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Doe

“I’ll be late for dinner.”

“Why?” I moaned. It was already velvet-dark and tummies were rumbling.

My husband explained something mysterious happened on his way home from work. While driving on a busy highway something black came out of nowhere and crashed into the side of his truck. The back window of his extended cab shattered and a large dent had been knocked into the side of the truck’s bed, above the driver side back wheel. He speculated that someone sideswiped him or something fell out of another vehicle. After making sure he was okay, I looked up the sheriff department’s non-emergency number for him. He would call back when he knew more.

Picturing him on the highway was painful. It was cold. Cars would zip past indifferently, piloted by drivers distracted by the worries of their days. Maybe it was one of those drivers who did something to my husband and his truck? I stewed and speculated. The phone rang.

“It was a deer.”

It never occured to either of us that an animal was the culprit. The highway was so busy. The timing was quite incredible. The deer managed to miss every other car, darting only feet in between cars in order to perfectly barrel into the side of my husband’s truck. The sheriff’s deputy noted the blood on the glass and hair stuck in the bumper.

After assuring me the truck was in driveable condition, my husband made his way home. Delivered pizza and a very-relieved, very-kissy wife greeted him.

Had he left three seconds earlier, he would have missed the deer. Three seconds later? The front of his truck would have crumpled and his airbag would have deployed. Losing control would have been a given.

The shudder stayed in my spine overnight. I thank God my husband is okay. When he leaves each morning there is a sense of sending him off to battle. He doesn’t meet Barbarian hordes or hairy men named Attila or Genghis. But he fights for us. The foes are clean and housed in cubicles. Office politics are flaming arrows shot his way. When he solves a problem for a client, he solves us through another day, another week, another year. It is thankless.

I am here, warm in our thicket. My eyes search the night. I wait for him to get home.

10 comments to Doe

  • I read this on the Reluctant Bloggers page and was horrified for you all. I agree, we send our men out into the jungle at times (and children too.) So glad he is ok.

  • You’re absolutely right. That’s why our husbands need so much for their wives to be praying for them!

  • Glad all is well! You are right about 3 seconds before/after would have made all the difference–praises to God in this!

  • bkw

    Hopefully husbands are also praying for their wives, without whom there would be no fortified castle from which to sortie.

  • So glad things are ok. A deer hit my car once many years ago and I couldn’t drive it again. (And I say the deer hit me because that’s how it really happened!) Wow, we take for granted the magnitude of 3 seconds way too often.

  • My husband hit a deer a few years ago and totally messed up the front end of his truck. And your right…the difference 3 seconds can make. When I was pregnant with my last baby I got rear ended. I had time to kill and had stopped at a store. I kept thinking that if I hadn’t stopped and just showed up early the accident never would have happened.

  • I am so glad your husband is ok. What a terrifying experience.

  • Thank you for sharing this. My husband works in a very dangerous job – up in trees in all weather – wielding a chain saw – and creating artwork out of forests of overgrown branches. He works out of a bucket truck with lots of moving parts and levers and pulleys. When I pack his lunch and send him off with a kiss – I forget sometimes how much he is doing battle for us. He carries the weight of our business on his shoulders. I try to remember, but it slips away, and I need reminders like this – to be that extra kissy wife when he gets home – and to pray for him throughout the day!

  • lad everything is all right. Praise the Lord for His perfect timing.

  • I agree- going to work- any work has it’s dangers. My husband started saying, “Be careful-it’s crazy out there” to me each morning as I left for work. The one day he didn’t I had a very minor car problem. But since that day, we have never skipped this little ritual because it just reminds us not to take our comings and goings for granted. Each time either one of us comes home again it is a blessing!

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