The car crash is in the rear view mirror, but the "impact" remains. This is a tale of staying alive and well when catastrophe strikes - how luck, both good and bad, plays a major role - and how "Earth Angels" can come to your rescue when things head south.
My wife, Linda, and I were heading north from a winter getaway in South Carolina when tragedy struck. An ill-constructed, short, abrupt highway merge on Route 95 in North Carolina sent our car into the path of a large box truck. The enormous impact sent our vehicle spinning into the middle of the busy highway, and I felt we may not survive the crash.
The air bag had deployed - the car was demolished - the engine had stalled - and the car was facing south in the north-bound lane, facing oncoming traffic. But at least our strongly-constructed Honda CRV, the seatbelts and air bag had done their jobs. We didn't have a scratch.
My mind raced faster than I can write about my thoughts. My 20 years as a cop reminded me that "This is when people get killed". We had three choices. We could sit in the "totalled" car until help arrived. I quickly dismisssed that idea. We could abandon the car and try to walk to the side of the road without getting killed by oncoming traffic. Or I could try to restart the car and get it the Hell off the road. Meanwhile, the construction crew that had assembled the potential "death trap" of a "merge" sat idly by on the side of the roadway. Not one member of that crew came to help. The bad luck continued.
Miraculously, I got the car started - put it into gear - and was able to limp the vehicle to the side of the highway. But one thing happened that I will never be able to understand. During the couple of minutes following the crash, the major, busy highway became deserted. Not a single car passed the accident scene. I will always remember thinking of an escape plan and accomplishing it when everything hinged on avoiding a second crash that could have killed us. Sheer good luck or some unknown entity prevented north-bound traffic from finishing the horror initiated by the flawed "merge".
The arrival of North Carolina Trooper A M Russ was a welcome sight. He was courteous, professional and efficient. And as a retired police lieutenant and present personal trainer, I will add that he was in great physical shape and a perfect representative of the law enforcement community.
The tow truck arrived and transported Linda and me - and our destroyed vehicle - to a towing service business, and we were escorted into their small, dark office. Here we were, with our immobile car filled with our belongings - and nobody to count on to help extricate us from our dillema. I may have never felt more alone and abandoned in my life.That changed quickly.
Behind the desk was a young lady, the manager of the towing company. What I didn't know initially was that I was looking at a genuine "Earth Angel". Her name is Aria Rhea - mother of an 11-year-old son - and wife of an army man.
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| Our "Earth Angel", Aria Rhea - photo by Linda Lane |
Aria turned out to be our savior. She recognized our plight and jumped right in to help us rent a car. She then offered to drive us to the car rental location and helped us load our heavy belongings into her car. Upon arrival, the rental agency reneged on their offer. We were told there were no cars available.
Aria drove us back to her office, and we reached out by phone to our daughter, Lisa Lane McCarty, and her husband, Jim. My son-in-law called a friend, who just happened to be a high exec in the car rental company that refused us a vehicle. It did not take long for the local rental rep to call us. Yes, a car had now become mysteriosly available and would be delivered to us very soon - a service which we had been told previously would not be available to us.
The rental car was delivered. We loaded it with our possessions and tearfully thanked Aria and bid her farewell. Who knew angels worked for towing companies?
As we were close to completing our 1,000-mile return trip to northern New Hampshire, we received a call from our friends, Tammy Crawford and Brad Montague. Tammy is one of the most-empathetic occupants of this planet, and Brad has a heart of gold. They said they would chop the snow and ice from our front entrance - turn the heat up in our house - and open the curtains to let the infrequent sunlight in. Things were getting brighter for Linda and me.
As I finish writing this, a few tears are filling my eyes and today is forecast to be a rare sunny day in our part of New Hampshire. Are their angels among us? Yes, but we don't recognize them without their wings. But we do by their kindness.
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