Car seats, seat belts, good brakes, and the reaffirmation that the Lord loves us and is watching over us. And no matter how bad things are, they could be much worse ...
The littles and I did not have a very good day. From start to finish, it has been difficult. Partly because Bitty is teething, Little Mister is two, and I was in a rotten mood due to some rather distressing financial news I got yesterday. I've actually been fairly depressed all day and not coping well with much of anything.
DisGrace came to the rescue and picked up Runner Girl from her practice today and, when she dropped off Runner Girl, she dropped off KC too. KC is my fabulous almost 15-year-old niece. She was supposed to be babysitting, but fell asleep on the recliner. For a few minutes. Then I was mean and made her wake up and take the baby so I could get Little Mister some food. Then we all piled in the car and took Runner Girl back to the school for a carb-loading party that the coaches threw for the kids. Regionals are Thursday and carb-loading is most effective 48 hours before a race, apparently.
Bitty didn't want to sleep and Little Mister didn't either, so we hung out at the apartment until time to get Runner Girl. All was well until we turned left on our green arrow and accelerated to the speed limit, which was only 35 mph. A car that had been in front of us moved into the right hand lane and turned right at the first street, blocking the view of someone at that stop sign waiting to turn left. They pulled out right in front of me.
I didn't panic. I heard the words, "Hit the brakes and lay on the horn!" and did just that. The brakes squealed, the car slid a little, but we managed to stop about 2 feet from the driver's door. They stopped as well and we sat there for a moment with brake dust illuminated in headlights and everyone in my car freaking out except Little Mister, who declared, "Fun! AGAIN!!"
We maneuvered around their vehicle and went on our way, with my stomach in knots. What if I hadn't been able to stop the car? Not only would my three babies have probably been injured, but my sweet niece, too! What if there had been another vehicle behind me, as is usually the case in that intersection? They definitely would have hit me, forcing me into the other car, and all of us would have been hurt, maybe killed.
We traveled about 1/2 mile when I asked Runner Girl to lead us in a prayer of thanks. She did, and two more thoughts came to my mind. One, the Lord loves us and was watching over us and again blessed us because we paid our tithing. Two, He doesn't want me dead yet.
We dropped off KC and came home, and I put my babies to bed, snuggling them a little longer and a little less resentfully than I had all day. I'm so thankful we are safe and sound at home now. And I get to go have a bubble bath and cry.
Thank you for reading. Be on the lookout for a post tomorrow about last week's second race!!
1 comment:
Wow, that is so scary. Glad you guys are OK!
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