I was driving home Monday night from volleyball in High River when I hit a deer heading north on Highway 2.

You know what, I don't even want to say I hit the deer, it was more along the lines of the deer hit me! I was just minding my business, driving the speed limit, when this thing came flying out of the ditch and smoked my car head-on. Rude, right?

So, I hit this thing and here comes the airbag, my hood comes flying into my windshield, I can't see anything. It all happened so fast and I'm screaming internally (possibly externally too).

Once parked, I realized that I was fine, but my car and the deer needed a moment of silence. R.I.P. 

I shed a few tears of sadness -- not because of the deer, I mean I did feel slightly bad, but mostly because I just got this car. Seriously, like just bought it two weeks ago, and just like that it was gone, all because of this dumb doe.

I quickly got my act together, got my phone out to call every single person I could think of to come help me but that's when I realized I only had 1% battery. I felt like I was in jail and was told by the sheriff to make my one call, so I called my partner, who luckily wasn't asleep and told him to come rescue me in one breath... and then my phone died.

Stranded, alone, in the dark, staring at my brand new car destroyed with the scent of deer doo doo lingering in the evening air, it truly felt like my darkest hour.

10 minutes later

A truck pulls over on the southbound highway and yells across the median "are you okay!? I let out a whimper "I'm fine, I just don't know what to do!"

The truck then rips across the grass median and out comes a man that instantly asks if I'm hurt, if I have someone coming to help and how he can help.

Once he found out my phone was dead he offered his phone so I could make some calls, said it wasn't safe on the highway and to go stay warm in his truck where there was a charger for my phone while he scoped out my vehicle. So nice, right?

He told me he was behind me when I hit the deer and instantly turned around at the closest turn-off to come back and see if I was okay. I asked him his name so I could properly thank him for his niceness and he said it was Curtis. I thought, 'my uncle's name is Kurtis... good name," and then proceeded to chat away.

At one point in the conversation, I became very aware that I had just gotten off of the volleyball court and was now in this warm truck so I probably smelled. So, I literally just apologized for being smelly, because I didn't want this stranger to think this was just my everyday scent and he kind of chuckled.

"It's all good, I probably smell too. I just got off the ice for this clinic in Lethbridge," he said.

As I'm a sports fan this piqued my interest.

"What kind of clinic?" That's when he answered, "uhh..well I'm Calgary Flames alumni."

I looked into his eyes and asked "Curtis... Glencross?"

It was Curtis Glencross!

Former forward for the Calgary Flames, and other teams but most importantly the Calgary Flames! 

I was honestly fangirling. I used to watch this guy on the TV and all of a sudden I was in his passenger seat waiting for a tow truck.

I didn't even care about my car, lol.

Anyways, I just wanted to thank Curtis for his kindness. Honestly, who knows how long I would have been out there if it wasn't for him. 

And, also, I got a really cool story out of a super depressing situation, so I'd like to thank him for that as well.

Alright, that's the end of my story, so I leave you with this: be kind to one another, watch out for deer and Curtis and I are basically BFFs now.

FIN. 

~ Shayne 

Checkout part 2 of this story: The Curtis Glencross Saga Continues!

 P.s. Scroll down to see a picture of my car. WARNING: you will see some deer nastiness.