My Angel Drove A Pickup
My friend and I spent a summer working at a salmon cannery in Alaska. We were driving back home on the Alaskan Highway, which is a two-lane road through some of the most remote land on planet earth. You are in the middle of nowhere with no way to contact help unless help comes to you. With that in mind, we hit a stretch of road, which had become slippery and we spun out and slammed our car into a cliff face, luckily avoiding sliding off to the right and down the hill, maybe not to be seen, or found for a long time.
We were 100 miles from a town to our north and 75 miles to the next town to our south. One car was close behind us (about 5 minutes) and ignored our frantic waves for help, about a half-hour later, a large truck came by and offered to take us for medical attention, but couldn’t help us with our car.
So there we were. We waited for almost an hour looking out for oncoming cars, which we could see several miles in each direction without any in sight. We had a large Lynx step out of the woods and stare at us. I figured we were done. They’re a lot bigger than you think and my thought was he’s going to eat us both and they’ll never find our bodies, but luckily, he figured we had enough trouble and walked on.
About that time, out of nowhere, a dual axel heavy duty pickup came around the corner and stopped. Keep in mind we had at least 5 minutes to see a car coming in each direction and saw nothing, and we were looking really hard, praying for someone to show up.
The young man jumped out of his truck and said, “you boys look like you need some help, let me get my chains.”
He then jumped into action and hooked chains to our car and to his truck. Before we knew what was going on, he pulled our car off the cliff and into a safe position on the road.
“Start her her up boys, see if she’s good.”
We started the car while he looked for leaks.
“She looks good, boys, nothing’s broken, you’re good to go.” He started wrapping up his chains while my friend and I got some cash to thank this guy for rescuing us.
My friend and I walked over to him and thanked him and I went to hand him $20 dollars as a little “reward” and a big thanks.
“What’s this for?” He asked. I explained that he saved us from being stranded and saved us about five hundred dollars if we had to get towed. I said to use it for gas, have lunch or dinner on us or buy a few beers.
He looked at me like I had two heads. “I don’t need this, what am I gonna to do with this? You keep it, it’s okay. You boys be safe.”
With that, he jumped in his truck and drove around the corner in the same direction we were going.
And that’s when he disappeared. His truck was
g-o-n-e- gone! We thought it was odd that we couldn’t see him ahead of us, but we decided we’d speed up and catch up to him and buy his gas in the next town.
That far north, you never miss a chance to top off your tank, so we knew we’d see him at the station, but we never did. There were no roads to turn off, no one saw him at the gas station, he just disappeared the same way he appeared.
We jokingly said we were visited by an angel because he appeared and disappeared, but I think we were both uncomfortable with the notion we met an angel and didn’t realize it till he was gone, and we spoke very little about it. As the years went by, though, I truly believe I had met one, and as a tribute to him, I carry tow chains in my truck and when I see someone stuck in snow, I make sure I tow them out.
My angel didn’t look like I thought they were supposed to look like, but he saved us that day, and I have never forgotten him. – Sean Homsher 😎
“Do we live in a friendly, or an unfriendly universe? No less a mind than Albert Einstein once said, this is the most important question we can ask ourselves as human beings.
99 Ways To Be Kind, describes 99 different things you can do to make your world a friendlier place. Whether at home or in the car, for yourself, your family, or the planet you live on, here are 99 acts you can now attach meaning and significance to, which will help you feel better and live healthier, all while becoming aware of the multiple opportunities and environments there are to display kindness, and the positive impact that small actions can have nourishing the world’s collective soul.
Saints of all faiths and artists who feel the creative flow of the universe have always known how to do this, but now its time for you and I to become more aware and practice “Random Acts Of Kindness And Senseless Acts Of Beauty,” to make the universe we live in a truly friendly place.”