A recounting of a pivotal event in my childhood. An event that has made me question reality, faith, & the idea of a coincidence versus something more spiritual.
When I was a child, I grew up in the country side between small Southern Ontario towns. Open farmland, and long open roads. Although we lived out of the way of any major cities, we lived on a main artery regional road that connected small cities and towns. Not quite a highway, as it was just two lanes, but served a similar purpose of getting you between places faster, avoiding the country roads. So although it was very open and quiet, cars would rush past.
We had a big front yard, I’d say about 50–100 metres between our house and the road. We would keep our truck right next to the house.
One seemingly ordinary night when I was 10 years old, circa 2009. My mom was up later than everyone, watching tv in the living room. But for some reason I specifically remember having a hard time getting to sleep. I remember something feeling off. So I lay in bed, in a daze, eyes closed but aware of my surroundings. When suddenly I hear a stir, and my mom opening the front door to leave the house. How bizarre, it had to of been around 11pm, no reason for her to be leaving. So I get up to see what’s going on.
A woman had been driving home from her night shift, and in her exhaustion had fallen asleep at the wheel. Before she knew it, she had swerved off the road, losing control. She veered into our ditch and in an effort to recover, flipped her car over the neighbours driveway and back into the road. My mom heard the commotion and ran outside to help and make sure an ambulance was called and she was okay. Thankfully she just had a few scratches and bruises. Shaken up, she was brought to the hospital and the scene was cleaned up.
Shortly after, everyone in my household was back to bed and everything was normal. As I finally doze off to sleep, maybe an hour later, I’m jolted awake. Our neighbour comes barging into our home, yelling for us to get out of the house. Startled and confused, I realize what she’s telling us “Your truck is on fire, you need to get out of the house before the house catches.” My dad runs downstairs to get my brother and we get out of there. I remember my brother and I running across the front yard bare foot, to take refuge in our neighbours house. As we cross the street, I see remnants of glass from the accident just hours before.
It turns out, the car accident had also woken up the folks across the street. Instead of going straight back inside like our family, they sat on their front porch chatting and having a smoke. When suddenly, out of nowhere, our Chevy Silverado burst into flames a few feet away from our house. The flames quickly grew and the plastic siding on our house began to melt, nearly catching. Now, you may be thinking there must be some sort of connection between accident and the fire. But remember, these incidents occurred far enough away from each other that there’s no way one caused the other.
After our neighbours rescued us, my brother and I sat in their living room waiting for the fire department, while my parents were out front handling the situation. They came in time to put the fire out before it spread to our house.
What are the chances of that woman falling asleep at the wheel and crashing into our ditch? Remember, this is a regional road that connects towns and cities. It’s long and it could have happened anywhere. Had that not happened, our neighbours wouldn’t have been on their front porch in the middle of the night on a weekday in clear view of our truck, able to wake us up and call 911 in perfect timing. Had they not been outside that night, who knows what could have happened. Why was I feeling off and couldn’t fall asleep that night before any of this happened?
Sometimes I think about this and question the idea of a coincidence, spirituality, providence, or someone looking over me and my family that night.