We Crashed!

In the bottom right hand corner of the windshield there is a cupcake left over from the party!

On Sunday March 8, 2009 we were on our way home from a little birthday party after church. It had been snowing and we were on a road that gets particularly icy very quickly due to all the trees surrounding it. So, we were on our way home and had just passed by the new Junior High when all of a sudden there was a young kid (probably about 10 yrs. old) standing on the side of the road. Just past him was a white truck that had crashed into the ditch/woods and his dad was just getting out of it. The road had just started to curve where the dad had crashed and as soon as we saw the boy we felt our wheels immediately start to slip and I started saying "Move! Move! Move!" because I thought we were going to crash right up against the dad getting out of his truck. Thank God we were only going about 30 mph so he saw us coming and was able to jump back into his truck just in time for us to slam right into him. If he would not have gotten back in we would have pinned his body between the vehicles and possibly killed him. I was also so thankful that we did not slide right into the boy. About 20 seconds after we crashed a silver SUV (a mom and 2 boys) came around the same bend and she too crashed right into the same area about 60 ft. behind us. She thankfully missed the boy standing on the shoulder as well. We were all completely stunned and I just have to say how thankful I am for car seats. I know they can be a hassle at times, but I am so very thankful that we have them and that every child is required to be buckled into one. My kids were completely unharmed! Tom & I were totally fine too...just a bit sore for a couple of days. Thank you Lord! He gets all the credit for pulling us through a very scary accident! The kids never made a peep throughout the whole ordeal until the man in the truck who was sandwiched right up against us looked out his window right into Berkeley's and said "Are you ok sweetheart"? As soon as she realized there was a strange man talking to her in her window she started to cry. Tom was the first out of the car since his side was not damaged and he unbuckled Oliver and got him out. He was standing at the driver's side door trying to get me and Berkeley out since the car was at a very steep angle and the door was incredibly heavy to open, but I was so terrified that another car was going to come around the bend and crash right into him and the baby that I kept screaming at him to "get away and to leave us". I just wanted him and Oliver to get away from the car and to a safe spot because the last thing I wanted to have in my mind for the rest of my life was the picture of my husband and baby getting creamed. I think he was a little offended that I yelled at him, but I had so much adrenaline in me and that motherly instinct totally took over. I knew that Berkeley and I would be ok if another car slammed into us because we were still buckled in, but Tom & Oliver would have been toast if another car would have done what the previous 3 cars had just done. I later apologized to him and promised I'd continue to work on my submissiveness. As we were sitting in the car I called my parents to come and get us since they have car seats in their car. I wanted to get the kids home for naps (which is why we left the party early). I had a routine to keep afterall! I was finally able to get Berkeley & myself out of the car and a super nice man let us all pile into his warm car while we waited for the police and tow trucks to come. My parents came and got me and the kids while Tom stayed behind to wait for the tow truck and on the way home Berkeley kept saying "Grandma, our car broke. It has to go to the Doctor."

So, on Tuesday night I couldn't sleep because there was a "rumbly in my tummy," as Pooh would say (can you tell I have a 3 yr. old?) so I got up and went downstairs. From 12:00 until 8:00 am I threw up (out of both ends) and was completely miserable until Thursday morning. On top of that Oliver is getting his top 2 "fangs" so he has not been feeling super well either. Needless to say this hasn't been our best week!

The insurance company decided that the car is going to be way too expensive to fix so they are going to total it out. We are just sick. Our beautiful car that we took such good car of is trashed. We loved that car. There was nothing we didn't like about her. Every time we go into the garage and see that empty space it makes us sad all over again because it feels like a member of the family is missing. In fact, we even had a name for the GPS voice that talked to us and gave us directions...her name was "Gladys." Laura christened her that shortly after we bought the car and the name just stuck. Today I finally feel like I am back in the land of the living, so I went to the tow yard and took some pictures of her. I had to bite my cheek to keep from crying as I said my goodbyes. I know it's just a stupid car and it totally doesn't matter, but she really was so fantastic. She started every time we asked her to and never gave us an ounce of trouble. It feels like the end of an era. On the way home Berkeley kept asking when we were going to get our car back. I explained to her that the car was broken and that it was too expensive to get it fixed so we'd have to get a different one. She started to cry and said "But I want our car". I patiently told her again that we would have to buy another car because we weren't getting ours back and she kind of perked up for a second and said "Oh, at the Dollar Store?" I wish.......

Tom & I were talking about how funny the human mind is...after we realized that everyone was fine we had some really amusing things go through our heads. Tom was thinking about how happy he was that he hadn't just washed and detailed the car and that we hadn't just filled the tank up with gas (the computer said we only had 44 miles left and we almost stopped and filled up on the way to church, but we didn't want to be late so we put it off). I was happy that I hadn't gotten my windshield fixed after 2 dings started to spread throughout the entire length of the windshield. It would have cost about $400 and I'm usually not a procrastinator, but every time I have ever replaced a windshield it seems like it gets another ding within a week! I was also happy that I had not scheduled her yearly "check-up" that would have run us around $1,000 to get all of her fluids changed. The maintenance light had come on about 2 weeks ago and I just couldn't bring myself to get a babysitter and spend 5 hrs. at the dealership. Maybe procrastination can be a good thing!

I will close now. The real reason I wrote this is to praise God for holding us in his protective arms and bringing everyone through this whole ordeal completely unscathed. I'd also like to show it to Berkeley one day to see if she will remember any of it. I want to pay my last respects to my "Sexy Lexy" and to thank her for wrapping her "arms of steel" around my family. I am thankful for a well made car and I am thankful for the years that we had with her. I also want to thank Gladys who kept me company and guided this hapless traveler (who has no internal compass whatsoever) through many lost excursions. If it weren't for your soothing voice and fabulous directions I would have ended up in some darkened valley halfway across the country on many occassions!