A Christmas Story

You don't believe in Christmas miracles? That's fine... But let me tell you a story anyways: I got into a car accident today... First off, I'm fine and so is the other driver. The fact that we are both safe is a miracle enough, but then the story gets better...

Let me start at the beginning; I had just purchased my morning cup of coffee in South Pasadena. I was driving back to pick up the family when I was faced with crossing a busy intersection. I looked left, the car there was stopped. I checked right, the car on that side had a left turn blinker on, but was also stopped and waiting. Being an opportunist, I took this as a sign to go ahead... I accelerate into the intersection, and make it past both cars when a BIG WHITE VAN appears out of seemingly nowhere! The van had sped past the "blinker car" where it was blocked from my vision. It all happens so fast! I SLAM the brakes as hard as I can, but it's too late... I spear the van directly in the driver's side door... After the collision, I look up and lock eyes with the other driver. We both hold up our hands, wordlessly telling each other that "We're OK." We then pull over to the side of the road... Exciting right? Well, this is where the story gets good...

Both of us then calmly get out of our respective vehicles. Instead of anger or frustration, both of us show only concern for the other person's safety. Once we confirm that we are both OK, the van driver tells me that this is his company's work van, and that he needs to call his Boss. I of course tell him that is totally fine, as I need to call my wife too. I finish my call quickly and stand idly by as the driver finishes up his call. I overhear some of their conversation... "Yup Boss. We're fine... What? You want to talk to him? Now???" The driver then turns to me and says, "Ummm, the Boss wants to talk to you..." Until this very moment, there was a certain PEACE surrounding this whole situation. Calm and Civility reigned. There was no anger, no tension...until now. As the driver of the van passed me his phone in movie-like slow motion, my mind reeled with negative scenarios... Now I'm thinking, "The Boss wants to talk to me? Right here? Right now? This surely can't be good..."

I receive the phone, take one long cleansing breath, and put my most charming voice on... "Hi, How are you today?" I quip. "I'm fine" the Boss says. "Are you OK?" "I'm good thanks" I reply. Then he says this... "OK, you are not going to believe this..." "Umm OK. What's up?" "So this the last day for this particular van." "What do you mean by that?" I reply. "I mean that this is officially the last day this van will be in service. The guys are actually driving the van right now to the site where the new work van is. They will take what they can salvage from the old van, transfer it to the new van, then this van will be scrapped..." "Oh" I say, not fully comprehending what he is telling me... So the Boss continues, "So what I'm saying is... Don't worry about it." "Umm what?" "I mean it... Don't worry about the damage to the van. We're all good. It is going to be scrapped anyways. Don't worry about it..." I just stood there silently and took it all in... In a court of law, I am at fault. I just caused over 1,000 dollars worth of damage to this vehicle, and now he's telling me "Merry Christmas. Don't worry about it?" At this point, I am beyond incredulous! "Are you serious?" I ask. "Totally" he replies... A wave of relief washes over me and I thank him twenty times over. "Merry Christmas to you" I say. "Merry Christmas to you too, and be safe out there."

No harm. No foul. No police report. No dealing with insurance. All is forgiven. No names were even exchanged...

I hand the phone back to the van driver and shake his hand. I look him in the eye, and tell him to NEVER leave this job because his Boss is a Man unlike any I've met... The driver agreed and we wish each other Merry Christmas once more as we part...

Did that really just happen? Is God really that good? It's a Christmas miracle people!!! Believe it!

I drive away feeling blessed. I drive away feeling watched over. Do I live a charmed life? I certainly do... Christmas miracles do happen. It happened to me today...