My Guardian Angel

I would like to tell everyone about an experience I had a few years ago that will no doubt be seen as mere coincidence. In fact, one may notice that many of these testimonials place a large degree of faith in the reader as to whether they are true or not. Either the person was alone or unconscious while the experience took place. Those that have a verifiable witness may still be viewed as simply a cooperative “friend”. As much as I myself tend to be overly critical in these same ways, I have become more open-minded toward these paranormal occurrences. The story that follows should explain why.

My family and I lived in Richmond County, North Carolina, with my job based in Moore County. My drive consisted of mostly back roads through only one city, which could also be avoided very easily. For one hour and twenty minutes (forty minutes each way) every day, I could drive and look at countryside, woods, creeks, a natural spring, wildlife and never see one stop light if I didn’t want to. I had, in fact, seen many animals on these drives that I would normally not have seen except in a zoo or on the nature channels.

But one day, on a long stretch of straight, single white-dotted road, that part where I would normally speed up to say 60 (yes, I had a lead foot), I saw something more normal to see, at first. A boy on a bike. I remember his black hair, the red bike, his striped shirt, blue jeans, black shoes, and that he was close to that solid line before the shoulder on my side. Naturally, I slowed down. I have kids of my own, and I would want the same respect from anyone else. I also steered more than halfway over to give him a wide birth. As I went past him, I can remember the expression on his face as being one of a child riding a bike. Yeah, that was all, but you’d all know that expression. Lively, working hard at playing, youthful and glowing.

Glimpsing back at the boy would have been considered rubbernecking, wouldn’t it? Yeah I tried that too, while driving. I also distinctly remember wondering where he was going, with no homes close by, no driveways, no dirt roads. I had passed one home maybe a few hundred yards back, and there was another with a long driveway coming up, but no matter. As I looked in the rear-view mirror, that boy was gone. I looked in my side mirror, he wasn’t there either, as though I would be able to see him in one but not the other. In fact, that’s what I thought now that I think of it. Still, not knowing where he could have gone to, I turned in my seat again to look with my own two eyes where I had last seen him. Sure enough, gone. But where?

Now focused on my driving, as these country roads are known for their curves and unexpected travelers, I approached the upcoming curve at the slowed speed I maintained for the sake of the boy. The next curve was a routine brake operation for me, a hairpin of a turn, so I knew I had better slow down some more. Not a hundred yards away from this turn, I was greeted by a sight of fear, anxiety, and urgency. A huge furniture truck, or delivery truck at least, came barreling around it and teetered slightly on its wheels, careening into my lane. It only managed to make it back into its own lane a few feet from my front bumper, with my vehicle almost to a complete stop.

My heart pounding, my foot shaking on the pedal, my hands pulsing madly on the steering wheel, I made it around the hair pin curve very cautiously, and shook it off all the way to work. No further incident, nor on the return trip home that night. But once I had gotten home, I told this story to my family with much eagerness, much excitement. Expressing that I now had proof in my heart that Angels do indeed exist. For if I had not slowed for the little boy on the bike, my car and the delivery truck would have met in the hair pin curve, and given our speeds no one would have survived. I was asked if I had seen the boy before or since, if I even looked again when I came back by that night. The answers of course were yes, but that too was no matter. For his purpose had been served. And everything in life has their own reason. It is up to each of us to recognize that, and have faith in what we believe.