Angels watching over us, our narrow escape

I have a story to tell you. Fasten your seatbelt. We’re very glad we are in the habit of using ours, which is law here in Canada.

Sunday started out innocently enough. I got home for my week off from caregiving, then a couple of hours later my daughter asked me if I would like to go to the zoo with her and my grandson. There was a lion cub born this summer that we hadn’t seen yet. I said yes, so in about an hour they arrived for me and we started out to be there for feeding time at the zoo.

About half way there our whole plan changed.

In the front passenger seat I’d closed my eyes because of a headache for which I’d taken a capsule before leaving home, when I heard my daughter calmly say, “He’s going to hit us.” I looked up and there it was – a car in the east bound lane – heading directly at us! He had crossed over into our lane and there was nothing that could be done, nowhere for us to go to get out of the way! I had time to gasp.

There was a loud THUNK and solid jolt. Fortunately, he missed hitting us head-on, and not by much. With the force of the impact along the driver side of my daughter’s vehicle, her back wheel was ripped off and we were sent into a violent spin. We think we made two complete circles stretched over at least a quarter-mile of highway, but with the airbags deployed it was hard to know for sure. Although it happened in mere seconds everything seemed to go into slow motion. I screamed, tires screeched, I could taste the powder from the airbags, all was a blur out the front window; it seemed we were going to crash off into trees, then over an embankment. My heart seemed to settle on my daughter and my grandson seated behind her. I felt as if we were protected, enclosed, when just as suddenly as it all began … we stopped. Amazingly, we were on the side of the road and facing west – the way we had been travelling before the accident! We hadn’t plunged down the embankment, we hadn’t hit the guardrail on the other side or any of the other vehicles on the road, we didn’t flip or roll, none of our windows had broken, no one was seriously injured. Airbags had protected us, and seatbelts had held us securely in place.

People from other vehicles started running over to us – Is anyone hurt? Are you alright in there? Can you get out? One of the first was a retired police office who was helpful and calming. Another was the driver of the car ahead of us that had just missed being hit. She saw the whole thing in her rearview mirror and didn’t expect to see anyone able to get out of our vehicle after what happened. Another witness of everything was a lady behind us in a smaller car. She said if he hadn’t hit us he would have hit her head-on, which would have been a totally different end result. As it was, people collected and carried over pieces of my daughter’s Terrain – the tire, the rim, the axle, other things, and I don’t know how many people were on their cell phones calling 9-1-1 to get us help. We were told that our rear tire had been sent rolling and bouncing, hitting another car so that there were three vehicles involved at the scene, including the one who started it all and had spun in circles ending up way down the road from us and facing the ditch.

It didn’t seem to be very long before paramedics arrived by ambulance, soon followed by a firetruck. (I’d never been that close to one when its siren is blaring – deafening!) Police officers soon appeared on the scene. I’d called my husband who, with my sweet sister-in-law who insisted on coming with him, had no trouble finding us due to the backed-up traffic.

I relearned something that day about myself and human nature in general. We don’t know what we are capable of in times of trauma. My daughter was perfectly calm, perhaps more than usual, until it was all over. Her concern was for me and especially her son. I, on the other hand, was more angry than I’ve been in a long time. In jest but likely partly in seriousness, a paramedic told my husband they just were making sure I didn’t see the driver of the other car. I’d been seated on the ground and fighting back tears, trying to calm down, when a paramedic came to see if I was okay. I told him I was furious! “That’s my family! That’s my daughter, and that’s my grandson!” I felt the other driver was irresponsible, inattentive, and had put my family at risk. It’s like my sister-in-law said to me later, “Mama Bear can come out when we feel like someone has threatened our children/grandchildren.”

There were angels in action on our behalf on Sunday. There are many things that could have been very different. I have thanked God many times and will many times more. I’ve prayed for the other guy, not wishing him more harm than the ticket I heard he got out of this, and his insurance is sure take a hit.

