| Angel Walks Alone |
| The Gardeners Glove |
A reason for the season:
Good people that help others have already been touched in order for them to do it again. I can recall me being a
'vanishing hero' to someone else who never knew what happened.
It was Mother's Day and I had just finished having a nice luncheon with my 72 year old Mother and was traveling
back to my house with her for the weekend. We were all dressed up that day in pretty Spring dresses and new
high heel shoes. Year after year I had been making this trip for an afternoon of fun for just a few short hours to be
with my Mother. We often dressed up on these occasions and did something fun, when on this particular Mother's
Day, fate stepped in.
It was a day I will always remember, but also a day to be thankful for. One person so unplugged from life around
her soon found herself dazed with unsure sights, smells and voices before her.
Traveling at a regular speed I was enjoying my Mother's conversation and laughing at the sight of two cream puffs
sitting on the floor of the front seat that we had taken along for the ride after a full and tasteful lunch just a half hour
before. I noticed from the corner of my left eye three Does (Colorado white tail deer) traveling down along the hill
side heading toward the Highway to cross the road as they always do.
This was not an unusual sight, if you live on the Northwestern side of Colorado; this was an everyday event to see
the wildlife in that area. What was unusual was the event that was going to happen moments from then. There is a
stretch of Highway from my Mother's house to where I lived that from the base to the top of the hill, was 9 miles,
then from the top going down the other side was 9 miles, thus this stretch of road is called "Nine Mile". I have
traveled this part of the country all my life and I just about know every curve and turn to the road.
About 400 yards in front of me coming from the other direction was a car traveling very fast up nine mile. I recall
speaking out and breaking my Mother's conversation in saying, 'they are moving', meaning they are going too fast
up this hill. Over the years I can count on my hand the number of times I ever saw a policeman in that area. It is
always quiet and yet there usually are several passing cars as they travel back and forth from one town to the
other, but today was especially quiet. All I saw before me were three things, the fast approaching car, the road in
front of me and the three beautiful Does off to the left of me ever approaching the Highway as we all seemed to
be at or going to the same place, the highway.
It all happens with the blink of an eye. All of a sudden without warning an explosion was all I could see. The once
beautiful, ever quiet and yet steadfast motion of one animal was now exploding in mid-air before me. The
approaching car had hit the deer with such impact that when the deer hit the windshield of the car, the animal
exploded. I saw pieces of the inside of the deer all over the sky and all over the highway. I slowed down and pulled
off to the side of the road. I recall telling my Mother to stay in the car that I needed to go see if they are alright. I
watched in my side mirror as the car passed me and then slowed down and came to a complete stop sideways in
the road. I felt a need to get out of my car right then and go see if who ever was driving that fast car was okay. As I
stepped onto the pavement with my high heel shoes I could see blood and white matter all over the road. I walked
about four cars length until I reached the other car. There wasn't anyone around that afternoon, no other passing
cars right then, just me, my Mother sitting in the passenger side of my car looking back at me walking up the road
and the person or persons in the car ahead of me in a car that was all smashed up. I had no idea who or how
many people were in that car, I remember my heart was racing as I approached the car, thinking I hope it's not
bad, I hope they are okay, I hope, no I pray they are alive. I now know the feeling an officer has when approaching
any vehicle on the Highway, whether it is a simple traffic violation or an accident. Today it was an accident, but
how bad I didn't know as yet.
I was placed at a certain spot and time of day for no other reason than to comfort another soul. Some may say, oh
it could have happened to anyone, maybe, but it didn't, it happened to me right then for reasons I believe would
ripple some other time, some other place, some other day for another's eyes to see.
I'll try to explain this as simple as it really is. Like standing on a river bank shore and dropping a pebble or small
rock into the shimmering blue waters before you. A wave of circles begins to expand and carry out into larger
circles as the ripple fades into the vast open unknown. All starting from the impact of weight of one object piercing
the water. It's like leaving its own mark upon the very thing that started the cycle, that's a ripple. Life is a ripple if
you take the time to look at everything you do, say or are. You are rippling from one to the other.
Every person you meet has a ripple effect. Every decision you make has a ripple effect. The time that has past
seems of an eternity, but really it is like moments in a span of things. When you look back in time, remembering
memories, you are looking in that rear view mirror of rippling effects.
