A guardian angel in disguise (click here for more info)

When I called to make the appointment to see the Frank Lloyd Wright house at Alpine Meadows Ranch, the owner told me they were closed for the off season, but that I could talk to Mike, the ranch manager, to see if he could give me a tour.

When I called Mike, he graciously agreed to show me the place on the date and time that was convenient to my travels through Montana, which happened to be this Sunday afternoon.

I left early to give myself plenty of time to get there in case I got lost (easy for me to do) and on the way to the ranch, is when I had my accident. I called Mike to tell him why I would be running late, and it turns out he had just driven right by the accident and saw my RV,  but of course, had no way of knowing it was me.

Mike said no problem, to just let him know when I was on my way. After the police were done collecting all the pertinent info and taking pictures, I called Mike to let him know I was coming. He offered to drive to the main road in his pickup truck and meet me there, so I could ride with him to the ranch, and not have to drive Bella the two miles to the ranch on the narrow dirt road. Believe me, when I saw the condition of the road, I was very glad I didn't have to drive Bella there.

Mike not only showed me around and answered all my questions about the place, but he inquired about my accident and patiently listened as I babbled and rambled nervously, since I was still pretty shook up.  Mike, whom I believe is a guardian angel in disguise, proceeded to show his wings by doing the following:

- Mike gave me some much needed therapy. He told me to go with my feelings, not deny them, to feel sad if I was sad, feel angry is I was angry, but that I needed to deal with my feelings and not hide or fight them. He told me not to make any big decisions in the next 24 hours and all sorts of other wonderful things, that were exactly what I needed to hear.

- Mike offered to fix my turn signal, which the police officer noted was not working while taking down the accident info. Mike said he couldn't send me back on the road with that blinker not working. The auto parts store is closed on Sundays, so we ended up going to two different places to get two different size bulbs. Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried, the blinker could not be fixed, and there was no mechanic available this Sunday afternoon.

- Mike would not accept payment for the tour of the ranch, which the owner had indicated to me that I should pay directly to Mike. Not only would he not accept payment for the tour, he wouldn't even let me pay him for the two packets of bulbs he got for me.

As I'm sure you can tell by now, Mike is an extremely kind and generous soul and I am very lucky to have met him on this day, of all days. Even though I was a complete stranger to him, he treated me like an old friend. I'm sure there are many other things he could have done with his Sunday afternoon that did not involve watching me break down and cry. But Mike truly didn't seem to mind.

He made sure to give me good directions to make sure I knew where I was headed, so that I wouldn't get lost. Later, he called and left me a voicemail, just to check to see how I was doing. 

Angels walk amongst us, we just can't see their wings.