My grandson is fine, the welt on his neck caused by his seat belt is gone. He had a story to tell his friends at school on Monday. My daughter and I suffer now from soreness in hips and ribs, shoulders, neck, some whiplash and such. We’ve started treatment already to keep it from getting worse.

Below are most of the photos from the accident:

Photos 1-5: damage to my daughter’s Terrain, a safe family vehicle, we learned. Photo 6: back tire from her vehicle, retrieved after colliding with another car. Photo 7: driver’s side, airbags deployed, including lower one to protect her side. Photo 8: passenger side, airbags deployed. No need for front ones, fortunately. Photos 9 & 10: the other guy’s; floor’s forced up; airbags deployed in the front.

Yes, I praise God no one was seriously hurt. It could have been so much worse.

Do you have a narrow-escape story to tell?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

One more day to win! & Life goes on

The time has passed quickly, it seems, to when I will announce my June giveaway winner. Tomorrow evening I will use random.org name picker to find out who receives this beautiful bag.

If you have a postal address in Canada or the United States and would like a chance to win this bag, maybe as a gift for someone else, please be sure to get your name into the draw by leaving a comment on this post. You have until 9:00 PM EST July 15. I’ll be announcing the winner Thursday morning, July 16. I’m now thinking about what I can offer for July’s giveaway. 🙂

June is a busy month for this family. Last Friday marked a year since my father-in-law’s passing from this life … a whole year already. Somehow, life goes on. My sister’s (mumble mumble) birthday was last week. Tomorrow is my dad’s 91st birthday! The day after that is my grandson’s 11th birthday and his graduation from elementary school is at the end of the month. My sister-in-law’s birthday falls on Father’s Day this year, which may hold sadness for her this time. For my husband too, and really for all of us missing someone dear and important to us. As I said – somehow, life goes on.

Last weekend my husband and I were guests at a small, lovely, outdoor wedding at a location overlooking the bay. Two of our four daughters were able to be there, one was the maid-of-honour – close friends with the bride for twenty-six years. Vows were said while waves rippled over the beach. It was a gorgeous sunny day set in the middle of cooler rainy ones.

Since I’m in a bit of a writing slump lately, my focus pulled this way and that, I’d like to ask you: What is the time of year that seems to work best for your writing? Is there something about one season that inspires you more than others?

Thanks for writing, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends and readers!

As you may know, in Canada we celebrated ours in October. There were twelve of us at Dad’s dining-room table this year.

I hope you all have a fun, amazing wonderful get-together, free of angst and strife. Enjoy your family and friends.

This post is brief. A much longer one is coming right after it.

Blessings to all!

Romans 8:28 : And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Another sad good-bye

It has been a stressful, sad time of late.

My dearly loved father-in-law passed peacefully from this life in the wee hours of June 10 with many of us, his family, near. It was a special, quiet, reverent time, although very difficult until his pain could be brought to a manageable level again. Breakthrough cancer pain is horrible. The minister came to pray with him and us, which brought assurance to his soul, and a last broad smile to his face.

Preparations have been completed … the service and reception scheduled for Sunday afternoon, June 14.

I will miss my father-in-law tremendously. He was a constant in my life for 39 years, and has been a wonderful role model for my husband and children. (My beloved looks so much like his dad and is very similar to him – and that’s a good thing.)

Now you know why I have not posted much lately. My energy and focus have been mostly elsewhere. I will get back to some sort of posting schedule as soon as I can.

Thank you for understanding.

Please check out the following information. We had known about asbestosis but had never heard of mesothelioma until my dad-in-law’s diagnosis. It is, and will be, affecting far more people than even, as yet, realize it exists – until it surfaces.

http://www.medicinenet.com/mesothelioma/article.htm

http://www.mesothelioma.com/mesothelioma/

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

What a winter was 2014-2015! Let me tell you my story

As goes life, 2015 is proving to be another year of challenges and concerns. I was going to share a little with you months ago; however, the way things have been going I am so very late starting it. It’s amazing to me how quickly we are almost half way through 2015! Perhaps you won’t mind indulging me anyway?

