Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. ~Psalms 16:1
After we returned from Florida, we began to see some problems with Pegasus. She is sickly and needs some tending. I have been a bit worried this time she may not pull through.
I suppose it is odd to name a vehicle, but we had good a reason to do so. When the Princess had just turned four years old, she began piano lessons with the only teacher who would consider taking a child so young that I could find. I have written about all this previously at Thursday's Child Has Far to Go. What I did not tell about in that story, after the second lesson, Sarah and I were in an accident on the way home.
I was making a left hand turn at a light and I am the type of driver that does not pull out into the intersection until I can make the turn. There were no cars coming and I began to pull out to make the turn. My eye caught motion on the right side and I realized in that nanosecond we were going to be hit broadside. Not only we were hit, but we began tipping over rather gently and the next thing I knew the van was resting on the driver' side and my daughter was screaming behind me. Neither one of us was hurt...well, in my hurry to get back to my daughter, I placed my hand down on broken glass and a day later I had those normal slight aches and pains that happen with things like that. I had to be helped out through the passenger side window after I had handed my daughter to someone to get her out. The Princess was not hurt at all but it was horribly hot that day, and later she was rather upset that they hauled our van away.
The police officer told me I was at fault but that he was not going to cite me. At the time I thought it was strange, but I was still shaken up and concerned about the Princess and my husband was at least an hour away. Traffic was very bad so by the time my husband got there, the accident scene had been completely cleaned up and I was cooling off in the corner store where I had the time to think it all out with a clearer head. During that time it dawned on me that there was no sound before the jeep was crunching metal in the side of my van. You know, you tend to hear the screech of tires and look around hoping you at not the one they are going to hit, right? There was no sound, no warning, just that motion I saw in my peripheral vision.
My husband inspected the crash site for himself and confirmed that the other driver had not touched her brakes at all. The only rubber on the road was from our own tires were she pushed us sideways before we tipped. Obviously, she had not tried to avoid the accident and had her foot on the acceleration as she hit, which made her push on it harder. That and the fact that she had a vehicle that is higher off the road and I had a conversion van that is more top heavy...well, we tipped over.
The other thing that bothered me is that I knew the road was clear before I started my turn, but I remember two vehicles in the right turn lane and the second one might have been hers as the first one was still there after the accident. I think she had popped out of the turn lane, and obviously was not looking straight ahead, where this huge, white, hi-top conversion van was broadside in front of her, when she come into the intersection. Maybe she was looking behind to be sure she was clear that way...?
Now I feel I should tell you why I was rather relaxed as we were being hit. The Lord had been preparing me through dreams and feelings about being hit on that very side and tipping over gently with just the Princess and me for about six months before it happened. My husband during that time moved the car seat from the driver's side to the passenger side and, because of these dreams, I moved it back. I knew we were going to be fine, but I also knew that if the Princess had been on that side, she would have been hurt. The chair had taken the greatest impact and ended up askew in the middle of the van. God's warning protected her.
Anyway, the result was our conversion van was totaled, we had a few extra visits to the chiropractor, and the Princess had fears about tipping over every time we turned, especially if I was driving. We replaced that vehicle with another conversion van, a black one, and I named it "The Panther" so that she would feel a bit more secure because the Panther was strong and protective. It worked well for the following year and, in time, her fears subsided. As much as I wanted to keep the Panther, as it was a great van, I felt the Lord's calling for us to downside about two years later, so we sold it and purchased a white mini-van; all this before we even knew that my husband was to be let go from his job.
Since our last vehicle had a name, this one would need one as well, so the Princess felt, and Pegasus seemed to be appealing to all. Pegasus was only meant to be a second vehicle, as my husband had always had a company vehicle most of the years of our marriage. However, after he lost his job, Pegasus has been our main and only vehicle, as the new job required traveling more by plane. It concerned me when we found out, after the sale, that she was a repo and had been in an accident, but I had prayed about the van and I felt this is the one we were to get. She has her quirks and had a great deal of miles when we first got her, but she has been rather dependable as we put a great deal more miles on her.
Back to today...as you know, we just returned from Florida and we knew it was time for some regular maintenance, changing the timing belt and water pump, but the Pegasus began leaking oil too. I was supposed to take the Princess to piano lessons and go grocery shopping today, so my husband suggested that I stop on the way at the garage we have do our servicing—great Christian people—to have them give her a look-see. We were very concerned because Pegasus is over ten years old with high mileage, so anything really major is probably not going to be worth repairing.
There may be a day that we will have to make a decision to give up on her...I am happy to say that today is not that day after all. Yes, she needs some repairs and she is going to be in the shop all day tomorrow and it will cost us more than we hoped but also far less than we feared. Because of the possible results with her problem, we did not go out for errands after all, but just came back home to let her rest.
