4LTC7965 and Other Acts of Random Kindness

 Here's the deal:  I believe in Angels.  I know everyone has a different name for miraculous things that happen in our lives, but for me, I use the word Angels and God.

And last night our Angel's name as 4LTC7965.

That's right.  And no, it wasn't an escape prisoner from Les Miserables.  It was a huge tractor trailer carrying what looked like thousands of pounds of coiled wires.  I don't know because I never saw very clearly, I just know that he took us through the scariest drive I've ever had between Rawlins and Laramie.  When the wind blew (which it did constantly) so hard that the snow made a wall of completely impenetrable white, I could see his read lights and he saved us from flying off the edge of the road.  He slowed us down as we passed one . . . two . . . four . . . six either over turned or slid off or jackknifed tractor trailers or we came upon stopped cars and trucks in the road.  He took us up and down passes and we sang his praises as Phoebe read scriptures about fear and worry and how God will clear the way before us.

It's 4LTC7965! He's clearing the way before us!  He is on our right and and on our left!  He will bring us safely home! She yelled as gospel music boomed on our stereo.  Joshy Groban, he sang to us all about seeing through the dark night and that if we keep going, the light will come.

Well,  Phoebe said, we have light.  Eight little red lights that are leading us out of this nightmare!

Once I lost them, in a horrible horrible gust of blinding white snow blast.  I couldn't see ANYTHING AT ALL.  I didn't know what to do. But Phoebe and Ashley did.

Find those lights, they screamed!  Even if we crash into him and go over the edge, he'll have a CAB to get into and a RADIO to get help!  Go faster!  Find 4LTC7965!!!

And then they appeared out of the blinding storm, dull little red lights and we all might have shed a tear or two once our hands stopped shaking.

And then, just like it came on, the roads cleared and we were safe.  We couldn't believe it.  We road for about four miles at 45 mph with our flashers on waiting for the blinding blast or the ice encrusted roads . . . and they came, but 50 miles down the road and we were ready again.   So we said good by to our Angel and waved and flashed our lights and I wondered as we went by if he knew that he saved us?

The Road before

The Road BEFORE the storm set in . . . We couldn't take a picture.

Which made me think about tall the Angels that have appeared throughout my life and especially the last six months of my life and I wonder . . . did they know that on that day or moment they saved me? 

Today is one of my friends birthday and on my birthday greeting to him on Facebook (you gotta love that time suck), I reminded him of his random act of kindness to me that I probably tell at least three times a year to someone or another.  This is the act: when he, Jeff, was driving me home from play practice or something, I somehow got my mail and found out that I got into BYU!  He looked at me and said, Well, that is a cause of some serious celebrating! So lets go celebrate.  

I looked over at him.  It was 10 at night and there was no way anything in Deep River, Connecticut was open.  I told him that and he said, Yeah, but there's places in Old Saybrook.  So on a school night, we took off to have Sundays or milkshakes or something like that in Old Saybrook.  We laughed and talked and celebrated.  It was purely spontaneous and purely awesome and kind and generous and just plane old good.

I'm the 7th child and 7th child to go to college.  My parents are not the type to jump up and down and with me being the 7th, they were sort of, like, Good we knew you'd get in and then went back to what they were doing.  I knew they were happy, but I don't think they knew how happy, no crazy insanely happy I was because I was going on an adventure! I was done with New England (don't get me wrong, I love it! and my children think that God only loves New England) and I wanted deserts and mountains and dry skin (I didn't know that I'd hate that part) and air.  I wanted different and new and I GOT IT!  Honestly, I think that might have been one of the happiest moments of my life.

And Jeff saw that and he acknowledge it and made me stop and acknowledge it and feel so good about feeling so crazy relieved/happy/hopeful/thrilled/ebullient.  And I've never forgotten.  In fact, it's one of those pivotal moments in my life where I learned how important it is to stop and say, Wait, this moment is AWESOME and it needs to be ACKNOWLEDGED and CELEBRATED! 

I've never forgotten.  When great things happen to my friends/family/children I make us all stop and do a happy dance around the house and maybe even go out.  Moments of great things in life should be celebrated!

So THANK YOU Jeff for teaching me that.  For being my Angel that night and racing around our towns finding a place to celebrate.

So that's my thought for today . . . 1) if you can, tell anyone who has been or is and Angel to you that they're your Angel and 2) be that Angel for someone else.  Follow your gut and if it tells you to text someone, call someone, bring someone cookies or put $20 buck in the mail for someone who needs it, DO IT!   And 3) stop and CELEBRATE the great things in your life.  Do a happy dance. Yell.  Jump up and down. Eat a big donut or thing of ice cream or just sit in the sun and smile.  If something great has happened in your life, OWN it.

And this is what being in a warm house safe and sound looks like . . . 

My three Angels (who are often not so Angelic)--they make my life . . . with their brothers