1. This is your view for the better part of what should have been Day One:
2. That evening you’re home again and what should have been Day Two, you have these posted on your fridge:
3. Your van is in an impound in Canada and looks like this:
and this:
Short story: we had an accident early Saturday morning outside London, Ontario on our way out east and spent the day in the E.R. Christopher and Lydia were bruised and shaken; Eden got stitches in her forehead and hand—it’s driving her crazy they didn’t tell her how many because it was A LOT—Paul’s left forearm is hamburger—it scraped along the high way when we were on our side before the van flipped over entirely and came to a stop—and his legs have some impressive cuts.
I have a sprained ankle, a torn up elbow and, according to the doctor, my days as a forehead model are over. Of course I have a couple natural remedies up my sleeve, so we’ll see about that.
The crash itself was so incredibly terrible and then we were all separated in the E.R. I’ve never had all my children in a medical emergency. Being in one of my own, and not able to be there for any of them was beyond horrible. But they were all amazing, as any of you who know them can imagine. Lydia was discharged first and she tracked down Eden, never leaving her side until Paul was discharged. Their nurses came to meet me to, in their words, “gush” about how wonderful they were.
Christopher lost his processor in the accident so he went quiet. When he saw the van at the impound he began to weep, “I just can’t believe we survived,” he said.
None of us could. Mainly we’re thankful. “I’m just so grateful,” Eden said to Paul as he tucked her in last night, “I’m just so glad we’re all here and alive.”
I’ll be honest, I also feel a little sheepish. I don’t want to be those people who run after chaos and though I know this was an accident, still. When the house was burning I thought, “You have GOT to be kidding me.” because we had already been through so much. Sitting by the side of the 402 with a pillow clasped to my forehead to staunch the blood I couldn’t believe we were in this jam, but I was in too much pain to analyze it.
Later, at the impound, as Paul and I quickly and easily sorted through what could be salvaged and what should be trashed because—you know—we’re experienced, I told him “We have GOT to stop doing this.” And he agreed, so there’s that.
First picture, I thought “Infected tooth, how painful!”. Second picture I thought “Wait a minute, maybe they all got the flu?” Third picture “Oh my.” I am glad no one was seriously injured. Makes staycations seem desirable, although this could happen to anyone at any time.
My thoughts go out to you and your family. I recently met Christopher at the Ada Farm Market. I am a vendor there and he told me about his interest in my farm and growing hydroponically, as well as the camp he was headed east to attend. Just last night I was looking at my calendar to find a good day and time to invite him out to see the farm. I am SO glad that you are all alive after such a terrible accident. How scary!!! Jennie, the market master, passed along this blog entry in case you are wondering how I read it. Keeping you all in my prayers. Kate Bartley, The Silo Hydro Farm
foffmom, an infected tooth would have been a delight, but you can’t always choose your medical emergencies. : )
Kate, thank you so much. I know Christopher would love to visit your farm.
I check in with you randomly, and when I saw your post, my heart stopped. By the looks of your van, and the injuries you all have, it is nothing short of a miracle no one was killed.
I am praying for you and your family as we speak. I’ll continue doing so for the near future. God speed as you all heal… physically, and emotionally.
Thank you so much, we’re well on the mend, in every way. I have a big deadline this week and will be writing more here after that. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers!
Prayers to you and the family Alison, as well as the engineers/car manufactures. I too am a car crash survivor. These photos give a person an entirely new perspective on car safety..and ones faith 🙂
Renee, I just saw this. Thank you! Definitely have a new perspective on car safety. We bought this van right after our fire and I haven’t always been great about looking up safety ratings—I had made some assumptions. But this time I was checking out another model and felt prompted to double check the ratings and they were terrible. I passed on that van and we bought this one. The Town and Country has excellent ratings and this one stood the test—thank God!.