, crashed into the hood of their Ford truck, and then through the windshield, showering them with glass. Their Excel fifth wheel was not damaged, but the truck needed extensive repairs.
Their guardian angel must have been riding with them that afternoon because unbelievably, Mel and Charlene were not injured. It’s a wonder they weren’t killed as the limb slammed through the driver’s side of the cab and out the window! Mel said that aside from being scared and shook up, they were unharmed, though they spent over an hour vacuuming bits of glass out of each other’s hair.
As a side note, Mel told me that the sheriff’s deputy that investigated the accident said that he had been notified of a tree limb that was about to fall but hadn’t been able to get to it yet. As Mel said, timing is everything.
This is a perfect example of why I believe that while we can take every reasonable precaution in the book, sometimes things just happen, and when they do, all we can do is roll with the punches.
We never know when the car or truck coming toward us down the highway may cross the center line and hit us head on; or when a tire on the eighteen wheeler passing us may blow and wipe out the side of our RV; or when some tiny speck of plaque in an artery will break loose and block the blood flow; or a million other things that probably will not happen, but can at any moment.
What quirk of fate determines who will dodge the bullet, and who won’t? Why did I have friends who survived Vietnam, only to come home and die in traffic accidents? What keeps that semi tire from blowing when the truck passes me and makes it blow when passing some other poor guy? Life is a crapshoot. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.
We can’t live our lives in fear of everything, so all we can do is cherish every moment we have and thank whatever higher being we believe in when we have a close call and survive.
It’s Thursday, so it’s time for a new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an autographed copy of my pal Donna McNicol’s 3-in-1 C’Mon Inn Hawaiian mystery series trilogy, Paradise at a Price, Paradise Dead, and Paradise Drift. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.
Thought For The Day – Facebook is a lot like jail. You sit around wasting time writing on the walls and sometimes get poked by people you don’t know.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Something similar happened to us in September 2008 on I64 in southern Indiana. Some large metal device came off of the roof of the car in front of us and smashed through the windshield of our MCI bus conversion. I could not change lanes because there was a car beside us. I tried moving to the right, and the metal bar moved with me. I was covered with glass. I am pretty sure that the car ahead of us had no idea what had happened. Right after this happened, huge gushes of smoke started coming out of the rear engine compartment. Coincidentally, one of the metal exhaust hoses (is that what it’s called?) blew a hole in it. When it rains it pours.
Fortunately, other than a hundred tiny glass cuts on my neck and face, no serious injuries.
We ended up enjoying several days camped nearby at Audubon park in Kentucky until our windshield and the was fixed by two jolly guys who had a mobile repair business.
I truly believe you need to live each day or moment as if it is your last. We had a friend that was going tp smoke a cigarette. He had it in one hand and lighter in other. Due to an aneurism in his abdomen, that cigarette was never smoked. He was talking to us concerning the trip home. Fortunately, or not, his son was at same table and he knew that there was nothing that could have been done.
Great thoughts! Back in the day, I had a friend that always said, “No one can promise you tomorrow so belly up!”
What a crazy looking accident. My parents were driving on the highway once behind a truck carrying steel beams when one flew off the back, bounced on the road, and jumped up at the passenger side of the windshield. It was heading straight for my mother when the end of the beam caught the top of the headlight and went careening over the top of the car. Close call for sure.