Angels

It began like any other day after school.  The air felt warm and the kids wanted to 'go somewhere'.  They talked me into going to Middle River Park where we enjoy walking the trails and hunting crinoid fossils.

Once we arrived, we noticed a gate that said "No Parking" was blocking the entrance to the park.  We've parked in front of this gate before and just walked around the gate to enter.  No bigs. 

While at the park, we followed mysterious animal and human footprints in the snow, explored a run-down wooden playset and threw heavy rocks at the ice covering middle river.   Before long, our fingers were cold and the sun was barely visible.  That's when I heard gun shots and remembered it was shotgun season.  I explained to the kids we needed to get home and that we should race to the mini-van.  We made a game out of it by pretending we were being shot at and if we didn't make it to the van before sunset, we would be trapped in the woods forever.  I'm a weird mom.

We made it before sunset, yet the moment I put the gear in reverse and pressed the gas, I kicked myself.  Sure enough, we were stuck on ice.  We were parked on a steep incline and the road was snow and ice covered.  As panic set in, I floored it at 10-second intervals causing the van to take on the smell of burnt rubber.  We slowly began making progress, but had a long way to go.  Maisie began crying that she might never see blue blankie again.  Ross unbuckled and got up front with me and for a split second I considered asking him to drive the van while I pushed it up the hill.  Can you even imagine?

I kept flooring it until our van was now sideways on the steep hill with another 20 feet to go.  Black burn-outs zig zagged across the the snow path and I could hear the gravel fly each time I pushed the accelerator to the floor of the van.  Eventually, I got out to evaluate the situation and send up a prayer.

That's when looked down the road and noticed a red truck turning around and coming our way.  A young couple hopped out of the truck as I smiled and told them, "My husbands gonna kill me, these tires were already bald."  The woman was smoking a cigarette and looking at me like I was a complete idiot. Within a few minutes, they got me moving as the man yelled, "Go, go, go!"  I hollered out my window gratefully, "Thank you so much!" as I peeled-out off the shoulder of the road and onto the highway.  

With relief in my chest, I decided to explain something important to my kids.

"You know what those people were?" I asked.

"What?" Ross responded.

"Those were angels.  God sent them here to help us."

Ross looked out the back window and asked, "Mom, do angels smoke?