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Monday, July 13, 2009

Tuesday Tribute- Thank Goodness For A Big SUV , A Guardian Angel, and A Small Town

Last Thursday was just another ordinary day in the life of Lady Di. I was at a swim meet that evening at the local pool. The thin strip of pavement that is a sorry excuse for a parking lot was full so I parked my lovely, white, well-taken care of, paid offed, Suburban along the curb.

OKAY STOP...let's back up a bit. I just wrote I parked my Suburban along the curb. Usually, I would not have been driving around town in that gas guzzling, SUV that environmentalists love to hate. This is not because I am an environmentalist, but an economist and although I love my roomy Suburban, the Saturn sedan made less of an impact on my bank account. For convenience, both vehicles have a car seat. However, that sweet child of mine has grown quite a bit and the straps needed to be adjusted for the car seat in the Suburban. Well, I'm lazy and rather than adjust the straps before taking a long trip in the 'burb, I swapped car seats from one vehicle to the other, leaving the Saturn car seatless. In further laziness, I failed to re-install car seat into Saturn, thus having to drive the big, gas guzzling (but lovely, and paid for) SUV. There is a relevance to my self-declaration of laziness later in the story, trust me.

So, the 'burb is parked along a curb and I needed to leave the meet to take one child to Vacation Bible School, pick up another from daycare, and then back to the swim meet. Upon my return I found my parking space was taken, so I drove around to park on the other side of the street in front of a home (a friend's home actually...hint, it's that small town thing).

Two hours passed, the swim meet was over, and it was time to go home. Everyone walked out into the parking lot together, including my husband and two daughters. My husband said he had to go to the ranch to check on some things real quick and I had the fabulous idea that both his girls should join him. This way I could get the other kid from VBS and get some quiet time before they ALL got home. The youngest girl, of all days, did not want to go with Daddy. We were standing at the crosswalk when she said, "Ok, I'll go with Daddy." (hint...this is the guardian angel thing).

Now the stage is set for this dramatic story....I know, I need to hop to it. I hand the little one off to Daddy, walk across the street (alone), get into my car, shut the door, put key in ignition, and BOOM!!!

Keep in mind that what you are about to read probably happened in all of like 5-10 seconds, but it felt like hours. Uh, did a tree branch just fall on the roof of my vehicle? BANG, POP, CRUNCH, CRUNCH....Oh ^%#$ the passenger side of my car is caving in!! My front visor flapped down in front of me all by itself and the center console thingy on the roof popped off. This is the point were I began to FREAK albeit calmly in my head that I was going to be crushed in my car. By the way, the movies have it wrong. Your life doesn't flash before your eyes in great big snap shots of your life from birth to the present. You have the "crap I haven't done yet in my life" flashes.

SILENCE, no more CRUNCH. This was when I noticed the tree branch coming through the bottom of the windshield on the passenger side. There was glass everywhere, the passenger side was completely wrecked including the door. I sort of assessed the situation and realized that I was OK and was not going to have to explain all the naughty things I had done in my life to St. Peter. The friend who lived in the home had been walking back from the swim meet too, and opened the rear passenger side door. Neither front door would open. My door was blocked by branches, and the other was jammed.

A lot of people including my poor husband and girls saw the entire gigantic tree fall onto the Suburban with me inside it. Even while I was stuck inside, once I figured out I was not going to be crushed like a tin can on a frat boy's head, I was for the most part calm. However, I think it was far more traumatizing for them to actually see the whole thing "go down" so to speak. So, here is why I love or shall I say loved my SUV. It essentially saved me and my lazy self. If I had not been driving the 'burb, the fireman and everyone agreed that I would probably not be in any condition to do this post right now, if at all. I have to admit, I did get emotional when I got out and saw the size of the tree and thought of the possibility of "what could have been" had I been driving the Saturn. Thank you, lovely, white, paid offed Surburban. I don't care what those environmentalist say, you're alright in my book. You can haul me and my precious cargo of kids anytime.

Now, I have to give a special shout out to my Guardian Angel. This guy or gal was definitely NOT sleeping on the job. Not only did you give me a extra dose of laziness to delay car seat placement in the much smaller Saturn, but you got a very stubborn little girl to change her mind at the last minute to go with her Daddy. Getting that girl to change her mind at all is a tribute in and of itself. However, had she been with me I would have been standing on the outside of the Suburban putting her in. Not good, since the bulk of the top of the tree landed right where I would have been standing. See, BELIEVE people. Guardian Angels are out there, working their little and sometimes BIG miracles everyday to help us out.

Finally...you got to love a small town. I really have to give a big thanks to all the people who came to my rescue. First, my husband, who dived into a tangled mess of leaves and branches to make sure I was alright. The friend who helped me out of the car. I mean sure, it was his tree that fell on me, it was the least he could do. The swim coach, who also happens to be a fireman that called his buddies (the other firemen) to get the tree off my poor mangled SUV. The other swim coach, who made a call to her sister, who was my son's VBS teacher. She looked after him until my sister and brother-in-law came by to pick up not only him, but all my kids. Even the ice cream man, who was there to provide refreshment to all the local kids that had gathered to watch the excitement. Like I said, got to love a small town. We were slightly disappointed that the newspaper reporter never showed up, but hey I guess you can't have everything, right??

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For more Tuesday Tributes visit Angie, click on SevenClownCircus

P.S. Faithful followers, our pal Amy is off on an adventure. She is driving, YES, driving with all 3 girls to Montana. She is currently in Utah after a day of misadventures. She promises to reveal all when she has a chance. Stay tuned.

22 comments:

Torey said...

