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{SFTH} *The Accident* 8/20/01
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Sometimes it takes a crisis situation to "make" us take a
step back and be thankful for the people who are dear to us.
Thank you Alison, for the poignant reminder in today's story...
May all of us take the time to be thankful this week!
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The Accident
By Alison Peters
Broken shards of glass crunched under my sandals as I rushed
across a highway I had driven up, down and across countless
times, but had never set foot on or seen this way before...It was
hard to believe it was a street I was familiar with. This block of it
was now lit with flares along its center and flashing lights rotating
on the tops of a caravan of various vehicles: 6 police cars, 2
firetrucks and an ambulance. Four "regular" cars were scattered
here and there like a child's matchbox collection, victims of a
temper tantrum, flung at random out of their case. Car-parts and
unidentifiable bits and pieces of debris peppered the still, silent,
normally busy street. I purposely avoided looking at the cars
involved--a 4-car-pile-up. Dear God...the motionlessness of
it combined with the eerie flashing of lights, was stark and
completely unnatural.
I could see small huddles of people dotting the far side of the
street. They looked, more than anything, displaced. I was
thankful that I had spoken to my daughter only minutes before,
when she called me from a cell phone from this scary site,
so I knew she was OK...sobbing, scared to death, but "OK".
I hurried past a much looser huddle of police standing in
the street. Obviously familiar with this type of scenario, they
were relaxed with their middle-of-the-road discussion. They
did not look displaced. They belonged in the picture.
Barely slowing my stride as I approached and passed the
police huddle, I asked, "Is everybody OK?" and a policewoman
looked up from her notebook to answer yes, there were no
serious injuries.
It wasn't hard to spot my daughter in the relative darkness:
she was the one coming toward me with her arms open,
needing a hug.
Sixteen years old...still, my baby...
It struck me that she was wearing someone else's big winter
coat over her beautiful long black dress. The girls had been on
their way to put on a Christmas concert at a local church. The
formal attire seemed so out-of-place, and combined with the
casual bulky coat, it was even harder to take it all in. It was as
if the pieces of two or three different jigsaw puzzles had been
thrown in together and it seemed necessary to sort them out
and make sense of them immediately.
But then I didn't need to because I had finally reached my
daughter and was holding her while she sobbed on my
shoulder; and nothing else mattered, except that she
was alive.
"We almost...died, Momma! We...almost...died!!"
I held her while a steady stream of mini-prayers of thanks
rose from my heart.
After a minute, I noticed her friend, the girl who had been
driving, several yards behind us. She too was crying and
her mom was trying to comfort her. I had only seen this
particular friend of my daughter's a couple of times, very
briefly, but it was incredibly easy to put my arms around
her while she sobbed to me, "I am so sorry. I am so sorry."
After the police questioned members of each huddle, it was
determined that 2 drivers of the 4 cars would be ticketed.
Insult was added to injury when an all-business, matter-of-fact
officer announced quietly to my daughter's friend that she
was one of the two who was determined to be at fault--both
girls let loose a new onslaught of tears upon hearing this
news--and that she would have to pay an $83 ticket. He
calmly answered tearful questions: 4 points on her license,
but the points would be taken off if she attended a 4 hour
defensive-driving class...her car (her mom's) was totaled.
Next came three hours at the local hospital: the same
hospital where my husband was diagnosed with terminal
lung cancer four years before. Unavoidably, bits and pieces
of memories from that time popped into my mind
periodically. They held very little of my attention, as
if they were from another life, another century. There
was no pull to delve beyond the surface of those pieces
of memories. A different time, a different puzzle...a different me?
This night it was not a terrible time: Danielle's friend, her
parents, Danielle and I drifted from waiting room to triage
room to x-ray to examination room, crossing paths as the
mood became noticeably lighter and lighter. The girls were
OK. Most of the fear and concern was replaced with relief
and gratitude. We still had our girls. There was even some
laughing and sentiments shared that we adults wished we
had had the privilege to meet under different circumstances!
