Angels Among Us

There have been many stories told, books written and films made that depict Angels among us; stories where people have experienced encounters with “Angels”; divine beings who appear during a great time of need and then simply vanish. I do believe that Angels appear at a critical point when the need is great but I also believe that there are Angels that walk among us, grounded in the earth plane, and it is here, among the divine being and the divine human being, that I share one of my many “encounters”.

At 4:14AM EST, Saturday, October 7th, 2018, (I would realize much later, my late Mother’s birthday), Kohlie and I left Port St. Lucie, Florida under the cover of darkness for a 14 hour drive that would take me to Chesapeake, Virginia and the next stop on my yellow brick road saga. North on I-95, one and one-half hours into my drive, there was a sudden noise, a shock of water and steam that erupted from under the hood of my SUV, quickly covering my windshield, obscuring my sight and a temperature gauge shooting towards the red zone at an alarming speed. I was going at least 70 mph. OMG. I immediately released the gas pedal and came to a stop on the shoulder. I then threw the air on full blast and watched the needle come down slowly out of the red, a maneuver I had learned from a long relationship with old and used cars when I was younger. I thought I blew the radiator and with the loss of that amount of water, I was not sure how much further I could realistically go before doing more harm. After a few minutes, the steam had dissipated and I could see the road in front of me. I proceeded cautiously, one eye on the gauge, one eye on the road, thinking to myself how lucky I was that no one, not one car was around and I had the road to myself. Kohlie, normally a deep sleeper while the car was in motion and only acting crazy to get out when it came to a dead stop, was now beside me, having jumped from the back seat, out of his bed and onto the front seat, a bit anxious.

The sun was just rising and I was in between exits, not close enough to any major town or city. Inside my heart was racing, I was unconsciously holding my breath and thought after thought was bombarding my mind; it was too early for anything to be open, I have to get off at the next exit, how far was the next exit, what if there was nothing there when I got off, what if I couldn’t make it to the next exit, what the hell was I going to do, where the hell was I. “Breathe K Frances, just breathe.” I was trying desperately to get my anxiety level down and of course, my mind to be calm and clear. Inhale, Exhale, Inhale, Exhale; the only thought in my head was to breathe. Forty minutes later I saw the sign for the next exit, 1 mile away, but no services indicated. Sigh. I just continued to go with it and just kept my focus on breathing and driving.

I came off the exit and onto a single lane rural road with no signs of help, straining forward in hopes to perhaps see something, see someone, see anything beyond the trees. About a half mile or so further down on my right, a small local gas station with a mart came into view and I pulled on the inside of the first pump island closest to the door and directly behind a grey pick up truck and a tall dark gentleman who happened to be standing beside it. He proceeded to start walking towards me as I shut the engine off..

“Hey, what’s going on with your car?”

I’m not really sure”, I replied. “I think something happened to the radiator.”

He smiled, “Well why don’t you pop the hood and let’s take a look and I’m John, by the way”. I obliged immediately, got out of the car and introduced myself and then he asked me to step back away from the car so that I would not be in harm’s way. I watched him as he lifted the hood and then a funny thing happened; As he stepped forward and took charge, I stepped back and surrendered, fully, to this stranger, to this place and this time. I felt myself exhale all of the anxiety and panic that was consuming me on the inside, leaving me strangely calm, now able to be fully present and bear witness to the sequence of amazing events that were about to unfold all around me.

And so it was that John would explain what he was doing as he began his investigation and he informed me that we had to wait for the car to cool down so that he could pour water into the radiator - apparently if you poured cool water into a hot radiator it could blow it up or worse, a fun fact I had not known. He used this time to go inside the mart to get some water. While he was inside, Linda, the owner of the mart came out, introduced herself and told me two things; first, that I was very lucky that John was here because he was an angel, “Angel John” they called him and second, if I needed anything at all, just let her know.

Kohlie had returned to his bed in the back seat and was just laying there, being quiet - very unlike him. He wasn’t crying, barking or jumping at the open window to get out of the car which was his norm, especially when I was out of the car and within earshot. Just quiet. Hmmmm.