What an ordeal!! I am glad to hear you are ok! I miss my big gas guzzling Suburban! I traded mine in for a smaller vehicle and it stinks when we want to go on a trip now, nothing fits! Bigger is Better!

♥ Joanna said...

Oh my gosh! I'm so glad you and your family were OK. That could have been a simply tragic event if anything different would have occurred.

And your reasons for loving small towns are quite similar to mine. :)

Unknown said...

Oh my lord! That is scary as heck...obviously glad you are all ok and that you're guardian angel wasn't on a coffee break at that time. I may have died of a heart attack, honestly!

Sorry about the 'burb' but clearly it did its' job that day too!

Hope things are calming down your way now!

Ok..this is just cool, my word veri is 'wings'!

Meagan and John said...

I miss my small town, except our "ice cream man" was at one point the local drug dealer so nobody I knew ever trusted to buy ice cream from him, I felt bad though because deep down inside I wanted to believe that he was trying to do the right thing, but didn't want to chance being mixed up in the whole thing--I don't know why our town even needed an ice cream man anyways, there was always a store within walking distance (the town is only 3 miles long by 3 miles wide).

I am glad you guys are all safe, I had a similar "guardian angel" experience except that I was in a Geo metro and a tree didn't fall on me, innstead at the last minute I changed my plans and stopped to purchase my niece (who was with me) a booster seat (this was years ago when booster seats weren't as mandatory) and while the cop I was buying it from was installing it in my geo (got to love safe kids coalition) his wife ran out of their house (yes I was buying it from him at his house--gotto love small towns) to inform him he had to go get his patrol car there was a high speed chase and he had the only set of spikes in the trunk of his patrol car parked around the corner (to go and get the load of carseats that morning from the much bigger town an hour away, he borrowed a friends truck, so he had his patrol car parked at that friends house)

either way, long story short, as we sat inside there house listening to the police scanner and hearing all the sirenes i realized had I not stopped there before hand I would have been driving down those same exact streets right at that moment (the guy was going 95 mph in residential running red lights and what not) and I know my geo would have been smashed and there was no way my niece (without a carseat) would have survived, very little chance I would have survived being hit by an car going 95 mph when it ran a stop sign and hit me--I'm telling you guardian angels work miracles, they kept both of us safe that night, and even though the guy got away, they knew who he was and so even though he didn't get arrested, he didn't exackly get away either--can we say he spent the a lot of time on the run.

Amy said...

Oh my goodness. I was so shocked to see this. I am so happy you had an angel there. I am also glad that you all are okay. What a great tribute...

Multiple personalities.. said...

Oh gosh! Talk about drama, right? I'm so glad everyone walked away unscratched...well, except for your SUV. I'm so glad your guardian angel wasn't sleeping on the job! I hope your truck gets fixed soon. Enjoy the rest of your SITs day!

monica said...

You are one lucky lady and I am glad that you didn't get hurt. Amazing pictures. What a story to remember!

Claremont First Ward said...

Oh my goodness. I'm still shaking my head in dis-belief. I'm so glad you are all safe.

Erin said...

OMG! That's amazing! Glad to hear you are all right, and Thank God for your Guardian Angel!

WOW just writing it all out again would have me freaked out and amazed all in one thought!

Next time we'll make sure the news van shows up! =)

JennyMac said...

What a CRAZY story. I can't believe those pics. Glad you are ok!

The Blonde Duck said...

Oh my God! I'm glad you're ok!

Stacey said...

Thank God!! I felt sick to my stomach reading that. What was the reason for the tree falling in the first place? I'm so glad you are alright.

Drop by my blog to pick up an award I 'bestowed' upon you gals. This story is another reason why you deserve it!

Melissa said...

OMG.... how scary!! You are SOOOOO lucky that none of you got injured in that melee'....

shortmama said...

Wow! So glad you are OK! Really makes you think how there really are no coincidences huh? Thank God you and your family were safe.

Juanita said...

Hi from SITS!

OMG, I LOVE this story. No, I don't love that your white paid offed gas guzzling Suburban was demolished, but I do LOVE the stark evidence that we all have a Guardian Angel hovering around just in case we need him/her. Thank God you're alright, and that your daughter went with her Daddy! Great story for fireside chats in the future.

Be blessed (again)! Oh, come see me, I love guests!

Anonymous said...

Wow. You were very blessed. :::visiting from SITS:::

Lisa Anne said...

Wow, I love it. This is great, I mean great that you are here nad alive to write this story and make light of it. This totally could have ended tragically but your right, your angel was with you and your daughter that day. God Bless. I know my angel works overtime, but then again I know it's mom.

Thanks for the great story, it's always good to read about something good happening out of a bad situation then bad. I love the small town too, I just moved to one and culture shock yes, but wouldn't trade it for the city again!

Michelle said...

Wow. Just absolutely wow. I am SO glad that you are safe and that your car saved you. I'm stunned at that whole piece... but wow, those pictures. Definitely be grateful for all those things. Except that I really didn't need anything else to encourage me in laziness ;)

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

OH MY GOSH. I'm so glad you're ok. Must have been so scary!

Amy said...

Like I said before - I am so thankful for your Guardian Angel. I just don't know what I would do without my best good friend! I love ya! yep. my tribute today would have to go to airplanes and hotels and maybe warm water and portable DVD players. Next time remind me that driving is not the way to go. please. Oh and Wi-Fi so I can drop in and check our fabulous blog!

Claudya Martinez said...

Unbelievable! I am so happy your car got crushed and not you. You're Guardian Angel was workin' overtime.

John Deere Mom said...

Wow. That is amazing. The size of that tree is incredible. Thank God for Suburbans and Guardian Angels!!

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