Giving Thanks

I was sitting at home working with my daughter on her homework before dinner when I got one of those dreaded "middle of the night" type calls.  You know the one that instantaneously something is wrong.

Monday's for us are hectic now that school's begun.  My daughter has girl scouts right after school and my son has hockey practice at 6:40 (an hour's drive from us).  Plus, to top it off I started my first day of work.

Normally, we get my daughter from girl scouts, eat a quick dinner before dropping her off at my parents and heading to the rink.  Also, we typically carpool on Monday's with a friend.

This week because I was so tired after my first day of work I decided to stay home to relax, spend time with my daughter and plan things out for the week ahead.  My husband decided he was just going to take Goalieboy by himself and skip carpooling.  Everything seemed fine, everything went smoothly.

Fifteen, twenty minutes after they left the house my husband called. The car was in a ditch less than 10 minutes from our house.  The first thing he told me is, "We're ok but we've been in an accident."  I'm grateful that my husband knows me well enough to have started the call with "We're Ok.".  I've had too many scary calls from him saying he's been in some kind of accident not prefaced by those words.  My mind doesn't compute after "We've been in an accident".  Best to tell me the good news up front first.

I just want to let people know a few things.  First, slow down!  Second, if you miss a turn you can back track.  Third, better to be late than dead.

What happened you ask?  The driver 2 cars in front of my husband slammed on his breaks to make a last second left hand turn.  The road is marked at 55 mph.  It's a busy road especially during commute hours.  Why there's not a light at this particular spot I'll never know.  The road going left is where a few major industries are (warehouses and such) and the town hall.  It really needs to be regulated better.

The driver in front of my hubby had to slam on his breaks to avoid the idiot.  My husband had to slam on his and swerve to the right.  Right into the ditch.  Thank goodness the ditch wasn't deep.  He swore he felt the car rock and thought it was going to flip.  That part had my heart stopping.

The driver of the car in front of him stopped to check if he was ok.  He also gave him his business card as a witness.  The driver who caused the accident never stopped, never looked back.

I'm so thankful my husband and son are ok.  It reaffirms to them....no speeding, no following too closely, no texting, sitting properly (my son) and no distractions.  None of these things were occurring at the time of the accident.  It could have been so much worse if just one of these things had been going on.  I'm thanking my lucky stars.

A few side notes: 

To the towing company:  Thank you for responding so promptly and getting the car out of the ditch.

To the officer who came along:  While we are grateful you stopped to check and hang out until the car was pulled out, we don't appreciate you commenting several times about my husband's sniffling and runny nose.  It's allergy season and he is highly allergic to everything around us all year long.  Next time, just demand a drug test or shut up.  You made yourself look like an ass.  Also, why didn't you take the contact information for our witness?  That's mind boggling.

To the insurance company:  You're seriously going to tell us if there's over $2000 worth of damage our rates our going to go up?  We didn't cause the accident.  This is beyond ridiculous and we'll be starting to shop for a better carrier.

However, thinking positively and looking on the bright side, I am thankful no one was physically hurt.  Things can change tragically in the blink of an eye.  I'm so glad my life and the lives of those I love dearly are unscathed.