Thursday, March 31, 2011

Terror and Gratitude

Sometimes life will give you a huge shove, knock you right on your butt and remind you to focus on what really matters. I got one of those shoves yesterday, and experienced emotions ranging from complete terror to utter thankfulness over an hour long period.

It all started with a phone call from my husband. He calls me several times a day when he is on the road, but this time I could not hear him. His signal was awful and I thought he was saying check the text. Since he had not sent me a text, I was understandably confused! After he lost his signal completely, I sent him a text telling him I couldn't understand him. The answering text simply said "I flipped the truck" and then nothing. No answer to my text asking if he was ok. My heart just stopped beating. Rationally, I knew that if he could text me he was relatively uninjured, but emotionally I was falling apart.

20 minutes later, he managed to borrow a phone and even with the awful reception I could understand him to say he was ok. Almost an hour after the first call, he finally called me from a paramedics phone to let me know he was being taken to the hospital because he had pain from the seat belt cutting into him. Heavy rains moved mud onto the road and he hit it and slid, losing control in the process.

A few hours ago, he finally got home to us. All in one piece, really sore and most likely unemployed since his company has a zero tolerance policy for wrecks. And I don't care. Jobs, trucks and everything else can be replaced. Husbands and dads cannot be and as long as he is ok, everything else will work out in the end. If I have my way, he will never drive over the road again. I have my work, and if coming home every night means less pay, so be it. I will remember that moment of terror every time I trip over the boots he leaves in the middle of the floor, or clean up the huge mess he always makes cooking, because he is here to do those little things that annoy me. The alternative is to horrible to imagine.

If you are sensitive to car accidents, or have lost a loved one to an accident, please don't look at the pictures below. Even knowing he was ok, viewing them caused another bout of tears and anxiety.





5 comments:

  1. Carrie, you almost made me cry. My husband drives over the road, as well. In November he had a medical emergency and ended up in an emergency room far, far away from home. I didn't know what was going on. He obviously couldn't be on the phone giving me a play-by-play. I couldn't be there in person. I bawled my eyes out for hours. It was terrifying.

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  2. I am sorry you had to go through it too, Angie. That is exactly why I don't want him to go over the road anymore. He was 5 hours away from us when this happened and it was over 10 hours before I could see for myself that he was ok.

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  3. Oh my...I just- those photos. I cannot even begin to imagine this. I just..wow. I am so glad that he's okay.

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  4. I am sorry you guys had to go through something like this. How horrible. I am glad to know he is ok. As for the messy cooking, I have one of those that does that. And it annoys me as well, however, the alternative of not having him doesn't suit me.

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  5. I am so happy that your husband is safe and at home with you guys. Those photos really bring home the fact of how lucky and blessed your husband was.

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