A Moment....

Happy Tuesday! I'm linking up with Two Writing Teachers for the Slice of Life weekly event. I'm excited to do this coming off of the month long writing challenge in March.....

I want to open up more and share beneath the surface.  Feel vulnerable and open like so many of the other wonderful writings have done with me over the last month. I know there is never enough time, but I wanted to share a scary moment that for some reason has been playing a lot in my head lately.  It's a moment that changed my life forever, and it could have even changed it for the worst...but it didn't.  Yet it still scares me.

"OH MY GOD!!!!!" -Was being screamed out of my best friend's mouth as I opened my eyes just in enough time to see the van flying towards us, and then we hit.

Those three words. I can still hear her tone, hear the expression in her voice...she had seen it all. She had known it was coming, she had to prepare for impact. She had all of our lives in her hands.

Let's rewind:  I was in LaCrosse for the weekend with a great group of girlfriends.  Two of them were from back home, and were heading through Madison to go up for the weekend to see friends.  My other girlfriend that I went to college with, joined us and we hit the road. The free road, ready for a weekend of fun and friends. We had all of that.  Early Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast and decided to make our treck home... back to reality! The two of us in the back dozed off in the car.  The last thing I remember before being awoken up was stopping for gas, and the girls in the front chatting, laughing and listening to music.

"OH MY GOD!!!!!"

It was like a scene from the movies.  Like I stated earlier, I didn't see anything coming, but this is what had happened.  An SUV traveling on the opposite side of the interstate (very quickly, may I add) jumped a guard rail and was sailing right into our lanes of traffic and right at the van in front of us.  They hit.. then we hit. I remember frantically calling 911 trying to figure out where we were. Then I remember calling my mom and asking her to hurry. The rest was somewhat of a blur that comes and goes.

Then chaos.  Mass chaos.  The gentleman who was in the SUV that hit us was drunk.  Yes at 10/11 something in the morning when it had happened.  He had 8 OWI citations and no drivers license.  He had just purchased the car the day prior without insurance or a license.  He fled the scene. He hit a family, that oddly enough was local to where I was from.  Their van hit us.  The two adults were hurt very badly. We couldn't get them out of the car.  The children we could get out so we wrapped them in blankets as we waited for help to arrive.  They were scared. I was scared.

Thankfully everyone survived this horrific accident, however that memory, that moment---lives on.  It was a long road to recovery for the family ahead of us in the van. Many ups and downs, and both physical and mental scars.

After several years (almost 10 to be exact) I actually came in contact with the couple in the minivan.  They own the vet clinic that we go to. In that whole time up until I saw them recently, we never ended up getting either of them for one single vet appointment??? We've been going to them for 6 years. The funny thing is we had a lot of appointments, let me tell you. Our dog is what you call "high-maintence" She struggles with kidney stones, and needs special food, and needed surgery and was sick for a long time until we figure it all out.  When I finally met them we were all overcome with tears.  They called me one of their angels, and I just couldn't stop telling them how much that day, that moment changed my life forever and that I thought of them often. It was a nice meeting, another chance meeting.

Isn't it crazy how one moment can do so much???


If you're still reading, thank you! This one was a long one!  Talk to you soon!    ~Ana