Before proceeding, please note that EVERYONE IS OK! But you know that phone call that you never want to get? The one that starts with "there's been an accident". This story begins with that phone call. Thankfully it has a happy ending, but I still hope that it is the one and only time in our lives we get a call like that.
Once upon a Grandma Day, Grandma Joan and Hannah ventured over to Sam's Club for Grandma to do some shopping and Hannah to do some food sampling. I happened to be at Megan's school over my lunch hour to volunteer during her library time. Megan had been suffering with a cold all week, and was looking kind of pale and worn down when I saw her. I called Grandma, who was on her way home from Sam's with Hannah, and let her know that I'd be bringing Megan home from school after the library. I tucked my phone back in my coat pocket and went to continue helping the first graders select their books. A few minutes later, Megan brought me my phone and said Grandma was calling. I figured she'd leave a voicemail and told Megan to put it back in my coat. Just a few minutes after that, she brought me the phone again to let me know Daddy was calling. Library was almost over, so I once again declined the call. In the next few minutes, I received several more phone calls and texts, which I didn't see right away, but it was quite alarming when I checked my phone as I was leaving the library. I talked to Grandma, who immediately let me know everyone was ok, but that the accident was pretty bad, with ambulances and lots of emergency vehicles involved. Hannah was reportedly unharmed but "in shock". I was pretty shaken as we were getting Megan's things out of her locker, and when she asked me what was wrong, I couldn't help but burst into tears, which unfortunately made her burst into tears as well. (Sidebar: how the timing worked out so that BOTH of our girls had to be involved in this accident is beyond me - it was certainly not very lucky).
As we drove to the scene, just a mile or so from our house and school, I tried to explain to Megan that everyone was OK, but that we would see a lot of cars with flashing lights there. I was not really prepared for just how MANY cars there would be - there was an ambulance, a firetruck and three police vehicles, in addition to witnesses, the cars involved (three), and tow trucks. I got no comfort from pulling up to the scene. Also, as we arrived, the EMTs were putting a woman on a stretcher into the back of the ambulance, and both Megan and I were pretty sure it was Grandma Joan. Thankfully (so thankfully!!) that was not the case. It was the driver of the third vehicle. We found Grandma and Hannah sitting up in the same ambulance, but looking in much better shape than that poor woman (who was not wearing a seatbelt - not kidding. WHO DOES THAT???). Grandma was obviously shaken and Hannah was pale as a ghost and quiet a mouse, but it was pretty evident that she was unharmed. While I was talking to the EMT about Hannah, Megan was unfortunately stuck next to me in the ambulance (they wouldn't let us out, deeming it safer to be inside) watching the woman on the stretcher, with a very clear and nasty head injury. I would give anything for her to un-see that, but fortunately Daddy arrived just a few minutes later to get her out of there. I all but tossed her out of the back of the rig before anything traumatic happened to the woman.
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| The scene. This was only about half of the vehicles that responded. |
I was able to take the girls home after we escaped the ambulance - the EMT thought it would be more traumatizing to subject Hannah to a trip to the hospital, since her car seat seemed to do its job perfectly and she had no signs of head trauma (being Hannah's parents, we are well versed in the obvious signs of head trauma). By the time we pulled into the neighborhood, Hannah had already picked a fight with her big sister and requested a snack. It was pretty obvious she was going to be fine.
Kyle took Grandma Joan to the hospital to be checked out, after they finished cleaning out her [completely totaled] car. Her back took quite a beating (and several weeks to heal), but they didn't find any permanent damage. If there was anything funny about this, it was the fact that Grandma's car was full of goods from Sam's Club. And while Grandma doesn't appreciate the fact that her hefty Sam's grocery bill was demolished in a car accident, the end result was olives all over the scene and a car that smelled like pickle juice. Not my typical idea of humor, but there's always a silver lining right? I was not thinking clearly while running to the ambulance with Megan, but the one thing I do remember is that I stepped on an olive, and for one split second I thought to myself "was that an olive???" Yes, it was, and it was Grandma's.
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| The car. Hannah was sitting in the rear seat on the driver's side. I cringe to see how close the mangled trunk (formerly full of pickles and olives) was to her. |
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| The other side of the car (i.e. Megan's side - more what-if's to cringe about). The car was struck initially here. It then spun (the police report indicated that at one point it was airborne - also cringeworthy) and hit the third car, which was responsible for the damage in the picture above. |
Grandpa Purdy met them at the hospital, and they later returned to our house to pick up her things. I think it was good therapy for everyone to see Hannah, and how absolutely unphased she was by the accident. Grandma had no fault whatsoever in this (they were struck by a driver who ran a red light), but I'm sure she felt guilty about hauling our baby around with such crazy drivers in the world. Grandma, it could have happened to any one of us - we are just so thankful everyone was ok!
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| This picture of Hannah was taken about an hour after the crash. She doesn't look too traumatized to you, does she? |
Megan seemed to have a harder time on the night of the accident. We stayed pretty close and cuddled up as a family that night, and I'd randomly look over and see her eyes filled with tears. She wasn't really able to articulate her concerns, especially since everyone WAS ok - think about it, this is kind of big stuff for a first grader. She just knew she was upset. Finally, she settled on her biggest concern being whether or not Grandma & Grandma had enough money to buy a new car. It was cute, and sweet, and heartbreaking at the same time. I tried (and failed) to explain the concept of insurance to her, but that's not an easy one to get through to a six year old. She was in much better shape after a good night's sleep, and we haven't heard her say anything about it since then.
For the first few weeks, Hannah didn't really have much to say about it either. She had a tiny red bump on her forehead that disappeared quickly, and some bruising from her car seat straps that lingered for awhile, but didn't seem to bother her. She never had any issues when we put her in her car seat, or when we drove through that intersection (which we pass almost daily). A couple of weeks after the accident, when Grandma and Grandpa stopped by our house on their return trip from Florida, Hannah surprised us when she said goodbye by giving Grandma a big hug and saying "don't get in a car accident". A while after they had left, she said to me "I hope Grandma didn't get in an accident", but she didn't seem upset or too worried about it - it was just sort of mentioned in passing. Just a few weeks ago, as we drove through the intersection, she quietly said "I remember my accident with Grandma. I remember it." I asked her what she remembered, but she didn't really elaborate. It's still on her mind but doesn't seem to be too upsetting. Have I mentioned how thankful we are?
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| The next day, we celebrated NOT getting into a car accident by going to Spoonlickers... |
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| ...and with a movie night. |
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