I believe in angels.

We have had very few family holidays. We have never had the sort of income that has allowed us to holiday with 5 kiddies in tow. However when the twins were about 4 months old we did a camping holiday down Yamba way. Camping with babies is not a whole load of fun in my opinion despite the fact we had loaded a cot onto the trailer & they at least were sleeping in comfort. My big boy was perfectly happy so long as I took him swimming in the river & sat in the park so he could play but what I particularly remember about that holiday is coming home.

Now I am something of a nervous driver, mostly because Dearest likes to drive & doesn't believe anyone else is as good a driver so I have never had much practise. The only time I ever got the wheel on long trips was when the sun hit the windshield making visibility difficult. As I had sunnies I got the wheel & endured a running commentry on my driving, something I particularly dislike. If I am given a job I like to be let get on with it, not be told how to do it. This particular trip Dearest did me the honour of promptly going to sleep & leaving me to it. Loaded down with three kids & a box trailer stuffed with camping gear I was hardly travelling fast as I turned of the main highway onto the road that would join us up to the inland highway. As we hit the gravel the car suddenly slewed & we began fishtailing gently from one side of the deserted road to the other. I knew enough not to slam on the brakes. I wasn't even panicking. The road was rising gently & I figured with my foot of the accelerator we would eventually coast to a stop. Meanwhile I just had to keep the car on the road. There was nothing wrong with my plan although the fishtailing was becoming rather pronounced. What was wrong was the semi~trailer that suddenly crested the rise. He was travelling too & I was all over the road like a vulture's dinner!

I saw very clearly the next day's headlines: Family Of Five Perish In Horror Smash. Time, which science continually tells us is different to what we think it is, spagettied out as if I were about to enter a black hole & the cold, logical little voice that lives inside my head began weighing up our options. Take the car off this side & we would roll for sure down an incline. Take it the other way & we would just as surely roll, only into the side of the hill. Neither choice looked pretty.

I do not ask you to believe what happened next. I do know that none of us should logically be here. I was still trying to decide. I could see the white's of the truck driver's eyes. Poor man. There was nothing he could do to try & avoid us. I had absolutely no control over the car. It was all I could do to keep us just on the road & the trailer was headed in a completely different direction to the car. Then two angels appeared out of nowhere. They rode shot~gun on my bonnet. The car steadied for the time it took the truck to wizz past then the angels were just as surely gone & the car was once again all over the road.

Dearest woke & helped me battle the car to the side of the road & we ground to a halt. We had blown the front passenger tire & were lucky to be alive. My children love this story but they always ask the same question ...& I give them the same answer every time. If they thought I had any time to spare for close observation of what an angel looks like they are completely & utterly insane! I retain the barest impression of immense strength & height. I know one was dark skinned & one was fair. I suspect two more were at the back we were held so steady on the road but other than that I know nothing. I don't know why they were sent that day but without them I doubt any of us would have survived & neither Liddy or Cass would ever have been born. It makes you think doesn't it?