I suppose it is odd to name a vehicle, but we had good a reason to do so. When the Princess had just turned four years old, she began piano lessons with the only teacher who would consider taking a child so young that I could find. I have written about all this previously at Thursday's Child Has Far to Go. What I did not tell about in that story, after the second lesson, Sarah and I were in an accident on the way home.
I was making a left hand turn at a light and I am the type of driver that does not pull out into the intersection until I can make the turn. There were no cars coming and I began to pull out to make the turn. My eye caught motion on the right side and I realized in that nanosecond we were going to be hit broadside. Not only we were hit, but we began tipping over rather gently and the next thing I knew the van was resting on the driver' side and my daughter was screaming behind me. Neither one of us was hurt...well, in my hurry to get back to my daughter, I placed my hand down on broken glass and a day later I had those normal slight aches and pains that happen with things like that. I had to be helped out through the passenger side window after I had handed my daughter to someone to get her out. The Princess was not hurt at all but it was horribly hot that day, and later she was rather upset that they hauled our van away.
The police officer told me I was at fault but that he was not going to cite me. At the time I thought it was strange, but I was still shaken up and concerned about the Princess and my husband was at least an hour away. Traffic was very bad so by the time my husband got there, the accident scene had been completely cleaned up and I was cooling off in the corner store where I had the time to think it all out with a clearer head. During that time it dawned on me that there was no sound before the jeep was crunching metal in the side of my van. You know, you tend to hear the screech of tires and look around hoping you at not the one they are going to hit, right? There was no sound, no warning, just that motion I saw in my peripheral vision.
My husband inspected the crash site for himself and confirmed that the other driver had not touched her brakes at all. The only rubber on the road was from our own tires were she pushed us sideways before we tipped. Obviously, she had not tried to avoid the accident and had her foot on the acceleration as she hit, which made her push on it harder. That and the fact that she had a vehicle that is higher off the road and I had a conversion van that is more top heavy...well, we tipped over.
The other thing that bothered me is that I knew the road was clear before I started my turn, but I remember two vehicles in the right turn lane and the second one might have been hers as the first one was still there after the accident. I think she had popped out of the turn lane, and obviously was not looking straight ahead, where this huge, white, hi-top conversion van was broadside in front of her, when she come into the intersection. Maybe she was looking behind to be sure she was clear that way...?
Now I feel I should tell you why I was rather relaxed as we were being hit. The Lord had been preparing me through dreams and feelings about being hit on that very side and tipping over gently with just the Princess and me for about six months before it happened. My husband during that time moved the car seat from the driver's side to the passenger side and, because of these dreams, I moved it back. I knew we were going to be fine, but I also knew that if the Princess had been on that side, she would have been hurt. The chair had taken the greatest impact and ended up askew in the middle of the van. God's warning protected her.
Anyway, the result was our conversion van was totaled, we had a few extra visits to the chiropractor, and the Princess had fears about tipping over every time we turned, especially if I was driving. We replaced that vehicle with another conversion van, a black one, and I named it "The Panther" so that she would feel a bit more secure because the Panther was strong and protective. It worked well for the following year and, in time, her fears subsided. As much as I wanted to keep the Panther, as it was a great van, I felt the Lord's calling for us to downside about two years later, so we sold it and purchased a white mini-van; all this before we even knew that my husband was to be let go from his job.
Since our last vehicle had a name, this one would need one as well, so the Princess felt, and Pegasus seemed to be appealing to all. Pegasus was only meant to be a second vehicle, as my husband had always had a company vehicle most of the years of our marriage. However, after he lost his job, Pegasus has been our main and only vehicle, as the new job required traveling more by plane. It concerned me when we found out, after the sale, that she was a repo and had been in an accident, but I had prayed about the van and I felt this is the one we were to get. She has her quirks and had a great deal of miles when we first got her, but she has been rather dependable as we put a great deal more miles on her.
Back to today...as you know, we just returned from Florida and we knew it was time for some regular maintenance, changing the timing belt and water pump, but the Pegasus began leaking oil too. I was supposed to take the Princess to piano lessons and go grocery shopping today, so my husband suggested that I stop on the way at the garage we have do our servicing—great Christian people—to have them give her a look-see. We were very concerned because Pegasus is over ten years old with high mileage, so anything really major is probably not going to be worth repairing.
There may be a day that we will have to make a decision to give up on her...I am happy to say that today is not that day after all. Yes, she needs some repairs and she is going to be in the shop all day tomorrow and it will cost us more than we hoped but also far less than we feared. Because of the possible results with her problem, we did not go out for errands after all, but just came back home to let her rest.
~ My Lord, thank you for giving us a dependable vehicle and that we have been able to afford its maintenance and repairs. You know our needs, my Lord, and we are trusting you to provide them. ~
