Fourth of July Weekend

Planning a vacation, especially one involving travelling during the 4th of July holiday always gives one a  feeling of trepidation, especially if your not fond of wall to wall traffic. Although I do drive, my husband usually is in charge of getting us there and back, safely. We take my car, of course, to give us the option of drivers, leaving at daylight in order to take in all the scenes along the way.

We were just about there, that is just about to enter New Hampshire, well on our way to Maine, when I spotted two eyes looking at me--the eyes of a huge deer. He was determined to come at us, even though my husband, upon hearing me say "there's a deer in the road", looked to his left to see if a car was approaching on his side, tried to avoid the approaching large animal, jurking the wheel left, while applying the brakes, unsuccessfully.

I heard the impact, and recalling nothing else, we pulled over to the side of the road. The state police, having been called, and arriving in no time at all, reassured us that it was not our fault. The deer apparently come to the road seeking salk in the winter and are amused with the vehicles, giving chase, he said. Accordingly, deer accidents are frequent, especially this year, a year of abundance.

The unexpected had happened, and now we were left to pick up the pieces. A very kind person driving a black truck was behind us. He recalled seeing the huge buck fly over our car, having been hit, and apparently, he moved it to the side of the road. I did not see it. Luckily, he was back far enough to avoid the hit himself.

Some people will not approach to find out if "everyone is okay" as he did. We are thankful all and all for many blessings that day, especially for the kindness of the officer and the "stranger." Our car was able to be driven back home, and after a couple of weeks, was repaired by our dealership.

It took us about twelve hours to reach our destination, exhausted and ready for the vacation that we planned.

John and I believe we were protected, and that our prayers that morning were heard, saving us. I prayed for a safe journey, but I forgot to say safe and without incident. It happened so fast, we did not have time to say a prayer, but we were, as I recall, in a complete state of peace. God was with us. The costly inconvenience did not spoil our vacation, which we planned for, all except the unexpected event. We all have them and they teach us about preparedness. The world is full of unknowns--just watch the news sometime. We must always be ready. We didn't even expect the fire alarm to go off at one thirty at the hotel, causing us to evacuate from a sound sleep.

The man who stopped, having witnessed the entire event, and after having viewed the damaged car, responded with a simple sign of the cross. It was then that we realized who had sent him.