Life can change in a split second. My wife Pat and I experienced this first-hand a few weeks ago while visiting friends. How could I summarize? Shock. Utter shock.
No time to think. No safety net. No “alternative plan.” No way to do anything but surrender to the moment. And yet… unimaginable Mercy.
Here’s the story…
Just two weeks after returning from exhilarating experiences in Rome and in other Italian cities, we drove to Fredericksburg, Texas, to enjoy a relaxing visit and party at a friend’s wonderful, rural hilltop home with a fabulous view of the Texas Hill Country.
Life Can Change in a Split Second!
Arriving in Fredericksburg a little before 5 PM, we headed first to check in at the Inn on Baron’s Creek Hotel. I remembered it being on the left side of Highway 87 but then saw it on my right, so I turned off onto a side street and turned around so that I could go directly across Highway 87 into the Inn.
Simple enough.
At this location, Highway 87 is a six-lane road with four driving lanes and a parking lane on either side.
I carefully looked right and then left, allowing some traffic to pass. Again looking to my right then left, it was clear. No visible traffic. None! I started into the intersection, across the parking lane and into the first traffic lane. BAM! We were suddenly broadsided full-force by a car traveling at a high rate of speed; traveling so fast that I only had a split second to see it before impact!
The impact was hard and fast. Side airbags immediately deployed, just as we began to feel the impact of the speeding car.
The car rammed into our 2023 Ford Expedition on the driver’s side, just behind the passenger seat at the rear wheel well, spinning our car around and knocking the Expedition some 75 feet from the point of impact and in the direction from which we were coming, stopping just two inches from another car in the parking lane.
As our car settled to a stop, it took some seconds for me to open my eyes and look across to Pat who was just at that same moment asking me, “Are you alright?” I asked the same question to her, in the same instant. As we each looked and felt to see if there were any broken bones or blood, we responded to each other, “I think I’m OK!”
What then seemed like several minutes—but which in reality was probably only seconds—we remained pinned into the car, unable to see outside on either side because the deployed air bags closed us in. We were unable to get out of the car!
Cocooned in the Car
Interestingly, instead of either of us being agitated or emotional, there was this unusual sense of calm for both of us. It was as if God was telling us, you are safe, and I am with you!
We then heard someone open the driver’s side door and ask if we were all right. It was Anthony, a complete stranger who happened to be a retired EMS gentleman from New York now living in Fredericksburg (we could not see him because of the air bags). He comforted us and said something like “I cannot cut the airbag until the local EMS arrives and tells me it is OK.”
Anthony went around and opened all four doors to be sure there were no gas fumes building. It was an eerie feeling! After some minutes, the local EMS arrived and said they could cut the air bags and let us out, which they did.
What about the car that hit us?
While cocooned, stuck in our car, we were able to see out of the front windshield. We saw the smaller foreign model car (later determined to be a Mitsubishi) which had hit us full force.
There were no tire skid marks. The car that hit us did not put on the brakes!
The Mitsubishi was clearly totaled, but amazingly the four people in that car appeared to be OK. My car had the frame bent at the rear axle and the drive shaft disconnected; it was totaled.
After finishing with the EMS and police, we asked the wrecker driver to pull into the hotel, which he did, then he helped unload our things from our car before it was towed away on the wrecker trailer.
Still shaken but calm, we checked into the hotel, got to our room and then called an Uber to take us to the hospital emergency room. There, we were fortunate to receive really good care at the Fredericksburg hospital and after physical exams for both of us by the ER physician, x-rays and CAT scans, they checked us out, and we were released from the hospital. Pat let our friends know what happened and that we would not be coming to the party.
“Thin Spaces”
Needless to say, it had been a most unexpected evening. As Pat and I now have had time to collect our thoughts, we realized that each of our Guardian Angels had been working overtime for us that evening.
Had the impact been just a few feet closer to the front of the car it is likely I would not have been writing this column. There is no doubt in our minds that God protected us that evening.
When Pat and I shared about the wreck with a wise Priest, he commented that in life there are times when each of us has what he calls “thin spaces” and that is when we are closest to God. This had definitely been a thin space moment with God for Pat and me.
Pat and I recognize that God left us here on this earth for us to complete as best we can the work now on going with our children, grandchildren and great granddaughter. And also, to finish raising funds to pay for the St. John Paul II Life and Family Center’s Marathon Building and Programs so that there can be this particular special place in Austin to care for expectant mothers and to save babies lives for decades to come.
Renewed Conviction and Gratitude for Our Opportunity to Witness to the Truth
Pat and I believe God has given us this chance and we are going to make the most of it to witness to the Truth; to the unchanging Truth from which our modern culture is driving people away.
Prior to the accident, while on our Italy adventure, we experienced many marvelous places and events and three of those especially capture some of the Truths that people need to learn about:
- True, Powerful Historic Reality. In Venice, at St. Mark’s Cathedral, we saw how the art inside the Cathedral told the Bible stories of salvation history, both Old and New Testaments, through the time of Jesus Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.
- Our Lord living and present in Holy Eucharist. In Milan we went to see Leonardo de Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper, preserved from destruction by the bombing during WWII, which depicts Jesus institution of the Eucharist which occurs during every Mass as the host, water & wine become the Body and Blood of Christ.
- Saint John Paul II and his powerful intercession. In Rome at St. Peter’s Basilica, we received the Eucharist as we attended Mass at the tomb of St. John Paul II, where I had the special privilege to do the readings before the Gospel during the Mass.
Looking Ahead
Please help us to continue this dream for the JPII Life and Family Center so it remains a reality. Go to the QR 
code to see how you can help.
I invite you to focus on the Gospel of May 4, 2024, (the day of our car accident). The Reflection of the Day, in the words of St. Francis de Sales were as follows:
“Do not fear what may happen tomorrow. The same loving Father who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings.”
We thank God for all our blessings and realize we must go forward and BE NOT AFRAID!
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