9 years to hear the call of fate

somewhere around 2001 or 2002, i stopped at neuse sport shop when i was working down in kinston (when i worked at DOT) and bought a knife for $5.  it is a pretty knife with a wood handle, it folds in half - i put it in the console of my kia and never used it.  then i got an explorer - it moved into that console, still unused.  then we got the vibe.  i haven't really thought much of that knife in a really long time.

it is interesting that quite possibly the events that ended today could have started back in 2001.  we had such a rough morning yesterday.  i was up all night wednesday with a runny nose, sore throat, and a cold.  aches and chills but not really a fever.  i literally blew through 2 boxes of tissues (that is enough to fill up a trash can in case you were wondering).  nathaniel slept on kendal's floor because he had leg aches, holly had a nightmare so she was in the bed with me (remarkably sleeping through my snorts).  this weekend is the walbring family reunion up in indiana. i worked all day saturday so we still had to pack thursday morning (yesterday morning) and both kids were so whiney - we had a tough time getting it done.  we had planned on leaving around 9 or 10, but at 11:11 am, i said "i bet it'll be 2 before we leave!"  this was of coarse as i slung myself on the bed, again, in exhaustion because of how crappy i felt.  nathaniel almost called off our trip because of me and my complaining.  he said to me later "i knew you were sick because of how much you were whining about it!" 

so finally after 12, we were on the road.  nathaniel was driving and the other 3 of us were sleeping.  we woke up in burlington for gas and i turned on a movie for the kids.  i was still achey but we were trecking onward.

we got to the 421 split in winston and we went north.  we were in traffic but we were moving steady about 60 mph, which is the speed limit.  out of nowhere, the car in front of us hit a tire.  it moved about in the road, nathaniel was slowing (but couldn't slam because of traffic) and said "what do i do?" at which point i replied "you have to hit it!" and he did.  it was loud and we went over it (as opposed to it going over us) and within seconds we were bumping along.  we thought we had a flat tire.  we pulled over about 100 feet behind another car who had also hit the tire. 

we did not have any flat tires but we had lost part of our bumper pieces and were concerned our radiator had been damaged (which it had but was still functional).  the hard plastic flaps that protect the underside of your car had been partially separated thus hanging, which was the noise we heard (they were hitting the road).  we knew we (he) had to get them to stay up.  

in front of us was a small white car with plastic hanging off the front.  this small young girl looked at us and walked over.  she asked us if we had scissors, which we did not.  i got in the driver seat and remembered about that knife, wondering if it was in the vibe - at the exact same moment that nathaniel knocked on the window to ask me if we had that knife.  it was in the console!!!  i gave it to him and i followed him in the car as they walked to her car.  he cut off the plastic that was torn away from her wheel well.  that is the first time that knife has EVER been used.

the poor girl didn't have anyone coming to help her.  what if it hadn't been us that stopped?  i know our car was damaged too but what if someone ELSE had a knife and was going to "help" her?  she was so small and young and didn't know what to do. i had that knife i my car to help her!  even if that meant we had to hit a tire and skip our vacation that we had planned for over a year.  i mean, no one was hurt.  we are missing our vacation but we helped someone in the mean time.  we just may have saved her life.  who knows?

you all know im a big believer in fate.  even if it costs $836 for repairs plus the cost of gas to and from winston.  oh, and $5 for the knife.