At 6:27 this morning, my mom tucked her first two grandsons in the car, fueled up on coffee and doughnuts at the local QuikTrip and headed south, home to Texas.
At 3:20, she texted me to say they’d crossed the border into Texas and were about five hours from home.
At 3:56 my sister called to tell me there’d been a bad wreck. She didn’t have many details, but everyone was alive.
Over the next hour, I was relieved to hear from my mom that she was ok. Her ankle was probably broken, a result of putting all of her weight on the brakes while swerving to the right in an effort to avoid hitting a utility truck after she accidentally ran through a stop sign.
I talked to the boys, who told me stories about the ambulance and we cracked jokes about how the oldest’s hard head most likely saved his brain from any injury.
They’d all been wearing seatbelts. A good thing, since they were traveling just over 60 mph when they crashed.
I don’t know if it was God or my mom’s quick reflexes that caused her to jerk the wheel so violently to the right that the car went at an angle into the truck instead of head on. I’m thankful for both right now.
My mom is shaken, I know. Despite the front she is maintaining, I’m certain she’s freaked out. I know she’s pissed at herself for the mistake, even though we’ve all done it. I ran a red light on accident last month in Houston. Didn’t even see it.
Her broken ankle means she probably won’t get to go on the trip she’d planned with her best friend. They were going to visit Colorado, but it caught on fire. Then they’d planned to go to South Dakota, but there were fires there too. There was talk of Utah…but then fire.
I told her that I was pretty sure between the fires and the wreck that God wanted her to stay home.
Not that I know what God wants. I have no idea what He’s thinking when I look at our lives here.
I guess that’s because God uses a different form of logic than I do. He’s like a domino artist or something. Where I only see a few dominoes lined up in front of me, He sees the whole chain and how the movement of each one will affect all the others.
After all, He set them up, right?
And I know things work out the way they do for a reason, and I can always see that once my turn in the chain is past and I can get up and look around from a new perspective.
But still, sometimes it’s difficult to be a domino.
Oh my, so scary!! So glad everyone is okay, that’s what matters.
I think maybe God is telling your Mom she needs to be pampered and looked after until her ankle is healed
I think God is telling me to get my ass back to Texas.
When I saw your first tweet I was sick. I am SO glad all is well and everyone’s ok. Now go have a nice stiff drink.
I’m really glad for Twitter. I was home alone and they were hours away. Just being about to reach out to so many people at once and be like, “I need your prayers NOW” and to get them is just awesome.
OMG – glad everyone is alright.
I can see how freaked out you mom must be, especially with children in the car. Those were probably here grandmother-instincts at work there!
I hope she’ll get the pampering she deserves while her ankle heals!
I can’t even imagine what all is going on in her head right now. It was an awful situation. I know it happens every day to so many people, but when it’s YOUR people, you are shaken.
I’m in the process of lining up her pampering now.
I’m so glad everyone is OK. How scary (to say the least)! And your dominoes perspective is truly a great one. Sending vibes of comfort your way.
Thank you Cheryl. I really appreciate it.
I’m so thankful that your Mom is OK. “Shaken up” is better than “in bits”. I’ll be praying that God will illuminate at least some of the reasons behind the her stay-at-home… while she’s resting. And that He’ll give her peace while she’s healing… and the boys peace too.
Love you sweet friend.
Thank you Sarah, for your sweet words and prayers. You’ve such a great way of providing a calm, Christian outlook on things. It’s difficult to find girlfriends who are both brilliant and believers.
Thank God they’re okay. My stomach twisted into a yuck of knots when I saw your tweet. It could’ve been so much worse. Somebody was watching out for them.
I’m waiting for the pictures of the car. I’ve talked to her six or seven times and she keeps talking about how it could have been so much worse. My uncle got hit by a train once years back, and his whole truck was destroyed except for where he was sitting. I know we’re all here for a reason.
As a grandmother with two young grandsons, I totally feel for your mother. And you’re right, accidents can happen to anyone. That’s why they’re called accidents. I’m so glad everyone is all right.
Keep writing…
Me too, Kathleen. I try not to torture myself with the what ifs, but I admit it’s been sneaking into my mind today.
How very very scary!! So thankful it ended with positives and everyone okay. I love your domino analogy…its SO true. So very very true. Thank you for that.
I felt unsure of expressing my frustration, but there it was. Thanks for understanding.
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So scary.
So relieved for you.
And about the pain of those dominoes…
I get it.
I really do.
Im so glad to hear everyone’s ok. It was God, no doubt in my mind.
I’m so glad they’re ok! It was God, there’s no doubt in my mind