I'm going to take this as a sign
I had the weirdest day today. The funny part was that it only got weird after I got home.
I had made plans to take my sister to see the late showing of Alice in Wonderland, and she was going snowtubing with her youth group, so it was decided that we (my parents and I) would drop her and my brother off at the snowtubing place and then we would go get dinner, after which I could pick Hannah up and we'd go to the movies.
Well, we were going to go to Red Lobster, but the wait was absurd, so we decided to go to this steakhouse by the mall called Charlie Brown's. We're coming around the last curve before the stretch of road with the restaurant, and out of nowhere this car accident happens. Like, we have to swerve to avoid being involved.
This little sedan was making a left onto the road, right into the path of a pick-up truck just coming around the curve. The truck literally had nowhere to go except into us, so he kind of juked to the left and plowed their right headlight. It was a little surreal; I could see the headlight disintegrate and glass and plastic go flying.
We pulled off to the side to help, and the sedan was full of smoke and you could see the airbags had gone off; and the panel over the right front wheel was peeled back. The driver and passenger were a boy and a girl a couple years younger than me, and they were both in bad shape emotionally, holding each other and looking totally destitute. I've had more experience with said emotions than I wish to remember, so I knew exactly what they were going through. I thought about saying something, but neither of them looked to be ready to take advice from...a peer? I don't know. I just didn't feel it was my place to say anything.
Something irritated me though, and that was how no one else besides us pulled off to help. People just kept driving right on by, and a couple looked pissed at my dad and I while we cleared a couple big pieces of debris so no one would drive over them. Excuse us for trying to be helpful.
One thing in particular really pissed me off. I got a good look at one of the cars that passed by, and saw this kid, about the age of the couple that was in the accident, literally gawking out his window at the scene. I wanted to punch him. What the fuck, dude? It's not a spectacle.
So the cops came and we gave a statement and went and had dinner, and then I got Hannah and we went to the movie (which was very good, by the way. I highly recommend it). And then something weird happened all over again.
We were getting on the highway to go home, and I noticed some red and white lights a way back from the on ramp. I figured there was an accident or something, since no one was on the stretch ahead of us, and thought nothing else of it.
About a mile later, we round a bend and I see an entire motor pool of emergency lights. They were diverting people down the closest exit ramp, which was so close that I kind of passed through part of the scene. I realized the lights I had seen previously must've been trying to head people off before they got this far down. I counted three cop cars, a fire truck, an ambulance, and a couple other vehicles with lights on them but no markings. Out of sheer curiosity, I slowed down as I passed to try and see what happened (the irony of this was not lost on me).
I saw a car, and it didn't look too banged up, but there was this weird white billow-y thing in the road next to it. It looked kind of like a giant airbag, and I had no idea what it was until I saw the pair of feet sticking out from under it.
Yeah.
I made a noise like, "holy shit," and Hannah asked how bad it was, and I blurted without even thinking, "Well, somebody died," in this completely weird voice, and I was honestly so shocked I had to stop at the bottom of the off ramp to process it.
We sat there for a while, and Hannah said, "That's really scary," in a really shaken voice, and I saw she was crying. I tryed to comfort her, but I'm not the best at that, so I mostly just assured her that it had freaked me out too, and we should get home so she could go to bed.
I asked her when we got back if she was okay, and she said she was, so hopefully it won't trouble her unduly. At least she didn't see it.
I think God is trying to tell me to be careful while I'm driving. I think I'm going to listen.
I had made plans to take my sister to see the late showing of Alice in Wonderland, and she was going snowtubing with her youth group, so it was decided that we (my parents and I) would drop her and my brother off at the snowtubing place and then we would go get dinner, after which I could pick Hannah up and we'd go to the movies.
Well, we were going to go to Red Lobster, but the wait was absurd, so we decided to go to this steakhouse by the mall called Charlie Brown's. We're coming around the last curve before the stretch of road with the restaurant, and out of nowhere this car accident happens. Like, we have to swerve to avoid being involved.
This little sedan was making a left onto the road, right into the path of a pick-up truck just coming around the curve. The truck literally had nowhere to go except into us, so he kind of juked to the left and plowed their right headlight. It was a little surreal; I could see the headlight disintegrate and glass and plastic go flying.
We pulled off to the side to help, and the sedan was full of smoke and you could see the airbags had gone off; and the panel over the right front wheel was peeled back. The driver and passenger were a boy and a girl a couple years younger than me, and they were both in bad shape emotionally, holding each other and looking totally destitute. I've had more experience with said emotions than I wish to remember, so I knew exactly what they were going through. I thought about saying something, but neither of them looked to be ready to take advice from...a peer? I don't know. I just didn't feel it was my place to say anything.
Something irritated me though, and that was how no one else besides us pulled off to help. People just kept driving right on by, and a couple looked pissed at my dad and I while we cleared a couple big pieces of debris so no one would drive over them. Excuse us for trying to be helpful.
One thing in particular really pissed me off. I got a good look at one of the cars that passed by, and saw this kid, about the age of the couple that was in the accident, literally gawking out his window at the scene. I wanted to punch him. What the fuck, dude? It's not a spectacle.
So the cops came and we gave a statement and went and had dinner, and then I got Hannah and we went to the movie (which was very good, by the way. I highly recommend it). And then something weird happened all over again.
We were getting on the highway to go home, and I noticed some red and white lights a way back from the on ramp. I figured there was an accident or something, since no one was on the stretch ahead of us, and thought nothing else of it.
About a mile later, we round a bend and I see an entire motor pool of emergency lights. They were diverting people down the closest exit ramp, which was so close that I kind of passed through part of the scene. I realized the lights I had seen previously must've been trying to head people off before they got this far down. I counted three cop cars, a fire truck, an ambulance, and a couple other vehicles with lights on them but no markings. Out of sheer curiosity, I slowed down as I passed to try and see what happened (the irony of this was not lost on me).
I saw a car, and it didn't look too banged up, but there was this weird white billow-y thing in the road next to it. It looked kind of like a giant airbag, and I had no idea what it was until I saw the pair of feet sticking out from under it.
Yeah.
I made a noise like, "holy shit," and Hannah asked how bad it was, and I blurted without even thinking, "Well, somebody died," in this completely weird voice, and I was honestly so shocked I had to stop at the bottom of the off ramp to process it.
We sat there for a while, and Hannah said, "That's really scary," in a really shaken voice, and I saw she was crying. I tryed to comfort her, but I'm not the best at that, so I mostly just assured her that it had freaked me out too, and we should get home so she could go to bed.
I asked her when we got back if she was okay, and she said she was, so hopefully it won't trouble her unduly. At least she didn't see it.
I think God is trying to tell me to be careful while I'm driving. I think I'm going to listen.