It seems there is always one grief or stress to deal with, hardly is one behind us then another is on the horizon, besides the ongoing ones. A cousin of my mum passed away during the winter; however, because of the tremendous amount of snow we were getting, and the storms that seemed never-ending for awhile, the funeral service was not held until May when family could get together again. Of course, the next day Dad didn’t remember anything about it.

In January our daughter in Alberta asked for our advice. She’d decided it was time to move home and had a job offer here in NS! After six years of being away it was a major life change for her, an exciting one for all of us. Once the plan was settled I got busy on this end of the country. Online shopping can be fun when looking for good secondhand furniture on Kijiji. After I found an apartment that way, located a few minutes from her new job, we also were able to get a washer, a dryer, and a table and chairs set for her. Our main concern, though, was that she was determined to drive home, about 3000 miles or about 5000 kilometers – in her jeep, with all her belongings – including her two adult cats. Alone. In the dead of winter. um… NO! We bought a ticket for my husband who flew out to Alberta the first of February to drive home with her. That was the beginning of a crazy week.

After arriving there and getting a good night’s sleep, the next day he and she packed her belongings into a U-haul rental trailer – so full he said they couldn’t have wedged in a box of kleenex. They drove farther north to briefly visit her friend from NS who has lived out there longer than she, then started their long journey home. Since the plan was to take turns – one sleeping when needing to while the other was driving and then switching roles – and with the cats in their enclosure taking up the back seat, there was only room to sleep sitting up in the front passenger seat … as comfortably as could be arranged.

Remember, this was in the worst of our unpredictable Canadian winter. Coming across the middle of the country they experienced frigid minus-degree temperatures and bitterly cold winds in which no one should be out in the elements in miles/kilometers of nothing but dangerous weather. Nevertheless, they passed a hitchhiker daring to do just that! The jeep was crammed so full they had no room for an extra passenger, so when they stopped at a little diner they told a police officer. The officer picked up the hitchhiker to find a place for him to stay the night; otherwise, that person very possibly would have succumbed to the elements.

Meanwhile …

It was my week at home (instead of at my dad’s), so I was trying to keep the house and myself warm. The challenge for me was our outdoor wood furnace which I had never loaded or maintained because my husband always took care of it. I just didn’t want to. Usually, most of the wood my husband lifts into it is very heavy, way beyond what I can lift. It’s actually whole tree trunks cut into three-foot lengths or so, much of it not even split as it’s not necessary because it burns well as it is. It was only split if it was not possible for him to lift whole. Fortunately, last winter’s stash of wood had more small-sized sticks available than usual, many of a size I could handle without injury – if I were careful in how I lifted, didn’t slip in the very deep snow, and could propel the wood into the furnace to properly load it for efficient airflow.

Now, the wood my husband can load in is so big the furnace has to be reloaded only twice a day, morning and evening. The wood I could manage was much smaller, therefore it had to be replenished much more often as it burned quicker. Let me tell you, I got more exercise than I wanted!

Because …

Unfortunately, soon after my husband and daughter started their journey eastward, here in NS we were hit with a wild blizzard that dumped a few feet of snow on us. When that settled I found, because of how the ‘white stuff’ had drifted, I could still make my way through a path in the snow to keep the furnace stoked. Then, hardly had a way been cleared in this province when we were hit with a snowstorm. A huge one. With loads more snow. By the time that one ended I had so much snow I couldn’t get out my back door so had to battle my way out the front and around the house to the now buried path to the furnace. Did I say buried? There was no longer a path beside the truck which was half buried. (see top right photo below) I have never spent so much effort and energy repeatedly struggling through such deep snow, bitter cold, and biting wind – quite an experience for little me. It had to be done. I couldn’t let the fire die out, but the snow was so high and dense I couldn’t struggle through it anymore. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it but I was determined not to ask for help for as long as I could hold out.

