A few weeks ago, the Phillips Family, held a reunion for the extended member of the Phillips Family, up at the river.
It was supposed to be just a day to be together to do things like this:
Being with family:
A little game of tossing the little ones in the blankets:
A ride to watch the river, in the back of Grandpas truck:
And Yummy food, good company, family we don’t get to see often enough and even a boat ride up at the reservoir.
And it was full of all of those wonderful things, but also more. Alot more. This day came with the realization (yet again) of the Lords Knowledge of me, and his guiding hand in my life.
You see, the morning traveling to the river, was a difficult one for me. Toph had gone up the day before, to help set up. I had gotten the children up, fed, dressed, to their soccer games, gotten the house clean, car packed, official soccer team pictures taken, survived the monsoon like rain showers of the morning, and had just headed off (all before 9:15 that morning). We were headed from our home to the river in our new car, about a 3.5 hour or 4 hour drive. I was anxious to be with family, and to have this drive over with.
As I was leaving, I became aware (again) that our SRS light was on, we had taken it to the dealership to be fixed many times, but the part was now on a nationwide back order. We still had to wait another week for the part to come in, until then, we were just driving carefully, because without that part, our airbags would not deploy properly.
The children we’re awesome, and we’d made it to Logan. Over 3/4 the way their. Should we stop and go to the bathroom I wondered, but decided against it. The boys hadn’t said anything about needing to go, and Elliot was asleep. I figured, if they did really need to go, soon we’d be in the Idaho country, and be able to pull over and find a secluded spot. Much easier than hauling the children through the candy at the gas station, and herding them all into the Women’s Restroom (with moans from Tucker, I don’t want to go in the girls…), yeah, much easier.
So we kept going. It seemed as if I was hitting EVERY SINGLE RED LIGHT. Again, I began in my head get frustrated, how is it possible for me to hit EVERY SINGLE RED LIGHT. This is ridiculous I said to myself, how is this possible? I was feeling so ready to be done with the car trip, and still had more to drive. I felt the frustration mounting, thinking really this shouldn’t be taking us this long, it’s never taken us this long. Ever. Just then the light turned green, and I raced to the next intersection, not wanting it to be red again.
It was then, that I saw it. An elderly couple accidentally ran the red light, a big tahoe truck with a father and his daughter smashed right into him. T boned their car. And sent their cars rolling and smashing as if they were toy matchbox cars off to the side of the road.
It was surreal, I remember squealing, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, pulling my car to the side of the road (far enough ahead, that my children couldn’t see what was behind them), screaming at my children, DO NOT GET OUT OF THE CAR. THERE HAS BEEN AN ACCIDENT. TUCKER YOU ARE IN CHARGE, DO NOT GET OUT OF THE CAR. KEEP EVERYONE IN THE CAR, I’VE GOT TO GO HELP. DO NOT GET OUT OF THE CAR WERE ON A BUSY ROAD I DON’T WANT YOU HURT, UNDERSTOOD? and not even waiting for their reply as I dashed out of the car.
We were at a part of town, where their is not much traffic, I stopped, along side another younger couple stopped. They had a cell phone, and called 911.
In the week leading to this day, I had broken my cell phone, and not yet replaced it. As I ran to the accident, I was cursing myself, saying this was the exact reason I carried a cell phone.
For the next 30 minutes, people stopped to help, we did the best we could, I felt grateful that I had followed my thoughts in putting my two first aid kit in the back of our car, as many of the supplies were used. The ambulances arrived, the EMT’s took over from us ameteurs, and reality began to sink it. I then realized I hear my children, looked up to see them leaning out of the windows, Tucker yelling, ‘Is everything okay? Do they have any broken bones?’ (broken bones is the worst things he knows that can happen to your body, and he seemed terrified as he yelled it)
I went back to the car, the reality still seeping in. I realized the blessings of those stupid red lights. That easily could have been us. And with our airbags not working, we would have been hurt very badly. I said a silent prayer, and thanked the Lord for our safety. I began to feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude to the Lord, as well as for the others who stopped to help. It is so wonderful that we live in a place where people did stop to help.
I then explained to the boys there were no broken bones, we talked about how important it is to wear safety belts, and the boys seemed to be fine. They went back to watching a DVD, Elliot continued to sleep, and I drove to the reunion.
There hasn’t been a day since when I haven’t thought about this accident, the random acts of kindness from strangers that saved these people lives, and the following week I learned of another gift given TO my friend, and then this last week another gift given FROM my friend. One on the receiving end, the other on the giving end. There are so many acts of kindness occurring around us every day, are we realizing them?
Since the accident, I have tried to be aware of all of the kindness that exists around me, and to share it with others. Won’t you join me?
