Scares and prayers

We were driving home tonight from Mama G's house where we had had a fun family get-together, and came upon the scene of an accident. We saw the flashing lights of a fire engine blocking the road, and we were the first car in a long line of cars that had to stop. They set up cones to block off both lanes of the highway so that no one could get through. Griffin was getting very excited about all of the lights and sirens, and Mike and I tried to be upbeat because we didn't want to scare him, but it's hard to be calm and collected when you know that someone is probably seriously hurt. Then we heard the helicopter coming closer and closer. Mike thought it was a News Chopper and thought they had a lot of nerve getting that close to the scene of the accident, but we soon realized that it was Life Flight coming to take someone away. We both got really quiet and Mike bowed his head and prayed silently. I was praying, but with my eyes wide open, so when the fire fighter started walking up to us, I nudged Mike to let him know. The fire fighter was very nice and politely apologized for the hold-up. He really didn't need to apologize, but it was a nice thing to do anyway. I mean, what were we going to do, get mad that someone's life needed to be saved? Yeah right!

We were there for about 20 minutes waiting, and then a police officer came and told us they would let us drive past in a little bit. We asked him what he knew about the accident, and he wouldn't say much, but said he thought the guy was stable when they took him. Driving past, there appeared to be only one car, a small dark grey SUV that looked like it wasn't very old at all, and it was smashed to smithereens. The airbags in front and on the sides had all been deployed, and there was almost no front end left to speak of. It had obviously rolled quite a bit. The top of the car was peeled back and mangled, and the windows were all gone. It looked like it had been in a very bad fire, although I don't think there was a fire.

I hope he is all right, and I will try to find out from Mama G if she sees anything in the newspaper about it. It happened close to where she lives, and it was right at 10 PM that we stopped, so I thought there might be something on the news about it, but there wasn't.

You feel like you are somehow connected to the incident, even though you had nothing to do with it, when you are that close to it watching everything happen. I'm just glad we didn't drive through that area however many minutes earlier.

So this Thanksgiving, I thank God that my family is safe. It is something I take for granted way too often, until I see something like this happen and it shatters the little bubble I live in. I hugged Griffin a little tighter and gave him an extra kiss or two when I put him to bed tonight.

Oh, and on a lighter note... we were almost home, and I assumed Griffin and Sammy were sound asleep as I hadn't heard a sound from the back seat for quite a while, and I happened to burp quite loudly. I felt no need to hold it in, as there was no one to hear it, right? Then this little voice from the back says "Excuse you, Mommy!" and I laughed so hard I thought my sides would burst. Griffin is learning how to be polite, and he will gladly correct people if he knows they have messed up in the "polite" department. Last week he sneezed and said "Bless me!" when no one said a blessing for him. Then yesterday while we ate lunch he handed me something, waited a little while, and exclaimed "You're welcome!"