Tuesday, April 04, 2006

The "What if" Game


Last Thursday Molly and I went to Tatum, NM for a jewelry show at Joel's mom's school. It was really fun to have Sheila get to show Miss Molly off. After the show we stayed around to be able to eat dinner with Pappaw (Joel's dad). It was getting dark and so I thought we should get on the road. It was about 8:15 (TX-time) when we left. Ten minutes down the road I am driving about 65 mph and see a light colored cow on the side of the road and think that slowing down might be best in case there are others out and sure enough, as I slow down I hit something. I screamed. All at the same time, Molly has fallen asleep and I scare her, she screams, but goes right back to sleep and I forgot to mention, Joel is on the phone. He hears my scream. As I pull the car to the side of the road I can hear Joel yelling, "what is going on?!?"
The car is pulled over and I pick the phone back up and tell him that I think I hit a cow. I turn around and just feel on quiet, sleeping Molly's little chest. She is okay.
At this point I'm doing okay. I am going down the checklist with Joel: light still on, hazard light on, car in park, I am far enough off the shoulder... I then get out of the car and go to check the damages.
I guess I was expecting less, because I am trying to talk to Joel and I started to cry and I couldn't say anything. When I looked at the car the passenger side headlight is busted, part of the bumper is off, the hood has damage, the side panel is damaged, the mirror is torn off and the bottom right corner of the windshield is busted, passenger door won’t open…
As Joel realizes that I am freaking out he tells me to just get back in the car. So I did.
I hadn't gotten but 10 minutes from Joel's parents' house so Joel called them and they got there as soon as they could. Joel's dad used to be a NM State police officer, so once he got there he was able to ease my concern of dealing with the situation.
To make a short story long...there were 3 cows that got out on to the road. Two black, one red. I hit a black one, so did a semi-truck. The ranch foreman came to the scene and shot the black cow. My car is still drivable and Joel's parents drove us home that night. They are really such amazing people. I couldn't imagine being in Joel's position. He really felt so helpless, but we were all so glad to make it home.
God really took good care of our family last Thursday night. The "what if" game scares me. Sure, if the cow had been six more inches to the center of my car, or what if I hadn't seen the red cow to start slowing down, what if my air bag opened? All viable "what if" scenarios, but we are okay, my baby is okay.
Did I mention there is cow hair all over the damaged area of my car, gross!

1 comment:

Lisa Renee said...

WOW! I am SOOOO glad that you and Molly are okay. How scary! Is the car totaled? THANK GOD.