A SNOW ANGEL

I came this close >< to using my cell phone yesterday--returning from a trip to Fredonia to see Mama Bore--when my car slid off Highway 99 into a deep, snowy ditch. I swear, there is an angel watching out for me. I hadn’t any more gotten out of the car to check for damage (none) when Brian’s Tow Truck came blowing in to the rescue. Maybe a whole 30 seconds had passed. Brian was on his way to pull out someone else, but why not help me first? He had the car yanked out and back on the highway in no time flat.

“You’re going to need to turn back,” he told me. “A semi carrying hazardous materials has flipped off the road up ahead and you probably can’t get through. It’ll be safer to take the back roads into town.”

Got it. I know the back roads well, thanks to Big Bore taking me on exploratory, afternoon drives in the country, albeit in better weather. Good ol’ Brian didn’t steer me wrong. Driving on the gravel was much easier than being on the highway, plus there was little to no traffic veering in my direction, which had created my off-the-highway incident in the first place.

There was only one thing that totally aggravated me. I didn’t have my camera along for the ride! On the way home there were two places in the countryside--an overlook onto a basin of the Flint Hills and a bridge at Otter Creek--where the scenery was so beautiful. The snow was no longer my threatening enemy but a peaceful piece of art.

Once I arrived home safely, the creative part of my mind said I should grab the camera and return for the perfect shots, but the larger, more sensible part warned not to push my luck and to stay put. And that’s what I did. No sense expecting my guardian angel to be a frequent flyer.