That’s when my dear father-in-law came to my rescue. That morning he arrived on his tractor equipped with snowplow and blower, after I’d been shovelling in an attempt to clear snow off my deck so I could open the door and also begin a new path to the furnace. If you look at the above photos, the bottom right one, my path was along the front of the deck railing on the right, across what was our lawn and up a rise.The snow was very heavy and packed solid, so by that time I was so depleted of energy I’d given up for awhile and gone inside to warm up and gain some energy back. I told my dad-in-law I would finish the deck, just had to stop awhile because I was so exhausted, but I would do it. He insisted on doing it for me. Bless his heart. I knew he was not feeling well, either, but he still insisted despite my objections. He got it done much quicker than I could have, for sure. I certainly appreciate him, he’s a good man.

As for the travellers …

My husband and daughter stayed in a hotel one night – a place that allowed her cats – because it was a long stretch of nothing they were on, getting on for dark, with no idea what they might encounter since it was blustery and very, very cold. I’m sure they slept better that night; the rest of the time they slept on route.

In less than five days they made it home and I was so excited to get my arms around them! I’d prayed much for their safe travels. Interestingly, they missed all the storms since it began storming in Alberta after they left so the bad weather heading east was always behind them, and the worst happened in Nova Scotia before they arrived. 🙂 Granted, there was a lot of snow clearing for my beloved to undertake once he got back, and he felt sorry I’d been stuck with so much to handle while he was away, but I survived! 🙂 (And now he knows I can load that darn furnace if the wood is small enough. ah well.)

In this photo (left), with more snow coming down, I was leaning on a snowbank under which was our lawn swinging-chairs set. Somewhere.
I am happy to say there is NO SNOW now. 🙂 How I do love Spring and Summer!

The last thing I’ll say for now is this …

My dad – who will be 90 in a few days – is getting worse (wretched Alzheimer’s, and weak heart) but is still spunky and usually cheerful; and another dear family member has been recently diagnosed with Mesothelioma (incurable cancer) with not much time left with us. Some days life’s stresses feel so heavy on me, but then I remember the Lord is my Strength and the Song and Light in my heart. If God is for me, who can be against me?

I wish you each a sweet song in your heart.

What has been going on in your life? How do you cope? What joys do you have to share with us?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

The Atonement

I hope you have had a blessed Easter. This amazing occasion is a time, for me, of thinking over what it really means, what God did for us through Jesus Christ. It is a time to marvel and stand in awe and gratitude.

If you have ever wondered what it is really all about, there is a website that explains The Atonement better than anywhere I’ve read it or heard it discussed. Go to The Threshing Floor to read it for yourself.

Today has been a busy family day. Sixteen of us met at Dad’s to share a delicious meal together, a meal to which there were many contributions so that one or two people don’t have to do the whole thing. The youngest in attendance is almost 10, the oldest is almost 90. It used to be the females outnumbered the males, but it’s now the other way around – today girls 6, guys 10. As you can imagine, there is always a lot of food prepared – and eaten, but always there are some leftovers to divide up.

Do you have family events to enjoy? What does Easter mean to you?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

A touching promotional video

Back on September 23, 2014 I mentioned a couple of sources of easily affordable promotional products that could be a great benefit to you. Reread that post HERE. One of them is Vistaprint, which you will also find on my Writers’ Helps page and listed under Needing promotional and marketing help.

Yesterday I was sent this Vistaprint ad which you are getting to see here before it airs on February 2. This ad is one of the sweetest I have seen. It had my attention from the start, gripped my emotions, and made me hopeful and anxious to see how it turned out. And, okay yes, I cried. Then I watched it again and … cried again. *sigh* What can I say?

It’s a great ad.

Tell me what you think of it.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