memory lane

I like telling stories.  I'm going to do more of it. Starting with this happy and strange memory.

I must have been in about the second grade.  If you've been reading, you know that at this time in my young life, my family was living in Melbourne, Florida.

You don't know that my mother is native to those lands, and much of her family lives in Tampa.  It is only about a two and a halfish hour drive from Melbourne, but as a kid I remember that drive feeling like forever.

My family of six, two boys, two girls, a mom and a dad, would cram into our Ford LTD, which was the same blue as the night sky in Summer, to make the drive.  The routine was pretty much always the same.  My three older siblings sat in a row in the back.  I, being the youngest and littlest and most oppressed (I hope my family is laughing at that one), had to sit right smack dab between my mom and dad.  And the worst part:   no one in the car permitted me to sing.  Even though every song that came on the radio was my favorite, and I absolutely love(d) to sing.

Any who, second grade...we were driving home from Aunt Sharyll and Uncle Charlie's house.  If my memory serves me correctly, we were there for Uncle Charlie's 50th birthday bash.  Quite the party took place on their carport.  And I loved having a go on their old tire swing, despite the fact that it never failed to give me motion sickness.

The party ran late into the evening, so it was approaching midnight when we were heading down the highway and our car broke down, leaving us stranded on the side of the road.  Now, I'm not that old but this was definitely a different time than we live in, even now.  So this scenario, some fifteen years later, could have ended quite tragically.

Not long after my dad and eldest brother began tinkering under the hood, a man pulled over to offer assistance.

My memories after this are somewhat vague.  He told us that he and his family lived on a farm not far down the road, and before I knew it he was driving my mom, myself, my sister, and the younger of my two brothers home to meet his wife.

I remember his wife taking us out on their horses to tour their farm...in the middle of the night.  Our way was lit with flashlights.  We saw pigs.  Huge pigs.

Last I remember the farmer's wife doting on us, and allowing the younger of us to take naps on their couch while we waited to find out about the car.  I think my Uncle came from Tampa to offer assistance.

Before I knew it, we were back on the road, mulling over the strange events that had taken place that night.

I was not very interested in the things of the Lord at this point in my life, but I recall I was very affected by a realization my brother came to when we were back in the car.

"You know," he said, "I prayed for an angel of the Lord to come and help us when our car started having trouble.  And I think the Lord provided in sending that man."