It was like in some movie you would watch, I approached the car and all I saw was a woman in her late 40's
gripping the steering wheel with both hands. I called out to her, 'Ma'am are you alright'? She never moved, never
turned her head towards me. I called out again and asked her if she was alright and still nothing. I began to bang
on the window with my hand and then I screamed out, "Ma'am are you okay"? She turned and looked at me now
with a cold white face and yet didn't answer me. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. I said "Ma'am" please
unlock the door, she just sat there with her hands clung to the steering wheel. I yelled once more roll down your
window, she turned then and heard me and rolled the window down. A blast of loud music was coming from her
car radio and I frantically looked to see how to turn off the radio. Since it was a newer car, everything looked
unfamiliar to me, but I just kept punching buttons until I finally got the radio to turn off. I then pulled the gear shift
handle to the park position, turned the engine off and looked at the woman. I scanned her to see if she was hurt in
any way, about all I could see is that she was in shock. I talked to her in a very calm voice now and asked her
name; she replied it was "Kay". I said, well Kay do you know what happed? She just kept staring ahead and then
finally said, no. I said, you hit a deer. She said what is that all over the windshield? I looked at her and asked her if
she was okay again, she was now moving around and had opened the car door. She asked me again, what is
that all over my windshield and I finally replied, it is the deer, it exploded on the car. The smell is from the deer.
She wanted to know where the deer was and I said, it's lying in front of your car dead. I kept talking to her, telling
her that the car was totaled, but she was okay. I asked her where she was going, she said to Grand Junction
(about 200 miles away) to see her Mother for Mother's Day. I asked her where she was from and she said
Rawlins, this surprised me later when I was thinking about her going so fast up nine mile and not watching out for
the animals. Then I recalled the loud radio and thought to myself, all this woman did was turn off life. She was in
her own little world inside her new car and she never saw the three deer, never even saw me driving the opposite
direction, if you were to ask her.
Within a few more minutes there was a truck that slowed down and I asked "Kay" to stay in her seat and I walked
over to the person in the truck and asked if they had a cell phone and would they please call for an ambulance and
the Highway patrol. They never came up to see "Kay" or the car right then, they kept dialing and then said, it isn't
going through, must be the hill making it out of range. They said they would drive over the hill and get help. I stayed
with Kay and she wanted a box of tissues as she was crying now and very upset. I asked her where the tissues
were and she said in the trunk of my car. I again asked her to stay in her seat, but she wanted to see the deer. We
both walked to the back of the car and she opened the trunk and I saw two overnight bags, one had turned over
and pills were spilling out of it. I thought, oh great she is diabetic or something. One never knows what one will
find. I made her go back to the car and sit down; she was crying and shaking so hard. I kept reassuring her that
help was on the way and that they would tow her car to Meeker, the nearest town and she could call her Mother
from there. It seemed like forever, but finally the truck came back and said, the police where on their way.
I recall looking at my car over to the side of the road and wondering how my Mother was. She wouldn't have done
so well seeing all this. There was so much blood and matter from the deer exploding covering the Highway that it
almost made you sick to your stomach. The smell was unbelievable. Something inside of me said, everything is
okay and I should care for my Mother now.
The person in the truck was standing by "Kay" and looking at the deer and the condition of the car. I leaned over to
Kay while she was sitting still and more quiet now and said, "Kay" I have to go see how my 72 year old Mother is,
she is waiting in my car just down the road from here, she is on oxygen and I am worried about her. You are okay
and an officer is on the way, this nice man is going to stay here with you and I just want you to know that everything
is going to be okay. She looked at me and asked my name, I said it's Dianne, I'm from Hayden and I'm the only
redhead named Dianne in the town, that made her laugh. I could see the police car coming around the bend with
the flashing lights on and as I put my arms around Kay and gave her a big hug, I remember thinking, all is okay
here.
The beautiful Doe that once tripped through the brush was forever gone, but Kay was alive and okay. I walked with
both my legs shaking down the road to my car and looked in the window and saw my Mother sitting there eating
her cream puff. I just shook my head and laughed and sat down in my seat and gave a sigh then said, she's okay
Mom, she was in shock, but she's okay. She never knew what hit her.
All the way driving home my Mother talked and talked and we exchanged the day's events, but somewhere in it all
my heart was numb. My only role in the day's event was to comfort a woman and I had done that.
As a ripple began I know that somewhere down the line another ripple from this one will begin again. Kay will do
something good for someone else sometime and all will be okay there too.
She may never lay eyes on me in her future, but how many of us can say we had the same thing happen, maybe a
different story, but the same thing in that you don't have to be recognized to be a hero. I was the first thing that Kay
saw after she awoke from her daze, I will remain a mystery to her, but that is okay, because Kay is okay. Life is so
precious that in one moment her life as well as the deer's could have been taken, but for what ever reason on that
day it wasn't to be that Kay died, only the deer and I was there to comfort Kay.
I truly believe we are all put here for different reasons, each having their own role in a rippling experience, called
life. Why are certain people put in one place at one time? Simple, a ripple begins. Why does one have a hero
"come out of nowhere" to help them and then never to be seen again? You don't realize how you touch another's
life until one touches yours.
