The Accident
I call this image the Race to Craziness. I love it because the canvas was covered in receipts, statistic book pages, music, tickets from everywhere that year, and more trashy novel pages. My goal was to cover the chaos of life and make it beautiful. The piece is 24×36”.
I chose it for today’s post because I am recovering from a 3-car accident on 8.6.08 at 6 pm mst. I had just returned from Santa Fe the day before and still riding high from the events of the previous week. It was the first rain storm in several weeks. The kids were in the car and my husband was at work playing in a softball tournament. I had stopped to pick up take out, because I wanted to work on some new art to ship out to Blessings in Santa Fe, to sale.
As I said, it was storming. And the light was red, so we had come to a full stop. I had looked up to see a mid-size truck approaching from the rear and hoping he would stop. Jordan was chattering in the back seat and Olivia was completely asleep. I had decided, due to the weather, we would not be going to see my husband play (at that point, I didn’t know the game had been rained off and they were standing under cover at the field trying to avoid being completely drenched!).
I heard a huge metal crashing sound; I looked up in the rear view mirror to see the truck crashing into the back of our Suburban! All I could do was stomp on the brakes and not hit the car in front of me!! Thank God I didn’t! At impact I could feel, what seemed like heat move through the back of my neck. I turned around to see Jordan stunned and then breaking out into tears. Olivia was awake and just quite. I got on the phone and called the police. The police and ambulance were there in a matter of minutes. The man who hit us came up and checked on us. The next thing I knew the policeman was at the door asking if we were alright. Then the paramedics were there. They had to check Jordan first, before I would allow them to check me. Jordan checked out alright.
The paramedics started to question me about any pain, what day it was, who I was, what day it was, who was president, had I passed out, and why my shirt had red stains on it. I didn’t understand the questions about the red stains, but I knew absolutely what was going on. (I would later work out that the red stains were my blood).
I would leave the scene on a back board with my neck in a brace and in an ambulance. Jordan road in the front of the ambulance and Olivia was in the back with me. They thought it was the coolest thing. Olivia was playing with the blood pressure cuff and making the paramedic turn on the oxygen.
Once at the PVH ER, my husband arrived and I was whisked off for a CAT scan. While in the ambulance the paramedic said there was only a 5% chance I could have broken bones in the spinal column and there was a possibility of paralysis. One minute I am excited about my art possibilities and the next minute, I was worried about whether I would be able to walk or pick up my kids again.
The CAT scan proved that there were no broken bones, but the doctor indicated that I would most likely hurt and have whiplash. She was right.
The policeman stopped by and indicated that the individual that hit the truck and pushed it into us was ticketed for excessive speeds during poor weather conditions.
I have taken the kids to the doctor again, just to make sure they are alright. And now I am going to the doctor, because I still hurt 11 days later.
All that had to be replaced on the Suburban was a hitch and bumper! It did its job protecting us.
I am recording this story because I want to remember that my life can change in the blink of an eye. I can do everything right, but accidents will happen. And I need to remember what is most important in this time on this earth. Things could have ended devastatingly different. All the drivers involved were able to “walk away”. We were blessed…
August 17th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Oh Venita,
I am so very very very thankful that you, Jordan and Miss Olivia are safe and okay. I hope that your pain subsides quickly and soon…Please rest and stay well.
August 17th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Oh lordie lordie - I am so glad to hear you are - well relatively - all alright.
sarah
September 30th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Dearest Venita,I am so sorry to hear about the accident. I just had a feeling I should check your website to see if anything was new with you and I’m glad I did. I am so glad the kids are ok and I hope that you are all healed now. Thanks to God for watching over you all. Hope to see you soon!
Laura