How My Husband’s Mid-Life Crisis Car Saved My Life

This car was never supposed to happen.

I still remember the day my husband Doug broached the topic.

“I really want to get a fast sports car.”

Doug has always been a bit car obsessed, but a two-seater for a family needing at least three seats? We were definitely outside the practical zone.

I had just come back from a meeting where a psychologist talked about how our brain works in our teens, 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s. And on the list for men in their forties, mid-life crisis zone: fast sports car.

“Babe, I don’t think a 2-seater sports car is right for us. We’ve got college to be saving for and other expenses right now,” I replied in a firm tone still trying to figure out if he was testing the waters or whether it had turned into a full blown obsession.

“But I really want this car,” he countered back. It was definitely an obsession.

“You know what… I’ll make you a deal. If you can make enough outside of our normal monthly income after tithing and taxes to buy the car outright, you can get any car you want.”

He agreed. Decision made. Big relief. No chance of a flashy sports car entering our future.

Nine months passed. I remember sitting at the desk in our home office when Doug came in the room.

“So what color do you want to get?”

I looked bewildered. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, we can get the car babe! I had an investment come through, and we can get the car. What color do you want?”

I sat shocked. This couldn’t be happening. It was the impossible challenge. The one that could NEVER be achieved. But we had made an agreement. And he achieved the impossible. There was no going back now. A super charged sports car would soon be in our garage.

He picked a red convertible. Oh my.

“The Cat” as Doug liked to call it started with a roar followed by a purr. I had to contain my eye rolls and head shaking in disbelief each time he started it up. I had only driven it a couple times so when our friend Therese from Australia visited, she and I decided to take it out for a spin on a perfect Sunday afternoon.

I put the convertible top down, and we headed out. Our hair blew in the wind giving that carefree feeling as we cruised down the road in this powerful machine. We decided to get on the freeway and head to Costco for a $1.50 hot dog.

I was driving in the center lane cruising close to the speed limit. As I glanced down for a split second at the radio and pushed a button to turn the station, Therese said, “Mate, look up.”

A sheet of plywood the size of the entire car was moving at 65 mph and coming right for us. The car hauling a trailer in front of us hadn’t tied down their load. The wood caught air and in seconds would be landing directly on top of our heads.

There was no going forward.

I did the only thing one can do when faced with decapitation by a flying wood board the size of a queen size mattress. I swerved abruptly to the left lane marveling at the quick maneuverability of a car that never should have been a part of our life.

The sheet of wood missed the car by less than 2 inches as it slammed to the ground. If I’d have been driving our SUV, we wouldn’t have made it to the next lane in time. “The Cat” saved our lives.

A song about God’s amazing grace played on the radio as I said, “Isn’t that the truth?”. My friend and I looked at each other shocked replaying the unexpected minute our lives almost ended forever. It wasn’t our time to go.

That car came and went in our life in less than a year – whew! prolonged mid-life crisis averted – but the memory of that day remains. You never know when your time may be up. Only God knows. It could be after a long battle with an illness. It could be at the end of a long and well lived life. Or everything can change in a split second.

“When it’s time to die, let us not discover that we have never lived.”     – Henry David Thoreau

How would you live differently if you knew today would be your last day?

Categories: Faith grace
Tags: appreciate life, mid-life crisis car,

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