Finally posting about our Accident
Posted on July 6th, 2009 by Laura
So, here’s the story of the accident. We were going up to my mom’s house so that she could watch the kids while we went to dinner and a movie at Jordan Commons. As we were going up, Abby was screaming and unhappy and around American Fork had finally fallen asleep. I had just given Thomas some graham crackers to munch on, so Ben was looking in the rear view mirror to look at him and talk to him. When he looked back into the road, he saw what he thought was a diesel tire tread (but turned out to be a coat) in the road and swerved to avoid it. He had little reaction time, so he over-corrected. He over-corrected a few more times and we ended up hitting the middle barrier of the freeway head-on, then rolling over the passenger side and sliding to a halt.
Amazingly enough, no one was seriously injured. Both of the kids’ carseats worked flawlessly and both Ben and I were in our seat belts. Ben had a few cuts here and there and there was only 1 scratch on each of the kids. I was the one that got seriously injured. I was in quite a bit of pain from a seat belt burn on my neck. I also bruised my left breast pretty badly. My leg was also a bit bruised just below my knee and I got some cuts and glass in my feet. We’ve taken pictures of my injuries and the car. Go here to see them: Farewell Nymphadora
But here’s a preview of the car.
We were very lucky. We had a lot of protection, I know! After we rolled, my first thought was for the kids. I looked back and saw Thomas hanging from his carseat crying really hard. I reached back and managed to get him out while Ben got Abby. It was so weird to be laying on the ceiling. I had a lot of blood on my face, so I had most of the attention of the EMTs and people who stopped to help us. About 5 people stopped to help and one of them was a member of the gold cross, so he checked us over and made sure everything was ok. I’m really glad that nothing worse happened. It easily could have. Thank goodness our carseats worked perfectly and we were wearing our seat belts!
The worst thing is that we just payed off the car not 2 weeks before the accident. So, we enjoyed no car payments for not very long. We now have a Toyota Sienna van and we’re enjoying it a lot. I still miss our Avalon, though.
Thomas woke up that night from a nightmare. He said, “Car,” as he and Ben were walking to the tv. Then as they were watching George to calm Thomas down, he said, “Car broken!” He’d been saying that all night. Poor little kid. He’s been saying “Car broken!” ever since, but now there’s a new addendum. He says, “Car broken. New van!” It’s actually really cute. But we’re wondering when he’s going to forget that the car was broken and move on. It will probably be a while.
So, there you are. That’s our story. It’s a sad one.
Weirdest thing. Both my cousin and one of Ben’s coworkers passed us on the freeway. In fact, my cousin was right behind the ambulance as it pulled out with me, Thomas, and Abby inside. And I found out on Saturday that my great uncle was also driving by when it happened. Small world.
3 Responses to “Finally posting about our Accident”
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Nicole says:
July 6th, 2009 at 9:54 amMy heart skipped a few beats when I heard about your accident. I never understood how truly scary a rollover could be until my dad got in his horrible accident last year. I am SO grateful that your family is okay…and you managed to have injuries that were non-life threatening.
And I have to admit…your new van is pretty spiffy :)
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Kim Bytheway says:
July 6th, 2009 at 10:06 amUnbelievable. Not many people have a story like this to tell…Of course it is a miracle everyone is fine! Amazing.
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Pat Woodall says:
July 12th, 2009 at 8:24 pmWow! That is worse than I imagined! It IS a miracle that you all walked away from it! You must have some pretty amazing guardian angels watching over you! So glad you’re all ok.
