Wednesday night 9:45 my phone rings with my crying daughter on the other end they’ve just been in a car accident.
Rushing to the scene felt like the longest 2 miles I have ever had to drive. Unfortunately I have been in 3 car accidents, however pulling over and seeing three of your children (though 2 are only biologically the third is a dear friend who is my blonde daughter) standing next to a crashed car truly takes your breath away. Though the two cars are in pretty bad shape all involved survived. No one was at fault as the car the teenagers were in hydroplaned on a blind corner. The girls were pretty much a wreck and my son held it all together making the necessary calls. I don’t think I have ever felt so helpless. The police and workers didn’t want Mom answering questions they wanted the 3 kids, two are 19 one 17, to explain. Hearing another person point at your kids accusingly and without any charity wanted me to behave like the native New Yorker I am, though in fairness she was just involved in an accident.
One hour later we had my son who was sat where the impact occurred at the Emergency Room. He had pretty much taken control of the situation and the girls until I arrived. Within minutes the reality of it all hit him and we went into shock. Deciding to err on the side of caution we wanted him checked out as he was unresponsive for a bit. He was given a clean bill of health and advised to take it easy for a few days.
Today was rough on all, I’m pretty confident no one slept well last night. The girls just wanted to spend time together so we went to see Winnie the Pooh was a great distraction and a chance for us all to laugh. My son slept most of the day away.
No matter what we do, and all the safety precautions we take things are going to happen to our children that we have no control over. We all know that no matter how much we want to encase our children in bubble wrap they’re going to get hurt. From their first real boo-boo to their broken hearts we want to heal every pain that enters our children’s lives. We can’t they grow through these experiences.....being an observer simply sucks.
