Monday, November 5, 2012

Phew

English lacks a word for the feeling of relief and gratitude that you get when you finally see that everyone is ok after something bad has happened.

I've been "what-iffing" all day after a family I love as much as my own was involved in a hit and run car accident this morning. Small town - I actually drove past the bad guy's car on my way to the grocery store. He broke down on the ramp between the main road that goes past my subdivision and the nearest state road, and I drove by on the shoulder wondering what he had hit, because the guardrail was undamaged but his front end was destroyed.  Little did I know that he had just tried to drive through my friend's minivan.

Friend's husband just posted this picture of the car on Facebook.  Yikes.
He was on drugs and driving on a suspended license.

After a brief visit to the hospital everyone was released - including her kids who were in the car with her.

We move through the world every day imagining that we're safe, and that if we make good choices and follow the rules, we will be ok. But sometimes things just happen, like a bolt out of the blue, just because you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. If we allowed ourselves to think about it, we would never leave our houses.

The bystanders were kind and helped my friend and her kids. They got them out of the mangled van and called for help. Everyone will be ok. The friends I was with when I got the news calmed me down, then kept Jack for me so I could go to my friend and offer what help I could after the fact.  Everyone is ok.

But those what-ifs...  They're just too scary sometimes.

(I'm not using any names, because I don't know that my friend wants her adventures publicized, or that she has had a chance to tell her extended family yet...  If she wants to, she can reveal herself in the comments so we can all tell her how relieved we are that she's ok.)

2 comments:

angel0199 said...

Lives can change in an instant. Hugs to your friend, I am glad everyone was ok. Practical note- remind her to replace any carseats in van even if they weren't in use during the crash.

Bev said...

Solid advice in the first comment. When our daughter and grands were in that horrible crash, the youngest was in a car seat but still suffered a complete break of her humerus. They were told to never use a car seat after a crash. That was four years ago, the kids still talk about it occasionally. I will never forget the horror of not being able to be there and having to wait for news as one was helicoptered and the rest taken by ambulance to the only pediatric trauma center in their state.
Thank God your friends suffered no major physical injuries.