Twenty-One years and counting . . .

There are very few days throughout my life that I can look back on and know with certainty exactly where I was in my life at a specific date and time. Twenty-One years ago today, at this time, I was in the emergency room in Red Wing Minnesota. My entire family was on our way to Saint Paul to a visitation for one of my dad's best friends, who had died from some sort of heart problem(I was only eleven, I don't remember what kind of problem). We were 4 miles from home when my dad saw a car broke down on the side of the road. It had just started snowing and he slowed down as he approached it. As he passed it, a driver crossed over the center line. My dad was unable to swerve due to the car on the side of the road. I don't remember the accident. My mother, my 2 sisters and I all blacked out for the impact. Only my father remembers it with clarity. Only dad was awake for the entire thing. My older sister and I were in the back seat, my mom and dad and my little sister were in the front seat. It was 1986, and no one was wearing seat belts. 1986 was well before airbags.

The O'Brien family was the first on the scene and witnessed it all from their vantage point on the side of the road. If we hadn't been there on the road, the driver would possibly hit the father, mother and the one son standing outside of their car waiting for help. They would never been as fortunate as we were.

The man (called Mousy) had been drinking (and perhaps doing some other things to impair his driving judgment). He reached down to the floor of the passenger side of his car, and as he did, his left hand steered him across the center line at 55-60 miles/hour. He did not see it coming and did not slow down.

My older sister and I were able to get out of the car with help from the O'Brien family. We were in shock, shaky and damn near hysterical. The rest of my family were trapped in the car. The front end of the car was smashed in, the front doors unopenable. The windshield was shattered, but I can't remember if it was still in place. Our angels seated us in the back seat of their car, covering us with the only thing we had, burlap bags, but I couldn't stay their long. I had to see my mom and dad, I had to see my little sister. The ambulance and fire crew arrived, and they were able to pull my little sister out through the windshield. Mom and Dad had to be cut out with the "Jaws of Life". When we were all out, we were split up into ambulances, Mom and Dad in one, the girls and I and Mousy in the other. Perhaps one of the girls was with Mom and Dad. They asked Mom and Dad which hospital they wanted and they left for River Falls. Our ambulance left for Red Wing(both about 15 miles away). They were part way there before Mom and Dad found out that we were on our way to opposite hospitals and they fiercely demanded to turn around.

Upon arriving, my sister or I asked them to call my aunt and uncle who lived in town. Even in a snow storm my aunt and my cousin were able to make it down to be with us. I am forever grateful for that. My older sister and I fared the best in the accident. My sister(Older) was fighting an asthma attack, and had some other minor cuts and bruises. I had a 2 inch gash on my left knee, a puncture wound on my right shin and I had slammed my face into the back of the car seat in front of me, flattening my nose. My eyes were swelling. At the end of the day I could barely see because my eyes had almost swollen shut and I looked quite a bit like a raccoon. My sister(older) and I were only kept over night. My little sister had fractured her ankle and had glass cuts across her face. She was in the ICU due to her size and age. She was fortunate. Mom had fractured her pelvis. She had a puncture wound on her right shin that matched mine.

I think Dad fared the worst. As the only one conscious throughout, he'd been able to brace himself. Years later in a college physics class my professor proved mathematically that it was mathematically impossible to brace yourself in an accident. That professor had never been in an accident with a Vietnam veteran who was bracing himself to prevent his 7 year old daughter from flying through the windshield. My daddy was a Marine, and he defied physics that day. Dad braced both feet against the floor(or against the brakes?) and his left hand against the steering wheel. His right arm was flung out in front of my little sister's face. Both of Dad's feet went through the floorboard of the car, and his left arm bent, yep- BENT the steering wheel. The rescue crew had to cut his feet out as they were trapped. He was awake and directed his rescuers in how to best go about cutting him out without further damaging his legs. He ended up with both legs broken and in casts, one up to his knee and the other to his hip, and also broke his arm. Two legs and an arm in a cast made for a highly dependent recovery time. He also had some other injuries, too. He ended up with over 300 stitches in his body. Approximately 170 of them were in his leg or thigh, and 180 of them were in his right bicep. The shifter on the steering column had tore up his arm pretty good. The amazing part of it was that if he hadn't had the ability and foresight to throw out his arm, the shifter would have hit my little sister right in the face. It would have killed her.

Mousy was fine, or maybe he wasn't fine, but he wasn't as bad off as my parents and I frankly didn't care to remember any more. Someone threw him a benefit to cover his medical expenses at the ballroom across from our house. Some family friends went to it and reported that people were smoking there, and it wasn't limited to cigarettes, if you know what I mean.

Older sister and I were released the next day, Little Sister the day after that. Mom and Dad were in the hospital for 8 and 14 days. Family came to stay with us. My cousin Randy came to stay with us to keep the fire burning. We only had wood heat and some one had to keep the fire going so the pipes wouldn't freeze. When Mom came home, I helped to care for her. She couldn't tie her shoes for weeks. When Dad came home, my cousin and whoever else had to carry him up the steps. With two broken legs and a broken arm, he was immobile. He was eventually able to use a wheelchair to get around the house, and after that he had a special crutch for his broken arm and a regular crutch for the other arm. They were both off work for a very long time. I appreciate all of the people who gave us food and presents for Christmas. We had very little income, and it was a bleak year. There wasn't money for much of anything. It was hard for my parents, especially. Several churches brought us boxes of food, the guys from my dad's work donated presents. Their kindness made it bearable.

One of the rescuers cut his hand pretty good, resulting in a scar that forever bears our name. He was the husband of my older sister's choir teacher. The O'Briens were in our 4-H club that we'd joined only months or weeks before. It was nice to have semi-familiar faces that night. I got a teddy bear while I was in the hospital with a big round stomach. His name is fatty (Creative, huh? Perhaps it was a she and she was pregnant?). I still have him. The radio or paper incorrectly announced that there were 6 in the accident- Dad, Mom, Older Sister, me and Little Sister and Jo and only five survivors. My little sister's name is Amy Jo and they'd reported her as both Amy and Jo, seriously terrorizing our friends who'd heard it.

We all have bruises and aches and pains even now from that accident. My parents arranged our insurance settlement to be delivered to each of us girls in 4 lump sums. We each got $4500 on our 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st birthday. My parents took nothing up front so that we might be able to use it to go to college. It helped, but didn't come close to paying for my college education.

And so class, that is why my mommy and daddy are my heroes.

I wasn't able to find pictures the last time I looked. If I can find them in the future, I'll scan them in and post them.

Tonight, I am thankful for God's protection of my family that night in 1986. . . .