Do you believe in Guardian Angels?
I do and feel they were with me twice in my life.
The first happened when I was maybe in grade 2 or 3. My family went to our cities new pool for a swim on a hot July day. I snuck away to the “old pool” which was a diving pool and deep everywhere….thus the need for a pool with a shallow end for kids like me.
I wanted to see if I could swim so I snuck away, crawled around the fence blocking people from using that old pool, and carefully slid into the pool holding onto the sides. After getting the courage I let go and began to dog paddle…it didn’t take long to realize I wasn’t strong enough and I began to sink. Down I went. I remember just floating down and looking up and only seeing the bright sun through the water and my eyes burning from the chlorine in the pool. Then all of a sudden I see a hand plunge through the water and grab my outstretched arm and pull me to the surface.
With my eyes now closed from the chlorine as I came to the surface, I wiped them and looked to see who grabbed me and there was not a soul anywhere. That pool was fenced off and I snuck in. I believe it was a guardian angel that saved me that day, I really do.
The other happened just a few years ago in winter.
My wife and I were coming down the Central Ave viaduct right after a fresh snow on a Sunday morning. It was super slippery out everywhere so I was driving like a turtle and being very careful.
Right when we started to go down the Viaduct, I touched the brakes to see how slippery it was and they immediately started to chatter with the anti-lock…and I wasn’t going fast at all!
At this point I knew there was no stopping and we continued going down. No matter if I braked hard or not at all….we were in a complete slide. I couldn’t steer, and then realized we were gonna slide right through the intersection on 15th…so as we got closer I knew the only way to stop was try to turn into the concrete railing but the car just kept going strait.
I then started to look both ways and prayed no one was coming…I looked towards the fire hall and there was no traffic, however when I looked the other way I saw a semi truck coming up fast pulling a double trailer of gas tanks and I just could tell we were gonna hit.
And we did.
One second sooner and we would have been t boned and I probably would have died…one second later and we would have slid under the tanks and been run over and both would have died, but miraculously we hit the tires that joined the two trailers.
They say time seems to stop in situations like this and I vividly remembering it did.
I remember being able to read the make of tire on the semi…seeing those strange pointed plastic tabs they put on the lug nuts and seeing a hub odometer.
As quick as time stopped, it started up again. I reached my arm across my wife’s body and just said “Oh Joan” and then BOOM!
I’ll never forget how loud it was when we hit…It threw us over the concrete railing into the power pole, and then the parking lot about 30 feet away. All the airbags deployed and I could barely breathe. Glass was flying everywhere, My ears were ringing and once we did finally come to a stop, I instantly started to move arms and legs to see if I was OK.
Then I looked over at my wife and she was crying, which was good as I knew she made it. I asked her if she was hurt, can you move everything? She said her side really hurts but can move her arms and legs.
You tend to think of the strangest things in times like this. All I remember is being mad at why we didn’t have a green light so all this could have been avoided and how we are gonna have to buy a new car now.
As it turns out a police officer I actually know, was almost right there and the fire department was right across the street so we had help within a minute. They cut us out of the car and we went to the hospital to get checked out.
I was just shaken up and my wife’s ribs hurt from being hurled into the console between the front seats, but otherwise not hurt.
Both my wife and I walked away just shaken up and the car was absolutely destroyed.
Now I’m not an overly spiritual person but I do believe there was someone watching over us that day. I believe it was my dad who passed away years earlier. That somehow his strength and security he gave to our family all his life, wrapped itself around Joan and I that day and kept us safe.
Some may say that’s just how these things go, or the airbags and car saved you and that’s fine…but I choose to believe there was a higher power along with us that day and all those years ago in that pool.
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