As we wound up our unplanned hospital tour, and passed
through the waiting room on our way to the exit, we
spotted three familiar anxious/relieved faces. (I had called
the church where the concert was scheduled to notify
the chorus teacher why Danielle and her friend would
not be in attendance.) The girls' school friends who also
sang in the concert had heard of the accident and
though they were told everyone was OK, headed for
the hospital to see for themselves as soon as their
concert ended.
There in the waiting room, there were more tears--of relief,
of gratitude, of "what ifs" as the teen friends hugged and
chattered.
I stepped back and took in the scene. It was as if it were
a moment frozen in time...a monument contrasting the
happy huddle before me with what might have been...how
differently this night could have ended...
At home, back in familiar territory, in the dead of night, I
spent a few minutes sitting beside my daughter's bed. I
simply watched her sleep, (how many years since I had
done that?) and whispered thanks to God. An "attitude
of gratitude" took on new meaning for me.
I "kept these things, and pondered them in (my) heart..."
Alison Peters
Sweetpetes3@cs.com
Send Alison an e-mail and let her know what you thought of her story!
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I am a single mom living in Florida with my youngest, this
"accident" kid.......Experiences like this fairly recent one
impress upon me the importance of "do not let the sun
go down upon your wrath...." May I add, even parting from
those we love with harsh words before the sun sets could
have very long-lasting consequences, in light of how fragile
life can be...Even though it is not a "comfort zone" topic,
we can all benefit from the reminder.....God bless!
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From the Guestbook!
Hi Michael,
I just had to comment on the story, " Grudges and Forgiveness". I have found from experience that most of the problems between people are know by both parties, but sometimes, an unforgiving heart is one sided and the other, the supposed offender, doesn't even know that there was a problem. The victim will carry that around waiting for the other to apologize and that never happens.
In any situation where hurt feelings have caused separation, those hurts should be resolved as soon as possible because we never know when that person's time on earth will stop! Then we are left hurting more for being so hard hearted. Always take quick chances to resolve hurt feelings and accept apologies from others as well. We can't take them back and be forgiven if the person dies!
This really touched my heart!
Karen
isaiah@citlink.net
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Thought For The Day:
"Don't be 'consistent' but be simply true."
--Oliver Wendell Holmes
Verse for the Day:
"Simply let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no'.
Anything beyond this comes from the evil one."
--Matthew 5:37
Kid's Thought For The Day:
"It doesn't count if your swing is going the highest
if you are getting pushed."
Parent's Thought For The Day
"There is no finer investment for any community
than putting milk into babies." --Winston Churchill
Coach's Thought For The Day
"Correction does much, but encouragement does more.
Encouragement after censure is as the sun after a shower."
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Deep Thought For The Day:
"I hate it when my foot falls asleep during the day because that
means it's going to be up all night." -- Steven Wright
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REQUESTS:
I would like to ask for prayers for my very best friend, Florence. She
has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer. They cannot operate
because of diminished lung capacity, but hope to be able to shrink the
tumor with radiation and chemo. She is 68 and has always been very
active. This is very difficult for her. Please add her to your prayer
list. Thank you.
Nancy Holz, Homestead, FL
NANCY-HOLZ@webtv.net
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_
/_/\/\ MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\ / THUNDER27@aol.com
/_/ \ "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
\_\/\ \ Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live for the Son
\_\/ of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Galatians 2:20
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Video Imagery (Michael's Video Production Business.)
"I thought of you first after my family sat down to watch
the video we gave them. They loved it, to say the least!
Within thirty seconds my mom was crying and my
dad did too. They said it was the best Christmas gift
we could have given them!! You did such a beautiful
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really, really, really loved it. Thanks for helping to
make it so special to us all. My mom mentioned how
the songs were perfect for the video too!
Thanks again!"
Kelli-- College Station, TX
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