Only In The South.....

^"30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and ^[a]beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. ³¹ And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³² Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion,..."  The story of the Good Samaritan is one of my favorite Bible stories.  Yesterday I saw it in action and knew why I love living in the south.  There is no place on earth like it.  You see, I left my house early yesterday....10 til 5,  because I had some things I wanted to get done before the kids arrived at school.  The sun seemed late rising but I was enjoying XM The Message on my radio.  From Wadley on there was a work truck behind me that seemed to be following a little too close.  They had a few opportunities to pass but seemed to just hand back behind me.  Somewhere just outside of Daviston  I spotted a female deer on the left side of the road.....I began to slow because they are known to jump out in front of you.  I would not know how true thought was until....from out of nowhere.....came a charging male deer.  I slammed on my brakes, screamed like a banshee, threw my left arm up to protect my face from getting hit with the air bags....and I hit him square in the center of my hood.  I stopped on the side of the road and so did the work truck behind me.  The two men jumped out and instead of asking which way the deer went were genuinely concerned with how I was.  I told them I was fine and they quickly assessed the damage to my car and decided it needed to be moved across the road and out of the path of on-coming traffic since the radiator was steaming and hissing.  The hood holder had punctured the radiator.  GREAT!  .  Bless their hearts....When I realized  exactly what happened and saw that I had service I called Frank and came unglued.  The two of them just stood there and looked so sad for me.  Frank told me he was on his way and to call 911...which I did.  It was now 6:30.  911 was lovely and she connected me with the Alabama State Troopers office.  They assured me someone was on the way.  I told the men waiting with me that they could go about their lives....they were headed to a class in Clanton and had to be there at 8.  They told me they were staying til Frank got there....and they did.  Only in the South would you find strangers like this.  They were so nice.  They asked for nothing....they were just there with me....and I felt safe!  I was so shaken that all I remember is one's first name (Ronnie) and one's last name (Wheeles) and that they were from Wadley and Lineville.  I would love to write them each a Thank You note....but alas.  When Frank arrived they explained to him what they saw, and then they were gone.  The time was 7:02. Two hours later the High Patrol arrived, took my report and called the wrecker.  The wrecker was there about an hour later, loaded up my little HHR and we followed it to Norwood's Body Shop where we left it and picked up a Chevrolet Cruze rental.  If I ever thought about owning a Cruze believe me that thought is gone.  It is one of the most miserable rides I have ever had.  It drives like a dream....but feels as if you are sitting on a concrete block.  Living in the South is a place where....your neighbors bring you food when something is wrong, folks stop and check on you if there is a strange car in your drive....I love living in the South.  This morning I was really nervous heading to school.  It was so foggy.  Right past Clark Brothers Meats I saw three deer standing on the side of the road and almost turned around and went back home.  I drove very slowly heading down Hwy 22 and every single mailbox freaked me out.....I thought they were deer.  I will never fuss at a slow driver again.....who knows....they might have hit one too and be just as skittish as I am.  Many valuable lessons were learned in the past couple of days....and I truly believe....it was a God Thing!