Bless the Great Weaver

 It was to be my next-to-last trek into Rome for a client buying a house there, doing a walkthrough a couple of days before the closing. We needed to make sure the junk left in the house had been cleared, and I was also helping them come up with color choices for the walls (my favorite job!) The car was loaded up with samples and paint fans. There's a spot on that trip, where the speed limit suddenly drops to 45 then 35...and there are danger signs all around, because you find yourself dead-ended into a big four-lane highway. Even though I've made that trip many, many times, I am never quite prepared for the sudden stop.

I was stopped, sitting behind two cars who were waiting for the traffic. There were also two cars behind me, when I heard a loud screeching of locked-down brakes. I looked quickly around, not sure where the sound was coming from, but thinking "Somebody's about to have a wreck." In my rearview I saw a big utility truck (with a large trailer attached) barreling down the hill. I heard several crashes, then knew I was next. I was rear-ended by two vehicles, one on the right panel and another who ran right up under my bumper. There was a car over in the grass, and two others behind me. There's nothing like the shock that hits you after an accident. My head was buzzing, neck already seizing up. I sat still, trying to relax and wait for the next things. It seemed only a couple of minutes and we were surrounded by firefighters, EMTs and policemen. I called my people, and within ten minutes our firefighter son and Ken were there to check on me. Ken insisted that I be assessed in the ambulance, where it took a battalion of people to fight the hill that the gurney and fluffy Yaya were placed on. How humiliating. I saw so much kindness and tenderness by those who cared for me. There is much good still left in the world. I decided to go home with our son (with Ken following) because it was a mere bit of whiplash and nothing serious. My daughter-in-love fed me soup while we sat on their front porch. The wind was blowing and I watched our grandkids playing and enjoyed the love of family and God while my brain settled and we went home. 

What struck me that day was the precise timing of all of it. I had redirected my steps earlier, where if I had not done that, I would have "avoided" this wreck. So then it seemed as if this was meant to  happen to me, if you believe like I do, that everything happens for a reason. For all I know, my redirection kept me from something much worse. Or, as it is, God is weaving much tapestry from what did happen. I have to know that the latter is true. That mysterious tapestry that goes beyond the things that I plan, the steps that I take, the places I go. It's a lot to think about.

As for today, I'm thankful. My car is shredded and the insurance is complicated. But I'm still here in one piece, the wind is still blowing and hope brings forth another day...