Angels at Our Car Fire
Yesterday was the beginning of what we hoped would be a relaxing one-week vacation in Maine. On the drive up, I commented to my husband, Gary, that I felt blessed, as if there was a Divine presence with us on the trip. I would soon learn that was so true. We had many angels with us (in human form) in the hours to come. Here’s what happened…
Several days ago, Gary, noticed our car was starting a bit rough and brought it in to our mechanic to check it out. It turned out to be the starter motor. It was replaced, declared good to go, and we were set for the trip.
We decided to stop in Kittery, Maine at the local Starbucks for my favorite iced soy latte before we got to our rental cottage just a few miles away. Gary was in the car perusing some maps and I went in to place the order.
As I was standing in line, a woman (Angel #1) rushed in and yelled “There’s a car on fire in the parking lot! Does anyone have an extinguisher?!” Little did I know, it was our car and that our vacation plans were about to get seriously altered.
When I came out, I saw Gary opening the hood of our car. He was instantly enveloped in smoke. Flames were shooting up over his head. It flashed through my mind that we were incredibly blessed that this hadn’t happened even fifteen minutes earlier while we were still on the highway in extremely heavy traffic.
The next few moments were a blur. The manager of Starbucks (Angel #2) rushed out, fire extinguisher in hand, and began spraying the engine with foam.
Meanwhile, Gary somehow located – amidst the tons of vacation stuff – the exact tool he needed to disconnect the battery, which was feeding what he had intuited was an electrical fire. (I have to confess I wouldn’t have known to do that.)
A woman (Angel #3) in a minivan full of kids, yelled out to us, “I called the fire department for you. They’ll be with you shortly. Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Two fire trucks, sirens screeching, showed up just moments later. The volunteer firefighters in Kittery, Maine are absolutely wonderful men. (Angels #4-8) They helped Gary put out the smoldering remains on the car engine. One of the men also happened to be a mechanic. (Angel #9) He quickly diagnosed the problem as a mis-wired starter motor.
They all recommended the “best mechanic in town” (Angel #10) at the local Mobil station. Randy, (Angel #11) from AAA, answered my call to come haul our car. He stayed with us at the Mobil station to make sure we could get a rental car.
Ayden, (Angel #12) the manager at the Mobil station, was incredibly kind and helpful, trying to find a car rental place that was open on a late Saturday afternoon. Alas, we discovered that the nearest rental was an hour away at an airport in Manchester, New Hampshire.
We were a bit daunted at the prospect of a one-hour taxi ride. But no other option presented itself. That was when Randy took Gary aside and offered to drive us there after his shift ended. Did I tell you Randy was an angel?
He got us to the Budget Rental car place at the airport, even escorting us to the counter to make sure we got there okay. A short time later, we drove away in a new Ford Escape and were back on the road to Maine.
After transferring our belongings from our burned-out car to the new one, we drove up the road to our rental cottage. It was now 10:00 at night and we were exhausted, sweaty and hungry. We realized we hadn’t eaten since lunchtime.
As we entered our cottage, we saw a basket of wine, cheese and crackers that Kathleen, (Angel #13) the owner of the cottage, had left for us upon hearing of our travails. We gratefully ate, imbibed, showered, then fell into bed, exhausted.
We awoke to a beautiful, sunny Maine morning. Ahh… life is good.
All is well and all will be well.
Oh, and did I mention that there was an air show going on at the local Air Force base? At the very moment the fire was being extinguished, the Blue Angels http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/ flew in formation directly over us. The whole world seemed to shake from their thunder, and when they were gone, so was the fire.
As I’m typing this, a song just came on the radio, “Angels Who Watch Over Me.” Honest to God…
I feel so blessed… Thank you God.
