I was telling the crows about the "birthday" when I was 10. I hadn't planned on it, but this is being posted on my 65th birthday. I wore my favorite blue shirt dress, and my sisters, my Mom and I were out for a walk on our hill...and oh look! Wasn't that Dr. Lam, one of my favorite people, waving to us?
My mother habitually stretched out her arms on both sides and bent down slightly at the waist to look both ways for traffic before starting across. My younger sister was on her left, and my older sister was on her right, but she hadn't been able to reach me, who had been a split second too fast and started to dart across without looking.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH! whump!
When my mother looked up, I stood, half frozen in the middle of the road. I had seen the speeding car at the last instant and jumped back. It had hit my dress as it whizzed by. I can still feel the contact it made, inches away from my skin. The car came to a stop by the side of the road, the person at the steering wheel, sure he had hit the little girl who dashed in front of the car.
"I'm so sorry she scared you like that!" My mother apologized profusely to the driver.
"Th-then she's okay?" He was too relieved to get angry. "J-just tell her to be more careful." He started the engine and was gone.
Dr. Lam, a missionary, called us together by the side of the road and thanked God for protecting me. He'd witnessed a near tragedy. My father, another missionary, did something else that evening. It wasn't my birthday, but he had bought a cake to celebrate God's saving Junie's life today--and I remember seeing Daddy cry.
