Saturday, July 30, 2016

Trip to Grandma's

In January of the year 2014, on a sunny Sunday afternoon after church, I was driving towards my mother in law's home.  My kids and I were headed there to meet with my sister in law and her two daughters so that my kids could spend the night with their cousins. Unfortunately, the event never took place. Instead of having a week of playing with cousins the week became a traumatic experience for my kids and myself that would later fuel future conversations around the dinner table and family gatherings.

As I drove my  Honda Odyssey with my two daughters and my son,  I made the decision to take a quick look at my hair in the mirror. In the few seconds that I spent looking at myself in the mirror, I drove off the road; I then overcorrected to make my way back to the road which then caused me to overcorrect again and go off the road again. I kept driving, afraid and shocked of finding myself unable to get myself out of the situation. I turned to look behind me, watched as my son took a bite of his chocolate bar and saw it hit his mouth; when I suddenly crashed into a culvert causing the airbag to explode against my right hand gripping the wheel and my face.

At that moment, the only thing I worried about was my three kids. I turned to face Emma who was beside me in the front seat to see whether she was alright only to find that she had not been bleeding nor had she experienced anything fatal. I then turned to check on my younger kids who although are thirteen months apart look like twins. Natalia who was scared did not cry nor did she complain and was okay, but Viktor, my youngest, was bleeding.

I took off my seat belt, got out of the car and walked over to him. As soon as I saw his swollen, bleeding mouth, I began to cry at the sight of what I had caused him, and he started to cry in return. When I realized that my crying was making him cry, I stopped crying and in a soft voice calmed him down saying that everything would be alright. He stopped crying and asked if we were going to be alright, I then reassured him that we were. The car in the other lane stopped, and the people got out to see if we were alright. Before I knew it, my wreck had created a long line of cars that included my mother and sister in law.

A lady, the owner of whose yard I had ruined, came out with blankets for my kids. My husband arrived at the scene shortly and after several minutes, an ambulance came and took my two daughters to the same hospital as they were trying to keep Viktor from falling asleep in case he had a concussion. He was then carried off in a helicopter which flew my son to a hospital one hour away to see if he needed oral surgery.

I did not feel anything physically wrong except maybe my hand burning from the airbag hitting me.  The only thing that worried me was my son and his health. I had no time to think about myself whatsoever or to check me in into the hospital. My daughters suffered no issues and Viktor who wore a swollen cheek for a couple of weeks did not have the need for surgery. I on the other hand well let's just say it is the result of many, many other posts to come.