Grateful

It officially has been one year since our car accident. 1 year ago today our lives changed forever. It wasn't that we were seriously injured, God was watching, it was that we lived and will forever live our lives differently as a result. Here is how it happened...

I won Galena triathlon in May of 2007 and got a free weekend away at a really cute hotel in Galena. A resort like town about 2.5 hrs from where we live. Going away in the summer is impossible so we decided to take Noah to Galena right before Christmas to take a sleigh ride and bond as a family. Part of the package that I won was a free massage at some fancy spa (I never go to places like this). I got a prenatal massage since I was 6 mos preg with Molly. They had nature music playing that made me want to pee every 5 min. I semi enjoyed it laying down in a pillow that had a belly cut out for my huge tummy. It was a little weird. Anyway Bill and Noah dropped me off at 8am for my massage and took a little car ride before heading back to pick me up. There was a big snow storm that previous night so black ice and tons of snow were all over the roads. The spa was in Dupuqe Iowa about 20 min of Galena. After my fancy massage I jumped in the jeep super relaxed to take a quick ride to a toy train outlet store down a country highway. Not far into our ride is when it happened. We never made it to the toy train store. It was a 2 lane highway each way with a grassy ditch in the middle between the east and west. Bill was coming over a bridge when he lost control of the Jeep on black ice. I remember holding my breath and just saying Bill over and over again. Our car slide fast forward then it started to slip to the side picking up speed. Once the wheels caught dry pavement we were sideways so the car started to flip over and over again. We rolled in the the grassy snowy ditch and then kept rolling and sliding into oncoming traffic until we eventually came to a stop on the shoulder of the opposite side of traffic, upside down. Bill was calm in a scary way. He immediately got his seat belt off since we were hanging upside down. We didn't know that we were in the way of semis. I think he knew. So he got Noah out of his car seat and by then passerby's were at our windows taking Noah from the window. The top of the car had crunched down since it rolled a few times and I could barely get out of the tiny window with my belly. We walked a few feet away from the car and stood there staring at it. We didn't cry or scream. We were just quit. We were all alive but I thought for sure I had lost the baby. All we could do was wait to get to a hospital. The ambulance didn't have the equipment to hear a Heart beat inside of a belly. Obviously she is here and okay so it went well. A few bruises from the car rolling on my shoulder but that is it! I am not religious but I DO believe God was watching or angels were there. People that saw our car roll told us how lucky we were to pass into oncoming traffic without getting hit. We happened to cross over when there was a break in traffic.

Days like today when there is snow and ice on the roads I have to take a deep breath and relax. I will forever be nervous driving now. I DON'T care how mad others are around me that I go slow.

That night that the accident happened Bill and I laid in bed and just kept hugging each other and Noah. We were all there and healthy and THAT was the best gift that anyone could ever ask for. I am grateful for my family.