A couple months ago, I posted asking about where the magic has gone. Those moments when the stars seem to all align properly, the moment where you have a “perfectly imperfect” moment in your life.

This photo of my tarnished camera is a memory of that.

To this day, I still have a few specks of sand in the grooves of this lens—but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

When I got to Sunset Beach a couple weeks ago, I was shocked and surprised to see that cars were allowed on the beach. I had never been to a beach where this was allowed. A sign read, “four wheel drive highly recommended.” Looking back at my 2002 Chrysler Sebring, I carried on without it.

While walking on the beach, I saw the freedom of a few others driving around. Every 5-10 minutes, a car would drive by. It was a very windy day, during a time during quarantine when most beaches, other than Sunset, were closed. There were few around.

After walking along the beach for quite some time, taking photos of the shoreline, something told me, just do it, you’ll be fine. Something about a convertible in the sand struck me as something a Krauchak would do. My grandpa doesn’t know this story yet, but when I tell him, he will be proud.

It’s getting later in the day, darker, and drearier, at about 6:30pm. There are still people on the beach, but very rarely am I seeing a car at this point.

I went back and got the car. Put the top down. And started to drive carefully on the entry road. The pavement, lowering down into the sand, ended, I veered a left, and I was on the sand, going a steady 15mph.

It was the some of best few minutes of my life. That was, until my car started to slow down. Down, down, down…Now I’m not talking about the speed going down anymore, I’m talking about the physical location of my car. The more I spun the tires, the deeper they went into the sand. How deep does the sand go?, I thought sarcastically to myself (while I admit, in that frantic moment, I don’t think I was thinking sarcastically).

A little after 6:30, and there is not much I can do. Can AAA drive on the beach and tow me out? Would my engine even make it out of this?

Before I even finished the thought, as I was still revving my engine, Angel #1 appeared, “KEEP REVVING, I’M PUSHING!” That’s when the sand in the photo occurred, flying up into the vehicle. He helped slightly, but no luck.

Angel #2 appeared not 30 seconds after I stopped spinning my tires with his wife in an SUV. “Do you need a pull?” I looked at my front two tires more than halfway down in the sand. “Yeah…I’m thinking so.” We all laughed. A2 had let A1 at this point that he had it covered, and he left with his friends.

With a strap underneath hooking around what seemed like a reasonably sturdy pipe (angels aren’t mechanics), he shouts GO! as I shift into reverse and rev. After 5 or 6 yanks of the car, my car was set free, along with my soul.

How did this happen? There were no cars on the beach at that time for as far as the eye can see for a half hour at a time, and within a few minutes of getting stuck, I was set free.

As I drove carefully on the hard sand leaving the beach, blasting Hit the Lights’ On and On, as the waves crashed on and on and on, I thanked God for the lesson and the moment. And the magic.

I’m not saying that this is proof of a higher power. I am saying, that no matter what, I seem to be alright. I seem to be pulled out of these hopeless situations with no effort at all. Every single time. While I do believe in a higher power, take it for what you will. Imperfectly perfect situations seem to happen more often than you think.