Good people that help others have already been touched in order for them to do it again. I can recall me being a
'vanishing hero' to someone else who never knew what happened.
It was Mother's Day and I had just finished having a nice luncheon with my 72 year old Mother and was traveling
back to my house with her for the weekend. We were all dressed up that day in pretty Spring dresses and new
high heel shoes. Year after year I had been making this trip for an afternoon of fun for just a few short hours to be
with my Mother. We often dressed up on these occasions and did something fun, when on this particular Mother's
Day, fate stepped in.
It was a day I will always remember, but also a day to be thankful for. One person so unplugged from life around
her soon found herself dazed with unsure sights, smells and voices before her.
Traveling at a regular speed I was enjoying my Mother's conversation and laughing at the sight of two cream puffs
sitting on the floor of the front seat that we had taken along for the ride after a full and tasteful lunch just a half hour
before. I noticed from the corner of my left eye three Does (Colorado white tail deer) traveling down along the hill
side heading toward the Highway to cross the road as they always do.
This was not an unusual sight, if you live on the Northwestern side of Colorado; this was an everyday event to see
the wildlife in that area. What was unusual was the event that was going to happen moments from then. There is a
stretch of Highway from my Mother's house to where I lived that from the base to the top of the hill, was 9 miles,
then from the top going down the other side was 9 miles, thus this stretch of road is called "Nine Mile". I have
traveled this part of the country all my life and I just about know every curve and turn to the road.
About 400 yards in front of me coming from the other direction was a car traveling very fast up nine mile. I recall
speaking out and breaking my Mother's conversation in saying, 'they are moving', meaning they are going too fast
up this hill. Over the years I can count on my hand the number of times I ever saw a policeman in that area. It is
always quiet and yet there usually are several passing cars as they travel back and forth from one town to the
other, but today was especially quiet. All I saw before me were three things, the fast approaching car, the road in
front of me and the three beautiful Does off to the left of me ever approaching the Highway as we all seemed to
be at or going to the same place, the highway.
It all happens with the blink of an eye. All of a sudden without warning an explosion was all I could see. The once
beautiful, ever quiet and yet steadfast motion of one animal was now exploding in mid-air before me. The
approaching car had hit the deer with such impact that when the deer hit the windshield of the car, the animal
exploded. I saw pieces of the inside of the deer all over the sky and all over the highway. I slowed down and pulled
off to the side of the road. I recall telling my Mother to stay in the car that I needed to go see if they are alright. I
watched in my side mirror as the car passed me and then slowed down and came to a complete stop sideways in
the road. I felt a need to get out of my car right then and go see if who ever was driving that fast car was okay. As I
stepped onto the pavement with my high heel shoes I could see blood and white matter all over the road. I walked
about four cars length until I reached the other car. There wasn't anyone around that afternoon, no other passing
cars right then, just me, my Mother sitting in the passenger side of my car looking back at me walking up the road
and the person or persons in the car ahead of me in a car that was all smashed up. I had no idea who or how
many people were in that car, I remember my heart was racing as I approached the car, thinking I hope it's not
bad, I hope they are okay, I hope, no I pray they are alive. I now know the feeling an officer has when approaching
any vehicle on the Highway, whether it is a simple traffic violation or an accident. Today it was an accident, but
how bad I didn't know as yet.
I was placed at a certain spot and time of day for no other reason than to comfort another soul. Some may say, oh
it could have happened to anyone, maybe, but it didn't, it happened to me right then for reasons I believe would
ripple some other time, some other place, some other day for another's eyes to see.
I'll try to explain this as simple as it really is. Like standing on a river bank shore and dropping a pebble or small
rock into the shimmering blue waters before you. A wave of circles begins to expand and carry out into larger
circles as the ripple fades into the vast open unknown. All starting from the impact of weight of one object piercing
the water. It's like leaving its own mark upon the very thing that started the cycle, that's a ripple. Life is a ripple if
you take the time to look at everything you do, say or are. You are rippling from one to the other.
Every person you meet has a ripple effect. Every decision you make has a ripple effect. The time that has past
seems of an eternity, but really it is like moments in a span of things. When you look back in time, remembering
memories, you are looking in that rear view mirror of rippling effects.
