Tender mercies

I still have some photos and a few stories to tell you about our Dominican Republic adventure, but I wanted to tell you about a slightly freaky thing that happened to me yesterday.

There has been a lot of talk lately, in the circles of my universe, about the tender mercies of the Lord. I think the following incident may have been one of them.

I've been trying to build up my music therapy business with elderly groups, so I was in Canby, a small town about 20 miles away. Upon leaving for home, my mind wandered a little (not an unusual occurrence) as I was negotiating the streets of Canby and I missed my turn. I switched on TomTom and started following his commands. He took me through some tiny residential streets and it didn't seem like I was getting any closer to my goal. One last turn into what looked like a cul-de-sac and I began to silently curse my Cockney friend.

As I approached what I thought was the end of the short road and just as I was thinking Oh, I guess it curves to the right, a white Jeep-like vehicle careened around the corner towards me. It was going much too fast for the narrow road, maybe 40 or 45 mph, and the car was obviously out of control. Brakes screeched and the car veered around the outside of the corner and smacked into the back of a small red wagon that was parked about ten feet away from me. The sound of the crash reverberated through the formerly quiet little street.  The white car's hood crumpled and flew open, glass shattered and rained onto the road. The red car's rear end took a mighty dent from the impact. The whole incident took less than two seconds and I didn't even have time to think Help, he's going to hit me!


I stopped my car to see how the occupants of the car had fared. There were two or three 20-something-looking young men in the car and they quickly exited the car to inspect the damage.  Within seconds a young couple ran out of the house, to see their poor car looking decidedly totaled. I started to drive slowly away, all the time watching them in my rear-view mirror and figuring that they had it under control. Then I stopped, because I realized that I was the only witness to the accident. I backed up and asked the young woman if I could do anything to help. She walked over to me and I could see that she was distraught and trembling. She asked me how fast the car had been going and I told her Very fast. We talked for a few seconds and I gave her my business card and told her to call me if I could help in any way. Then I left, as I had to get back to Newberg for piano lessons.

As I drove home, a tad subdued by how close I had come to being the one with the totaled car and perhaps some major injuries, I thought about serendipity. How did I just happen to be victim of a TomTom distraction so that I was turning that corner at the exact moment that the crash happened? In my book, it was more than coincidence. I may never get a phone call about the incident, but the drivers of that car know that there was an eye witness and that they will be held accountable for the truth. So maybe I was God's instrument for taking care of the young couple who owned the red car.

I like to think so, anyway.