Tender Mercies

Today started out like any normal day.  Autumn & I got up, got ready for the day, had breakfast, and left for Autumn’s college.  I dropped her off and got in my car to go to work and my car wouldn’t start.  It was completely dead, but I didn’t know why.  I thought maybe the battery was dead, so I went in Autumn’s college and asked Mr. Will if he would give my car a jump.  We hooked up the jumper cables and it started right up.  I headed off to work and had to stop at the stop light when it turned red.  My car died again, so I turned on the emergency flashers and called Dad to see if he could come help me.  He said he’d be right on his way.  Since I had called the house phone, Mom was on the phone too so we talked for a minute.

I was telling her that people are so dumb, b/c even though my flashers were on people would still pull up right behind me and honk at me when the light turned green.  Then they would notice the flashers and go around.  Mom suggested that I put my hood up and go wait for Dad on the sidewalk.  I had planned on just staying in the car b/c I remember hearing on the news that that’s the safest place to be (instead of outside the car) when we had those big ice storms back in January.  But, I decided to listen to Mom and put up my hood when the light was red and went and waited on the curb.  This is a picture of my car before the accident. 

While I was standing there, a lady that I visit teach called and said she was across the intersection in her car and wondered if I was ok.  I told her my Dad was on his way and I was fine, so she didn’t stop.  Then, about 20 seconds later, another lady from my ward pulled up by the curb and asked if I needed any help.  I also told her my Dad was on his way and I was fine, so she left.

Dad came pulling up behind my car a few minutes later but for some reason he got in the turn lane and turned right and had to go down a ways and flip a U turn to come back to help me.  I wondered where he was going when all of a sudden I heard a horrible sound and looked to see my car (which was off and in park by the way) going through the intersection and then hitting the curb of the median and stopping quite a ways down the road.  It all happened in slow motion, yet was just a few seconds.  I immediately called 911 and looked at the car that had hit the Durango and noticed a young girl inside.

Luckily, her air bags had gone off and she was getting out of the car and walked over to the curb where I was and just sat down in the grass and started sobbing.  I was still on the phone w/ 911 and sat down next to her and asked her if she was ok and started crying too.  This is what her car looked like!  And that tire in the front of her car isn’t hers, it’s the spare to the Durango that got knocked off when she hit it going 40 mph.

Here’s another view of her car.  This happened at 8:52 am.  After having thought about this all day, it’s a miracle that her car didn’t burst into flames b/c it was leaking all sorts of fluids everywhere.

The police were there within 30 seconds of me calling 911 and then the fire trucks and ambulance came really soon after that.  I was impressed w/ how fast their response time was.  I had to walk down to my car to get out my license and insurance and give the police my statement as to what happened.  I noticed they had put a neck brace on the girl and put her on a stretcher and took her to the hospital in this ambulance.  I think she’ll be ok since she was able to talk and walk, but it’s good that they took her just a precautionary measure.

The policemen & firemen were wonderful and so helpful (except for the policeman who told me that I didn’t need the girl’s insurance info b/c it would be on the police report…I found out I can’t get that report for about a week).  They had to put cat liter on the wet stuff to absorb it.

The tow truck finally showed up around 10:15 and loaded the Durango.

Then it went around and loaded the other car.  Pretty good…two for the price of one.

It’s crazy that the only thing holding the other car is the clamps under the tires.  What if they hit a big bump and that car goes flying off?  Oh, well.  They’ve done this hundreds of times before and know it works.  Bro. Heidenreich from the ward saw me standing on the side of the road before the accident happened and was turning around to come help me when he saw the whole accident happened.  He stayed there for the whole 1 1/2 hours that it took from start to finish, which meant a lot to me.  I would be fine and holding it together while talking to the police and then would just break down in tears.  It was very emotional even though everyone was ok.

At one point, I called Mom to let her know what happened and that we were going to be a while, b/c she was thinking Dad was just going to push my car through the intersection w/ the truck and we were going to go get a new battery.  When I told her about the accident, she just started bawling and brought up something I hadn’t thought of yet.  She said it was such a blessing that Dad had “accidentally” gotten in the wrong lane and had to go around b/c if not, he could have been standing in front of the Durango looking at the battery or hooking up a rope to tow it and would have been seriously injured or killed when that girl hit the car.  After I got off the phone w/ Mom, I just started sobbing uncontrollably at the possibility of what could have been.  I hugged Dad and just cried and cried.

Come to find out, the girl’s license and registration were both expired.  If I had to guess, I’d say she was about 18 years old.  I don’t know if she was just a young and inexperienced driver or if she was texting/talking and not paying attention.  I guess she had said to Bro. Heidenreich, “why was that lady stopped like that when the light was green?”  He told her b/c my car had died and that’s why the flashers were on and the hood was up.  She got a look of surprise on her face and said she hadn’t even seen that!  Her Dad was kind of stand-offish and at the end finally came over and said, “Sorry.”  I just told him that cars can be replaced, but people can’t and that I’m thankful everyone is ok.  That girl will never even know how blessed she was and that we were that Dad wasn’t near the car when she hit it.

After the whole ordeal, Dad & I drove back to the house and I called my insurance to file a claim.  That’s when I found out that I really did need the girl’s  insurance info b/c now I’ll have to wait about a week to get the police report.  Note to self…always get the other person’s insurance even if the police say you don’t need it.  Mom and I were still really emotional and Mom asked Dad to say a prayer to thank Heavenly Father for all the tender mercies and miracles that happened.

Once I was calmed down and had taken some Tylenol for my headache, Mom let me take her car so I could go to work.  I was kind of scatter brained today just b/c of thinking about all of the “what ifs”.  I had planned on going to the temple after work today anyways, and wanted to go even more after all the blessings of today.  It was so nice to be in the temple and sit in the celestial room and thank my Heavenly Father for watching over me & Dad & the girl in the car (sad that I don’t even know her name).  This scripture (D&C 84:88) came to mind, “…I will go before your face.  I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”  There were definitely some angels looking out for us today!

I went and got Autumn at Mom & Dad’s and we came home so I could give her a bath.  I put her in bed at 9:30, but she didn’t go to sleep until 11:30!  She kept coming in my room and saying that her toe hurt, or she was too hot, or she needed a drink, etc.  I was talking to Rufio and telling her what had happened today and she kept hearing Autumn and asked why she was up so late.  I told her how Autumn kept coming in my room and Rufio said, “well, that is how she’s expressing that she’s upset about what happened today even though she wasn’t there.  She can sense from everyone’s emotions that it was a scary thing and she just wants to be close to you b/c she’s worried.”  I am so thankful for Rufio’s wisdom.  That completely changed my attitude of annoyance towards Autumn, to one of love and understanding.  I let Autumn come sleep in my bed and just kept telling her over and over how much I love her and how she’s my greatest blessing.