A few minutes later John reappeared with three gallon jugs of water and while waiting, we began to chat. He first asked me where I was heading, noting all the luggage and boxes I was carrying. I explained to him where I was heading and a bit of my journey up till that point. He then told me how lucky I was because he never ever worked Saturdays, (he did his own construction), but today he had a special job that had to get done and the only reason he was at the gas station and especially at this particular time, which, he emphasized, was way earlier than he normally started his work day, was to meet his crew and get them to the job. They never showed up.

A man pulled up to the pump on the opposite side of where we were, to grab some coffee before heading to work. He asked John what was going on and then proceeded to join him under the hood for about 20 minutes until he noticed he was late and had to go. So the water was poured in, I was directed to start the car, let it run, shut it off and then his head was under the hood once again, looking, poking, digging. Other people that had driven up offered to lend a hand or asked how they could help. Linda came out to see how we were doing and John updated her and asked if she had any tools. He followed her back inside to retrieve them and when she followed him back out she told me that, lucky for me, her ex-husband was a mechanic and if we needed, she would give him a holler. He did house calls. Seriously????

I’m lucky, you’re lucky, lucky, lucky….. When I start hearing the same word over and over from multiple people, especially not uttered in the same circle, I become alert and focused on what it is, what is the message begging my attention and “lucky” seemed to be the watchword of the day. But, hellooooo, there wasn’t “lucky”, I wasn’t “lucky''. I don’t believe in luck. I believe that I am blessed……. But perhaps, up until that point, my gratitude had been lacking? Hmmmmm

Almost 3 hours after pulling into this tiny rural station, John had found the problem; a piece of the serpentine belt had ripped off and wrapped around the engine fan which stopped it cold, overheating the car, and he was now trying to use the tools Linda had provided to remove it. He then suggested we move our cars out of the gas islands we had been preoccupying, so other customers could get to them, and we moved our off-road show to the side lot. The sun was now up full enough; it was 9AM, very hot and humid and there was a huge tree at the end of the lot that I noticed was filled with turkey vultures. I thought it best to keep my little dog out of site and again, other than standing in the open door next to him, petting him, keeping him shaded and giving him water now and then, Kohlie stayed put and quiet and I began to wonder if there was something wrong with him but one wrong at a time.

John was successful in finally getting the rogue piece of belt off the engine fan but there was another piece or part partially hidden by the engine that was damaged; he looked on YouTube, did his best, but he was unable to get to it without the right tools. Linda called her ex and 40 minutes later, his partner came riding into the lot on his motorcycle with his tool box strapped on the back. I swear, it was like the knight on the horse riding up to help save the day. House Call!

About forty-five minutes later and me, $100 dollars lighter and so thankful, the mechanic had the right part, the right tools and was able to replace it and I was back to roadworthy status after confirming all that with a bit of a test drive. It was now almost noon, I had been there for almost six hours. During that whole time, besides helping as much as I could, I periodically asked John if he had to be somewhere else and felt bad for taking up his morning, but he told me he wasn’t going to leave me until he saw, with his own eyes, that I was back up running and back on the road.

And so after I expressed my deep gratitude to him, to Linda and all of my angels that day, I stepped back into my car and took leave of the little mart in the middle of Somewhere Florida, where everyone that mattered for me that day, was there, waiting for me and showing up for me. And true to his word, Angel John stood at the front of the parking lot, witnessing my departure and waving until I lost sight of him in my rear view mirror and him, obviously, of me.

Were each and every one of those divine human beings my Angels for that day? Absolutely.

But also weren’t the divine beings, all of the Angels that set up and coordinated every minute detail of that day to occur in exactly the right order, at exactly the right time and at exactly the proper place, and to have the resolution that it ultimately did and for me not to be alone and on my own for any second of it? And what about that Car Mechanic House Call? You decide.

But for the next 12.5 hours and ever since, with Kohlie fast asleep beside me, I thanked all of those divine beings profusely.