Oh The People That You Meet When You're Cruising Down The Street

An old friend has finally met its fate, and will likely be
considered totaled.

Last evening on my way home from a meeting in the south end of town, my journey was interrupted by a pizza delivery car crossing Main Street from my left and pulling right into my lane. There was no way of preventing the collision that followed.

Had I been at fault I would have been stressed to the max, but as it was I felt an almost eerie sense of calm, mixed with  a profound sense of relief over how much worse things could have been. No airbags were deployed and both I and the other driver, a nice young man who spoke better Arabic than English, were able to assess the situation and do what was needed to get help.

And what a response! Within 20-minutes two police cars, an ambulance crew and a fire truck arrived, lights flashing and sirens sounding. My friend in the other vehicle, who at first insisted he wasn't injured, eventually was taken to the ER to be checked out, complaining of some numbness from the incident. But everyone, including some neighboring JMU students, were totally kind and helpful.

After some necessary questioning I was eventually told I could leave, so a kind officer gave me a ride home and a tow truck took my vehicle to Dan's Body Service, which provided me the photo above.

My fondness for this humble little "hick-up" is based on how utterly dependable and low-maintenance it's been and the fact that we bought it from some great friends many years ago, Guy and Margie Vlasits, who had taken great care of it and let us have it a very reasonable price.

But I've come to believe that in God's economy nothing has to go to waste, and this little loss has been a good reminder of the following:

1. You can't be too careful out there.

2. Don't get too attached to possessions, even a dependable, low-maintenance 21-year-old vehicle with only 103,000 miles (and which still doesn't use any oil) and which has become a trusted part of my life.

3. Never take your life or health for granted. It could all be gone in an instant.

4. Thank God every day for blessings easily taken for granted, including meeting nice strangers in totally unexpected ways, and for their being helpful people around when you need them.

Here's something I posted five years ago when my little Nissan was featured in photographer Howard Zehr's coffee table book on our attachment to pickups. https://harvyoder.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-best-vehicle-ive-ever-owned.html