Sarah's Accident

This morning was like most mornings except that I was to have a 9 a.m. appointment at the gym with someone who would teach me about FitLinx, a way to track your fitness goals electronically. But at 8 this morning I didn't have a peace about keeping the appointment. I am still quite sore from last night's workout and have a housework goal looming as large as my backside.

Stephen's Jeep was blocked into our driveway by the fleet that we have as five drivers. So he took the convertible and would switch later with Sarah. I thought no more of it; it barely registered as an oddity.

On the way out the door at 9:00, Sarah plopped a paper on the table and asked if I'd check over it and mark it up. She'd be home before work to fix it. Praying for the kids is the most I can do;marking their papers is the least.

The phone rang about ten minutes after she left. Her voice was shaking and she was crying. I knew. "Mom...I've been hit!... Can you come?" I asked where she was and if she was okay. Then I called Paul who said, "Was it her fault?" and a couple other questions and I said "I don't think so, I need to go." He said, "Don't do anything stupid," which is his code way of saying, "Don't say much on the scene, admit fault or say everything's fine." (He keeps it simple and I usually understand him.)

I threw on a decent shirt and made a couple calls for prayer and to let the school know what happened in case I didn't show up today. (Rainy Wednesday. Car problems...Hmm....sound familiar? I was tempted to superstition but instead chose to thank God for his protection two rainy Wednesdays in a row.)

"Be her peace, her Prince of Peace," I said. "and the other person who hit her. For that matter, be mine, too, Lord," I prayed as my heart picked up tempo.

I saw flashing cop car lights but only a dark SUV on the other side of the road, Oh, Lord, she got hit by a big one. where is she? I wondered. Maybe she's behind that SUV in a ditch? Then where's the ambulance? How could she have called me if she was flipped over in a ditch?

The cop was in his vehicle filling out paperwork. I asked him through his window, "I'm looking for my daughter, She was driving the convertible?"

"Convertible?" He looked dumbfounded, or like I was an apparition. He pointed to the Jeep.

Then it clicked. She was in Steve's Jeep! Thank God! Oh, thank you, God! Stephen took the convertible to school!

Sarah was sitting in the front seat with her cell phone, calm and smiling, She got out and hugged me and told me the details. I walked around the right side of the Jeep and saw the big dent in the back door. The lady had pulled out apparently from her housing development in her SUV. Oh, Lord, had Sarah been hit by that,,, I don't want to think about it.

Part of me wanted to cross the street and ask the lady if she was okay and to reassure her. It must feel so terrible to be the one at fault.

But Paul's words,"Don't do anything stupid" came back to me. It could be stupid to cross this busy, wet road. It could be stupid to open my mouth in the name of calming someone else." So I simply told Sarah I wanted to drive her to school. She balked, said she was okay, but I insisted I at least follow her to campus. Driving after an accident can be nerve wracking, but she was already nervous because she en route to give a presentation at school. "All the more reason I follow you to school," said, the Mother Hen I am .

She arrived safely and I thanked God as she parked the Jeep that He had been merciful to her, to us, in arranging (or from my perspective, rearranging) the details and outcomes of this rainy Wednesday.