“When I look at what my injuries were I think how lucky I am not to have brain damage and how lucky I am to be able to do all the usual things I enjoy and make life so precious,” she said.

“I could just not be here. I could have never woken up from that crash.”

The popular marriage celebrant and yoga teacher was driving home to Dubbo from Narromine mid-afternoon on May 4 when her small car and a b-double truck collided. Her Kia Cerato was shunted about 70 metres, according to police.

Mrs Curley doesn’t mind that she can’t recall the crash.

“I remember buying something at the supermarket and driving away from it and looking at the park near the swimming pool,” she said.

“That’s the last thing I remember until a doctor started speaking to me at Dubbo Hospital five hours later.”

He told her that she had been in a road crash and might be airlifted to Sydney because of skull fractures. “I said ‘I’m not going to Sydney. I’ve got a wedding to do tomorrow’.”

Mrs Curley also fractured her pelvis, collarbone and multiple ribs.

She spent almost three weeks in Dubbo Hospital and Dubbo Private Hospital.

“ I had quite a bit of surgery on my forehead and eye socket as well as having my collarbone plated,” Mrs Curley said.

“I was very lucky. I was really well supported. Everyone was so wonderful at the hospitals.”

After six weeks of convalescence she went back to work, grateful for the support of other celebrants and clergy.

They had stepped in immediately to make sure weddings and funerals on Mrs Curley’s schedule went ahead “without delay, stress or worry”.

On Thursday, at the Dubbo home she shares with husband and accountant John, Mrs Curley said her recovery was going well but not without setbacks and the need for continuing treatment.

“I am sure there are two steps forward and one step back as you go through this process,” she said.

Mrs Curley has been buoyed by the thoughtfulness of others.

“People were so very kind and genuinely so,” she said.

“They offered help, spent time with me, cooked lovely treats, bought luxury healing aids, shared humour and showed they cared in so many ways.”

The lady with a warm  smile believes her recovery has been aided by her yoga fitness  and “gratitude for life and the miracle of a second opportunity to experience it”.

“I doubly value quality connections and friendships with people,” she said “These make life so worth living.”