the blind side

*warning* there is no food in this post.. if you are looking for food, you can click the link to my sister blog for the best pea soup recipe.  But please, read this for me.

now, onto my thoughts.

Scott and I watched the Blind side this weekend. A special thanks  to my daughter who encouraged me to watch it. It thoroughly enjoyed it & would like to think that I could inspire a kid like that. It was heartwarming.

What I’m about to share is heartbreaking.

Friday morning about 20 minutes after me kids left for school, my struggling eyes were reading my facebook newsfeed on my phone, and I read  ” car strikes bus head in in crash in Kingston”.

my daughter, who has had her licence for less than a year, goes to school in Kingston. I quickly ran to my computer, where my eyes stood a better chance at reading & discovered that the accident had happened right before she had left home. She was safe. In those few seconds on the way to my computer, my  stomach turned.

Then I saw the car involved and almost threw up.  The next few hours unfolded details that are just horrific. The story is that 4 kids, on their way to school crossed the yellow line & slammed head on into a school bus. The bus had just dropped off students, so only the bus driver was on the bus ( Thank God.)

The three passengers were unconscious when rescue arrived. The driver was the only one awake and needed the jaws of life to free her. 3 of the kids were medflighted to a Boston hospital with life  extremely serious injuries.

My daughter did not know any of these kids personally, but she has friends who are very close to them. ( she attends a different high school in the same town) Throughout the morning, more & more details were emerging, each one more disturbing than the last.

This happend on the morning of the junior prom.

The thoughts of this accident are haunting me.  There are certain things in your life that stick with you. I remember in my freshman year of high school, we all gathered in the auditorium to watch a movie for drivers’ ed. ( some of you who read this may remember the video, because you may have been sitting with me)

The video was about a boy who recently got his licence and took his little brother out on a ‘joy ride’

Speed was a factor & he hit a fence head on & one of the posts went straight through the windshield & through his little brother’s chest, killig him instantly.

I don’t think I slept for weeks after seeing that.  It has stayed with me all these years later….

Out of respect for the kids & the families, I will not go into details of their conditions, but let me tell you, it isn’t good. At all.

The news showed the image of the father of the driver showing up to the scene of the accident, then quickly leaving. I cannot imagine that feeling, nor would I wish it on my worst enemy.

I keep thinking of the bus driver…  whose wheels had turned, I’m sure in an effort to avoid the oncoming car, and what she must have seen. Four kids screaming at the top of their lungs. I have heard that she only had minor injuries, but the damage done to her physcologically is unimaginable.

The kids involved and their families.. lives changed forever in the blink of a second.

The accident is still under investigation, and while speed and inexperience are both obvioulsly factors, they are investigating cell phone usage.

If you know me then you know that I am HUGELY against texting and driving. And in my state it is the law to NOT text and drive. Yet I see people doing it all the time & it irritates the hell out of me. In fact ,I know of several friends and soem family members who still do it.

We are not invinsible. Not even a little. For the love of God, just don’t text while driving. there is NOTHING so important that can’t wait until you are stopped and parked. I NEVER ever do it and hope that I have passed how wrong this is onto my children.

When Ali heard updates yesterday, she and I sat in my parked car and cried. I almost threw up. She said, “mom, what of that other car wasn’t a bus? what if it was another car.. maybe with more kids? “

You hear tragic stories all the time, but when it hits this close to home, it stings. In a big way. I have said som many prayers for all involved and if you can find it in you heart to send a few more, that would be wonderful.

I’m sorry if I sound preachy…. no, actually I’m not sorry. Because If you think of this and somehow you think of my preaching & it saves you from being air lifted, or showing up to see your child air lifted, then I’m ok with that.

I am so heartbroken over this. For whatever reason, it has lodged itself in my chest and it is truly heavy and sad.

I love my family more than anything and cannot imagine……

I’m posting this picture to to remind us all that we are not invincible. If this hadn’t have been on the news then I would not have posted it, but my hope is that you will share this with your  loved, especially if they text & drive.  And if you are my family member, don’t ever do it. I would rather never hear from you then have me be on the other end of that partial text before a med flight helicopter is needed.

talk about being blind sided.

God Bless these kids and their families, and dear Lord, Please hear our prayers…….