Bad weather makes commuting to Shippensburg University an issue of life and death.

While many students who live on campus merely have to shuffle across icy sidewalks to get to class on time, commuters must risk the elements on treacherous roads and deal with the possibility of a car accident.

In December 2010, Emily Seils, was commuting to class on Shippensburg Road when she turned on to an icy road, lost control of her car, and crashed into an embankment.

Her car rolled twice, crushing the roof and smashing all of the windows into shards.

She was lucky that day and walked away from the wreck without injury and with her life.

Seils waited by the side of the road in the freezing conditions to flag down someone for help because the cell phone service on Shippensburg Road will save no one in an emergency.

Shippensburg Road is a unique place in that it is a windy, rural mountain road that is one of the only roads to Shippensburg from Upper Adams County, located on the other side of the mountain.

Travelers can be stranded for hours because the road is not heavily travelled and cell towers offer weak signals.

Luck struck again as her wait alongside the road for help lasted about five minutes and the man who stopped to help would become someone very important in her life.

The person was Bryan Kilbourne, a former SU student who saw that Seils needed help and stopped to see how he could be of service.

Kilbourne helped Seils move her car out of the way of traffic and waited with her until her ride came to take her home.

While they waited, they started talking, specifically about car crashes. Kilbourne told Seils that he too had crashed his car on Shippensburg Road. It was a coincidence that Seils thought was too close to ignore.

They exchanged Facebook information and went their separate ways.

At the time Seils and Kilbourne were dating different people and it was not until a year later that they became a couple.

They have been dating ever since.

Out of the unfortunate event of Seils crashing her car sprouted a long-term relationship with the man who saved her, Kilbourne.

Whether just a coincidence or a match made from destiny, life has a funny way of matching couples together and bringing the people one needs the most into one’s life.

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