If I have learned one thing this winter, it’s this: next year I will buy snow tires.
While I enjoy a good fishtail out of a parking lot just as much as the next gal, or a slide through an intersection just to keep things interesting, I would prefer it if I never had to veer off the road into an icy snowbank again.
Such was the case recently during my morning commute.
It all happened so fast.
One minute I was on the road singing along to the radio, annoying my teenage daughter, and the next minute my tires hit the smallest patch of ice and slush (or maybe it was the edge of the road that I could not see because of the ice and slush), and before I knew it my car was thrust hard and fast into an embankment of white. Thunk.
And there I sat, a fool on the side of the road as others drove past. Embarrassed.
Proving that you are never too old to need your dad, I pulled my mobile phone out of my purse and called for assistance. I’m not exactly sure what I thought my father was going to do, but he is an avid curler, so maybe I hoped he would bring his broom and sweep me out of this mess. He did not.
However, he did rescue my teenager by taking her on to school.
I sat in my car and texted my friend for a tow truck phone number. She always rescues me in life. Then I had a lot of time to think about some crazy things while parked on the side of the road.
I took a moment to express my gratitude up to the heavens that my child was safe, my car was not damaged and that I now had the fodder for another column – and the limbs intact to write it.
I wondered if the tow truck company was serious when they said an hour wait, which sort of made me feel like less of a loser, because clearly a dozen other drivers had met a similar fate.
Then a man pulled up to be sure I was okay and had a phone to call for a tow, apologizing he couldn’t do more to help me. Assured of my safety, he departed. Moments later, a woman pulled over to do the same.
My spirits were lifted by the kindness of strangers. A Wellington County OPP officer stopped, who thankfully did not pass judgment on my situation, just ensured that I actually had a licence to be in the snow bank. Also assured of my safety, he ventured on.
If angels drive pickup trucks, then I have two of them: Matthew from Elora and Vince from Drayton.
Showing up just minutes apart, the pair got down to the challenge of pulling my wee car out of the deep snowbank.
I insisted they were crazy and it couldn’t be done without a proper tow truck.
Well, never tell guys with pickup trucks that their trucks can’t handle the load: it just becomes a challenge. Add in my friend Kevin who, seeing me on the roadside, decided to get in on the action and helped them direct the car out, and I suddenly had three angels and laughter all around.
Everything, including my car, was going to be okay.
Winter sucks. People do not.