I think I used up my first of nine lives this afternoon. A fellow teacher and I were driving down to WI Dells for a conference and the roads were very slick. She was driving due to the fact that my car wouldn't start this morning, which I thought might be better as she had an SUV. We were merging onto I-39 South and when we got onto the Interstate we sought to merge to the left lane to pass a semi. As we did, we hit a patch of ice and began to spin. We probably spun three to four times when I thought we were going to make it, until we were perpendicular with the traffic and I turned over to my left to see a semi about to smash us. It did, we went into the ditch, down a large embankment, hit a fence, and stopped. Fortunately, neither of us were injured, we both walked away unscathed. I am now home after a nerve-wrecking two-hour drive home on the same icy roads, no conference for me this weekend.

A few thoughts on that whole incident:

First, the grace of God. If that semi hits the driver side five feet further up, she may be in very serious condition. It could not have hit us in a better place. No airbags went off, we didn't roll, the slide down the very steep embankment was gradual, etc. I continued to be humbled in His Presence.

Second, the idea of having one's back came to mind as Meaghan called her mother to pick us up. Just about a year ago I went to an At-Risk conference and heard the keynote speaker talk about the fact that the kids we deal with have no one who "have their back." Growing up, our parents always had our back. We needed homework done, they were there. We needed a project complete, they were there. Something went wrong at school or on the playground, they were there. The kids I teach don't have that, and they suffer for it. Had Meaghan not been able to call her mother, I could have called on countless family and friends who would have dropped everything to come and get us, I'm sure she could say the same. People have our back, as a teacher of At-Risk students, I have to have theirs, no one else does.

Finally, I was really struck at the number of people gauking, taking pictures, calling friends on cells as they plodded by in their cars looking at the two of us on the side of the road. Makes me think differently about reacting to accidents as I drive past them.