Driving back from Oceanside on the 5 freeway yesterday, I suddenly got smacked from behind.

Cars were moving bumper to bumper when traffic stopped short; the guy in the truck behind me couldn’t stop in time so he gave me a pretty good jolt.

When I got out to check the damage, this big, young Hispanic guy in a mechanic’s shirt walks toward me with his arms wide, saying “I’m sorry! So sorry!”

All I could see was a couple of small chips in the paint where his bumper bolts hit, so I said, “We’re good, no worries,” and waved him off.

He replies, “Oh man, God was with me” and I said, “Yeah” and turned to get back in the car (because by now, we’re backing up traffic).

That’s when he goes, “Can I get a hug?” So, I turn and come back to him and here we are, two grown men hugging in the middle of the freeway after running into each other.

“Be safe,” I said and he replied, “You too.” And then we got back in our vehicles and continued driving.

I can’t imagine what everyone around us was thinking as they watched all this. But I’ve been driving now for over 55 years and nothing like that has ever happened to me before.

This was not my first time getting rear-ended on the 5 freeway but the last time it happened there was a lot more damage. Maybe that's why my first reaction was relief and gratitude -- not anger.

But as my first sponsor said, "Fix the problem, not the blame; there's a reason it's called an 'accident'!"

And looking back on it now, I really wouldn’t change a thing. I hope every story in your life today has a happy ending.