It was like in some movie you would watch, I approached the car and all I saw was a woman in her late 40's
gripping the steering wheel with both hands. I called out to her, 'Ma'am are you alright'? She never moved, never
turned her head towards me. I called out again and asked her if she was alright and still nothing. I began to bang
on the window with my hand and then I screamed out, "Ma'am are you okay"? She turned and looked at me now
with a cold white face and yet didn't answer me. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. I said "Ma'am" please
unlock the door, she just sat there with her hands clung to the steering wheel. I yelled once more roll down your
window, she turned then and heard me and rolled the window down. A blast of loud music was coming from her
car radio and I frantically looked to see how to turn off the radio. Since it was a newer car, everything looked
unfamiliar to me, but I just kept punching buttons until I finally got the radio to turn off. I then pulled the gear shift
handle to the park position, turned the engine off and looked at the woman. I scanned her to see if she was hurt in
any way, about all I could see is that she was in shock. I talked to her in a very calm voice now and asked her
name; she replied it was "Kay". I said, well Kay do you know what happed? She just kept staring ahead and then
finally said, no. I said, you hit a deer. She said what is that all over the windshield? I looked at her and asked her if
she was okay again, she was now moving around and had opened the car door. She asked me again, what is
that all over my windshield and I finally replied, it is the deer, it exploded on the car. The smell is from the deer.
She wanted to know where the deer was and I said, it's lying in front of your car dead. I kept talking to her, telling
her that the car was totaled, but she was okay. I asked her where she was going, she said to Grand Junction
(about 200 miles away) to see her Mother for Mother's Day. I asked her where she was from and she said
Rawlins, this surprised me later when I was thinking about her going so fast up nine mile and not watching out for
the animals. Then I recalled the loud radio and thought to myself, all this woman did was turn off life. She was in
her own little world inside her new car and she never saw the three deer, never even saw me driving the opposite
direction, if you were to ask her.
Within a few more minutes there was a truck that slowed down and I asked "Kay" to stay in her seat and I walked
over to the person in the truck and asked if they had a cell phone and would they please call for an ambulance and
the Highway patrol. They never came up to see "Kay" or the car right then, they kept dialing and then said, it isn't
going through, must be the hill making it out of range. They said they would drive over the hill and get help. I stayed
with Kay and she wanted a box of tissues as she was crying now and very upset. I asked her where the tissues
were and she said in the trunk of my car. I again asked her to stay in her seat, but she wanted to see the deer. We
both walked to the back of the car and she opened the trunk and I saw two overnight bags, one had turned over
and pills were spilling out of it. I thought, oh great she is diabetic or something. One never knows what one will
find. I made her go back to the car and sit down; she was crying and shaking so hard. I kept reassuring her that
help was on the way and that they would tow her car to Meeker, the nearest town and she could call her Mother
from there. It seemed like forever, but finally the truck came back and said, the police where on their way.
I recall looking at my car over to the side of the road and wondering how my Mother was. She wouldn't have done
so well seeing all this. There was so much blood and matter from the deer exploding covering the Highway that it
almost made you sick to your stomach. The smell was unbelievable. Something inside of me said, everything is
okay and I should care for my Mother now.
The person in the truck was standing by "Kay" and looking at the deer and the condition of the car. I leaned over to
Kay while she was sitting still and more quiet now and said, "Kay" I have to go see how my 72 year old Mother is,
she is waiting in my car just down the road from here, she is on oxygen and I am worried about her. You are okay
and an officer is on the way, this nice man is going to stay here with you and I just want you to know that everything
is going to be okay. She looked at me and asked my name, I said it's Dianne, I'm from Hayden and I'm the only
redhead named Dianne in the town, that made her laugh. I could see the police car coming around the bend with
the flashing lights on and as I put my arms around Kay and gave her a big hug, I remember thinking, all is okay
here.
The beautiful Doe that once tripped through the brush was forever gone, but Kay was alive and okay. I walked with
both my legs shaking down the road to my car and looked in the window and saw my Mother sitting there eating
her cream puff. I just shook my head and laughed and sat down in my seat and gave a sigh then said, she's okay
Mom, she was in shock, but she's okay. She never knew what hit her.
All the way driving home my Mother talked and talked and we exchanged the day's events, but somewhere in it all
my heart was numb. My only role in the day's event was to comfort a woman and I had done that.
As a ripple began I know that somewhere down the line another ripple from this one will begin again. Kay will do
something good for someone else sometime and all will be okay there too.
She may never lay eyes on me in her future, but how many of us can say we had the same thing happen, maybe a
different story, but the same thing in that you don't have to be recognized to be a hero. I was the first thing that Kay
saw after she awoke from her daze, I will remain a mystery to her, but that is okay, because Kay is okay. Life is so
precious that in one moment her life as well as the deer's could have been taken, but for what ever reason on that
day it wasn't to be that Kay died, only the deer and I was there to comfort Kay.
I truly believe we are all put here for different reasons, each having their own role in a rippling experience, called
life. Why are certain people put in one place at one time? Simple, a ripple begins. Why does one have a hero
"come out of nowhere" to help them and then never to be seen again? You don't realize how you touch another's
life until one touches yours.
| Helping Hands |
| Take The Thyme |
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| My personal journal of thoughts for my son. |