Unexpected Turns
Today started out like any other day, really. Headed to church, praise team rehearsal, Sunday School, & then service. The service was INCREDIBLE! Just full of joy, which was just great. Kyle ended up staying home b/c he hadn't gotten much sleep (not my fault! :-D), and the soccer tourney he was supposed to be at was canceled due to the monsoons sweeping through Nashville. :-p I left church around 12:15, and as I was pulling into our parking lot, my phone rang and it was my friend Allison. I thought she was maybe calling b/c they wanted to do lunch. But what she said was, "Tara, we've just been in a horrible car accident. Our car is totaled. Can you come get us?" I could tell in her voice that it wasn't just a fender bender, but then again, you just never know. She said they (she & her husband, Gerald) were okay. Kyle got into the car as I was hanging up b/c we were going to leave from the apt. and head to lunch. Well, we had a bit of a detour. We got on I-40 and headed West to where we were told they were at, had to turn around, and then came the fun part: Driving on the shoulder of the interstate w/ tractor trailers trying to block us. One trailer did block us, but once the tow truck came by, and I got behind him and followed him with our emergency flashers on. Granted, one jerk tried to block us, so I had to off-road it a bit in the Neon. (My Neon is not built for that, but it survived...I hope...unscathed.) We got up to the crash site, and we were not expecting at all what we came upon. Allison & Gerald's Toyota Corolla was literally standing up on it's front end up against a stone wall & trees on the side of the interstate. And there they both stood...unscathed. I don't understand how they got out, how they were not broken & battered, but what I do know is that God had His hand upon them.
Apparently, they were driving along I-40 when a tractor trailer decided that it wanted to come into their lane. The truck caught their back tires, which spun the car around so that the truck basically T-boned it, and then pushed them along several yards. Allison said the wheels came up onto the front of the car, and then next thing they knew, the car went airborne and flipped 1 1/2 times, before landing on it's nose on the side of the road. And yet, somehow by God's miraculous intervention, they were able to get out of the car. When we drove up, Allison was standing there with the paramedic provided "blanket", in the rain, holding Gerald's guitar case...looking quite lost. I just wanted to hug her and not let her go. I've been there, done that, bought the t-shirt...and it is NOT any fun whatsoever. We were able to get the stuff out of their trunk, and the rest of their belongings from their car. We took them home, and then just stood there and prayed for them. Some people think that the accident is the worst part of the whole experience, but really, it isn't. The aftermath of it is almost much worse. There's the physical pain, the emotional roller coaster of realizing that you just survived a brush with death, the mental images replaying over and over and over again in your head until you want to scream, dealing with insurance companies, gathering police reports, medical paperwork, getting rental car stuff taken care of...etc. etc. When you just want to move past it and get on with life, all the other stuff doesn't allow you to do so.
I will be recommending that they seek out some sort of therapy b/c Lord knows I wish I had. After having those 3 wrecks in a row, the images haunted me for over a year.
But when today is all said and done, I am just praising God for protecting them in the way that He did. And I'm also glad that they called us to come and get them since we are a bit more "experienced" in the area of auto-trauma. (HA!) But I think it was helpful b/c we were able to just sit them down at home and just say to them, "Look...allow yourselves to cry and scream and shout and do whatever is necessary to release these emotions." Gerald & Allison are two VERY different people, and we just reminded them both to allow the other to go through their emotions the way that they need to. It's almost like a grief process, and everyone experiences and deals with grief in their own way.
I'm just thankful to still have two of my dear friends still with us today. Thank you, God, for your protection. Please grant them peace.
Apparently, they were driving along I-40 when a tractor trailer decided that it wanted to come into their lane. The truck caught their back tires, which spun the car around so that the truck basically T-boned it, and then pushed them along several yards. Allison said the wheels came up onto the front of the car, and then next thing they knew, the car went airborne and flipped 1 1/2 times, before landing on it's nose on the side of the road. And yet, somehow by God's miraculous intervention, they were able to get out of the car. When we drove up, Allison was standing there with the paramedic provided "blanket", in the rain, holding Gerald's guitar case...looking quite lost. I just wanted to hug her and not let her go. I've been there, done that, bought the t-shirt...and it is NOT any fun whatsoever. We were able to get the stuff out of their trunk, and the rest of their belongings from their car. We took them home, and then just stood there and prayed for them. Some people think that the accident is the worst part of the whole experience, but really, it isn't. The aftermath of it is almost much worse. There's the physical pain, the emotional roller coaster of realizing that you just survived a brush with death, the mental images replaying over and over and over again in your head until you want to scream, dealing with insurance companies, gathering police reports, medical paperwork, getting rental car stuff taken care of...etc. etc. When you just want to move past it and get on with life, all the other stuff doesn't allow you to do so.
I will be recommending that they seek out some sort of therapy b/c Lord knows I wish I had. After having those 3 wrecks in a row, the images haunted me for over a year.
But when today is all said and done, I am just praising God for protecting them in the way that He did. And I'm also glad that they called us to come and get them since we are a bit more "experienced" in the area of auto-trauma. (HA!) But I think it was helpful b/c we were able to just sit them down at home and just say to them, "Look...allow yourselves to cry and scream and shout and do whatever is necessary to release these emotions." Gerald & Allison are two VERY different people, and we just reminded them both to allow the other to go through their emotions the way that they need to. It's almost like a grief process, and everyone experiences and deals with grief in their own way.
I'm just thankful to still have two of my dear friends still with us today. Thank you, God, for your protection. Please grant them peace.