Angels Among Us

It's hard to believe that our accident was already over a month and a half ago.  While I don't want to remember some of the fear and anxiety that came out of that day, I do need to remember the angels who helped us through, because they were there both in body and spirit.  I still get a little sick to my stomach when I think about how quickly it all happened and how much about our lives could have changed in the blink of an eye.  It is terrifying, really.

Thankfully, nothing much changed except our mode of transportation (we are all still a little bit sad about saying goodbye to our old car) and the fact that I am even more aware of my surroundings when I am on the road.  

September 18th was a normal, crazy Thursday.  It's always a busy day with getting Stella to preschool, getting to work and teaching my first nutrition class of the day, gathering up everything from work, getting Eliza from the childcare, loading her in the car, and making it back to pick up Stella before I am more than 10 minutes late.  It's a chaotic morning that I am always glad to be done with come lunchtime.  Well, that day we made good time and were there to pick up Stella right on time.  I remember we were talking and laughing about school as we drove home, listening to "Brave" by Sara Bareilles and singing our hearts out.  The girls love that song.  We came to a stop at the busy intersection on Pole Line and Grandview, only a few minutes from home.  We were traveling north and were stopped at the red light.  This intersection has always made me nervous, as the cars traveling east and west have a speed limit of 45 mph and the road is heavily traveled by semi-trucks and farm equipment.  It also doesn't have a turn signal light for the cars traveling north and south, and I am always afraid of an accident occurring with that traffic pattern as well.

I was stopped at the light facing north and noticed a large delivery truck across the intersection that would be heading south.  Once the light turned green it was obvious the truck was heading south and I can remember glancing out my window to see what company the truck was working for.  As I moved my gaze back to the middle of the intersection (which I was nearly through at this point) I suddenly saw a blur of white and knew we had been hit.  The impact was hard and loud, and I remember screaming.  Our car came to a stop now facing west, and I remember my hair was thrown over my face so that I had to move it out of my eyes to see.  In that instant I was certain my children were dead.  I was sure whatever had hit us had done so directly on Eliza's door traveling at over 45 miles per hour, and was so scared of what I would see when I turned my head to look in the back seat.  Instead of tragedy I saw both girls looking at me with wide eyes asking what had just happened.  No blood, no tears, nothing.  I immediately began to go into shock and wasn't exactly sure what I should be doing next.  I kept thinking I needed to move my car, because it was directly in the middle of traffic.  The car wouldn't budge, so I put it in park and stepped out to check on the kids.  At that point I realized that a large white pickup truck pulling a heavy utility trailer had hit us.  Thankfully they stopped and took responsibility for the accident, but because the intersection was so big and our cars and my kids were all located in different areas, I didn't speak much to the kid driving other than his initial approach to my vehicle.  He was very apologetic and admitted to being at fault right away.  I am sure his heart about dropped when he saw a 28 week pregnant lady get out of the car and two little girls inside.  He kept asking if I was alright and I just kept saying that I needed to get my kids out of the car. By that time a man and woman who witnessed the accident had made it to my car.  While I didn't talk much to the man, that woman was one of our angels that day.  As soon as she started talking to me I knew she was a good person and would help me.  She reminded me of my mom, and told me that she would help take the girls across the street to her car while I gathered our stuff.  Another woman, an off duty police officer from a neighboring community, reminded me to shut the car off, leave everything except my cell phone and wallet, and just get to a safe place.  I was so out of it I did not know what to do, so I am very grateful these people who could think a bit more clearly were there to help.  

We made it across the street where I figured I better call Ryan and let him know of our current situation.  He was with a patient and didn't answer his cell phone, so I decided to call the office.  It's never a good sign when the front desk girl comes to get you out of a procedure because your wife is on the phone.  By the time he was one the phone the police officer was there to speak with me so I think I managed to get out something like "We were in an accident...we are all okay...the car won't go." before telling him I had to go to talk with the police officer.  By the time I called him back five or ten minutes later he was already on his way, with his schedule cleared for the rest of the day.  I think he was a bit shocked to actually see the car and all of the damage when he pulled up, as I hadn't given him many details during our short conversations.  While we waited for him to arrive and for the accident to be cleaned up, our sweet angel Diane kept us all comfortable in her car and the girls occupied with her iPad.  She was actually traveling from Boise to visit her daughter and granddaughter who live in our Stake boundaries.  She was the perfect person to help keep us calm and comfortable considering the circumstances, and I will never forget her.

The police officer wanted to call an ambulance for me since I was pregnant.  I felt fine, other than the shock, and did not want to ride in an ambulance considering the accident occurred right in front of the hospital.  I could have walked to the Emergency Room doors in less than five minutes.  They didn't like the idea of me walking there with my dazed expression and white face, so they still felt having the EMTs at least come check me out on site was a good idea.  Meanwhile the life flight nurses heard about the accident on the radio and when they realized it was just outside the doors they walked over to check things out.  They found us in our new friend Diane's car where they agreed to just check us out and call off the ambulance.  They also recommended I just call my doctor's office directly (also inside the hospital) instead of going to the ER which would in turn send me up to Labor and Delivery to be monitored for who knows how long.  They kept the girls occupied by talking to them about their helicopter and giving them each a pin of a life flight helicopter to keep.  They love those pins and have been obsessed with "helicopter doctors" ever since.  Stella even took her pin to show-and-tell a few weeks later and told her class all about our accident.  I consider those nurses just a couple more of our angels that day.

Thanks to the proximity to our home and neighborhood, by this time multiple neighbors had driven by and had called to check on things.  One friend stopped to sit with the kids for a few minutes and even offered to take them to her home if needed.  Another called and agreed to watch the girls so that Ryan and I could head to the OB to get checked an hour later.  More angels, more blessings.

Ryan finally arrived and it was such a relief.  Just having him there to talk to everyone and think about things for me was so wonderful.  I sure love him.  I held my emotions together pretty well until I sat down to fill out the police report and watch our car be towed away.  As I retraced the events that had just taken place I lost it as I thought of all the "what could have beens." It's a cruel game we mothers tend to play with ourselves.

Finally the scene was cleared for us to leave, we ran and grabbed some lunch (the accident occurred around 11:30 and it was nearly 1:00 before we left the scene) and ran our kids over to the neighbors so we could go check on baby sis.  Thankfully everything was and has been fine with the baby since the accident.  We spent the rest of the day getting things going with insurance, acquiring a car rental, gathering items from the car at the tow shop, and trying to process all that had happened that day.

When Ryan got the to tow shop he realized that the back of the car was smashed along with the front.  I hadn't realized that the trailer on the truck had swung around and hit the back, become detached from the truck and traveled across three lanes of traffic.  In the end our car had been hit on the front passenger corner and the back.  Somehow the only place that wasn't touched was Eliza's door.  I for one don't believe it was a coincidence, and can perfectly picture my sweet angel dad standing there protecting our dear Eliza Scott.

The following days were full of high emotions and a sore body for the mama.  The girls were amazingly resilient and never shed a single tear during the process.  They are so brave and amazing.

I know that we had angels with us that day.  I also know that sometimes, even when the angels are there, bad things still happen.  I don't know why we were so lucky, but I will be forever grateful for the safety and health of my family that day.  My kids couldn't understand why I kept hugging and kissing and telling them how much I loved them that night and in the days that followed.  It only takes an instant to remind you of what really matters in this life and how quickly that can all change.

We are so blessed.