Split Second

Well, today is the first day of a new century and a new year and it started off great...

We slept in, I did a little housework and made plans for a friend to come over and teach me how to sync my IPod. Crystal and Mckenna (daughter & granddaughter) stopped by and we had some lunch and played a while.

However, things changed quickly...I got a call from Crystal a few minutes after she left. She was hard to understand because she was crying and very shook up. Mckenna was also crying in the background...that's when my heart sank.

What she was trying to tell me is that they were just in a car accident. Someone had run a red light and hit them. She managed to tell me where they were and luckily, they were just up the street. She said all the emergency vehicles were on the way, so I told her we were too.

Darrell and I jumped in the car and headed to the scene. Her car was totalled, but she and Mckenna were in the back of one of the ambulances. They were both okay, but they were both completely shook up. Crystal was shaking and Mckenna was crying because her mom was hurt and scared. Mckenna was trying to explain to me that she was going back and forth in her car seat (due to the multiple slams in their car).

The paramedic gave Mckenna a little teddy bear (a great program, btw), the bear really helped comfort Mckenna and gave her something else to focus on...kuddos to whomever thought of that! They checked both of them out and told Crystal to keep an eye on her head injury (she slammed her head against the window) and then released them. Of course, that is the short version of the story...

The most important part of the this story is that just a few minutes before that all happened, Mckenna and I were playing a knew game I just made up called "sock sliding" (sliding on the wood floors in your socks, of course). Life was GOOD, she didn't want to leave and she kept stalling. Darrell finally picked her up and put her in the car. She was very angry because she didn't want to ride in the required car seat. She wanted to sit in the one for the next age up (I think you have to be like 5-8 for that oneand Crystal just had one in the car that belonged to a friend). Both her mom and Darrell told her no, and that she needed to sit in her toddler car seat and buckle up. She wasn't happy, but she was buckled up....

We shut the door and waived goodbye as they drove away. We always stand on the sidewalk until they are out of site and think...there goes EVERYTHING WE LOVE. In a split second all of our lives could have been changed forever. We could have lost everything because with only one child...all of our eggs are in one basket. That is a very scary thought that taunts me everyday...Not that it's any easier to loose a child no matter how many you have.

Would they have been in that accident if they had left when Crystal first said "let's go" instead of staying another 5 minutes playing? Or could the accident have turned out worse if she had left sooner and drove through that intersection a second sooner?

We will never know, but the point is, I thank God that it turned out just the way it did...another reminder of how precious life is and there is no promise of tomorrow for any of us. Life can change in a split second...

Happy New Year and remember to Keep it Real....