Friday, April 6, 2012

Watching it happen

A couple of Mondays ago when I was sick, I ended up having to drive Tucker to school. I was sick enough that I can't remember exactly why I had to drive him to school, but I'm pretty sure it's because I couldn't drag myself out of bed and get myself ready in time to get him up and ready in time. Pretty sad since I'm the Mom and the 'person in charge'. Or so I tell myself. 'Cause we alllllll know that really, Sara is the Queen of the World.

At any rate, as I turned from the road that leads to base to the road that leads to the road that leads to his school (say THAT three times fast), the car in front of me swerved, barely missed tipping over into the very deep ditch, spun around, came to a stop facing the wrong direction about 200 feet in front of us.

Even though I wasn't the one who lost control, my heart was in my throat.

The driver was an older gentleman, and he looked (understandably) really freaked out. The truck that was in front of the older gentleman stopped too, and the driver and I both ran up to the older gentleman's car.

The kids, as we saw this poor man swerving and fighting to regain control, were full of questions: what's happening? Is he having a wreck? Is he going to hit us? Is he okay? Mom, are you going to help him?

I told the kids to stay in our car no matter what as I got out to run over to the other car. The other guy that stopped helped the older gentleman to get his car started and turned around the right way and  we stayed with him for a few minutes until he calmed down. I hated to leave before he was calm enough to drive away, but I had to get the kids to school.

On my way back home, I kept thinking about how close that older gentleman had been to being involved in a serious accident and how a matter of seconds can completely change your life. I mean, I know that you never know what's going to happen but seeing it unfold in front of you is sobering.

The kids still mention it when we pass by that spot every now and then so I know it made a huge impression on them too.

So what's the point of this post? Just a reminder to myself to not sit back and watch life happen anymore and to always try and do the right thing. Apparently, I needed a little reminding. Just glad no one got hurt during the process.

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