Last Monday was Thanksgiving Day here in Canada. We dont have family in Toronto so we decided to start a new family Thanksgiving tradition. We took a day trip to the small historic town of Elora and had the soon to be traditional Turkey lunch with all the trimmings at a nice restaurant facing the gorge. I love all food based traditions involving menus and waiters. We walked around the town after lunch and enjoyed the glorious weather. I love the Fall. The air is crisp, the sun shines and there are Halloween decorations galore. At that point in time Thanksgiving Day was all about having the day off and having Turkey for lunch.











On the way back to Toronto, traffic came to a sudden stop on the 401, one of the busiest highways in North America. We were able to stop in time, but in one split second, I heard a screech, looked at the rear view mirror and saw a U-Haul truck swerving and thought Oh Shit. Doug only realised something was wrong when he saw the look of horror on my face. We braced for impact. We were on the left lane (fast lane) so Doug swerved the car into the shoulder. When we came to a stop we immediately looked back and saw that the kids were OK. The guy in front of us also got out and immediately asked about the kids. The car that hit us, the one in front of the U-Haul was on the other side of the highway. The driver was being propped up by someone sitting in the back seat. The U-Haul had somehow ended up in front of the car in front of us, facing the opposite direction. An off duty policewoman who came to our aid advised us to get in front of the U-Haul as many accident victims are hit while standing next to their vehicle. An off duty fireman checked Dylan and Sasha for any injuries. Doug called the police, the fireman called the paramedics. The paramedics came and checked the kids out again. Sasha was right impressed with the Ambulance and was very upset that she was not allowed to follow it to the hospital when it transported the lady in the car behind us. Policemen took witnesses statements, which took a while as 5 cars were involved. Our tow truck driver towed our car to his lot and told us that it is probably a total write off. He then charged us 100 bucks to drive us home. Vultures they are.





We got home, made some pasta, watched some TV, put the kids to bed, sat down with our glasses of wine, and thanked our lucky stars that we were able to have our usual end to our day. It could have been us in the ambulance. Worse, it could have been one of the kids. Our day could have easily ended very differently. In one split second....We were reminded how very fragile our existence is. We have alot to be thankful for.