By the Grace of God ...

So after I finally managed to set up all of the utilities for the new apartment, I thought to myself, "Okay, it's smooth sailing from here on out."

I should stop thinking things like that ...

On Tuesday night I was on my way to pick Bruce up from work when I got into a car accident. I was at spaghetti junction, merging from 85 North to 285 West when I heard tires squealing behind me. I looked to see where they were coming from when all of a sudden I felt my car get ambushed from behind - I did a 180, skidded across the highway and finally landed on the shoulder of the other side of the highway (I had started in the far left lane) facing oncoming traffic. It took me a second to realize what happened. I just started shaking and I called Bruce because I didn't want to have to be dealing with this by myself - he borrowed a salesman's car and came right away. The guy who hit me called the cops and Bruce showed up right after they did and talked to them because I was still really shaken up.

To be quite honest, I don't really know what happened. The guy who hit me claimed that his car just started skidding out of control, but I'm not entirely sure I buy that - the road wasn't wet and it didn't have any kind of gravel or oil on it. I'm inclined to think that he was driving to fast and lost control around the corner but I don't want to make any assumptions. Regardless - I'm not sure what he told the cop, but right before Bruce got there the cop (after talking to the guy that hit me) came up to me and asked me "if I thought he hit me." I kind of stared at him blankly because clearly I was facing oncoming traffic and clearly my back bumper was cracked and falling off and clearly the frontend of the other guy's car was mangled. So I'm not sure what the other guy told the cop but I told him what happened and before I left the cop told me that it was going to be his fault. Since my car was driveable, the cops told us we could leave. I didn't want to drive my car with the bumper the way that it was so Bruce told me to drive the car he had borrowed and that he would drive my car. I held it together while we dropped off the car and drove home, but completely broke down when I got home. When I thought about what happened, it scares me to think about what could have happened. When I flew across the interstate, there could have been a car that hit me from the front. I could have hit the wall instead of stopping on the shoulder. It's just scary because I kept re-playing what happened in my head and I couldn't get the sound of the tires squealing, followed by my car lurching forward out of my head.

That night I kept playing the "why didn't I?" game. Why didn't I leave earlier, why didn't I take Clairmont instead of the highway, etc. I kept thinking to myself that if I had changed one thing about how I had gone to pick Bruce up, I wouldn't have gotten into a car accident. But then I started to think about every day that goes by that I don't get into a car accident. I never stop and think at the end of the day that if something had gone differently, if I had changed one thing about my day, that I could have gotten into a car accident, or burned myself, fallen, tripped, etc. I never stop at the end of the day and thank God for showering me with safety.

And I was lucky. My accident could have been worse. My car did what it was supposed to do. The seatbelt did what it was supposed to do. And it the grand scheme of what happened - by the grace of God I was protected.

Anyway so now I'm left to deal with the insurance companies - I'm hoping that they don't total my car because I really don't want to go through the process of getting a new one. Besides - I love my car. Even more now that it kept me safe.

Meanwhile the move went on. My parents got here on Thursday night and we went and borrowed Paul's truck. We moved most of our stuff on Friday, even though Bruce was working, and spent Saturday trying to make order out of chaos at the new place, get what we needed at IKEA, and clean up the old place a little bit. All things considered, the move actually went very smoothly. At first it didn't feel much like home, but now it's starting to come together. Bruce started putting things up on the walls which helped a lot. And Lilly is started to venture out more and more so I don't feel so bad about uprooting her. It's amazing though - I haven't seen a roach or a knat inside since I moved to the new place!! I probably shouldn't jinx that, but I guess I just don't expect my living quarters to be very nice, but our whole new complex is just beautiful. We went to the pool with my parents last night and I was just laying on one of the lounge chairs and it didn't even seem like I lived in the city, that's how quiet and secluded this place is. Even though the apartment itself doesn't feel quite like home yet, I think now everything is there and my parents have taken a few days to go to Floriday, Bruce and I can focus on what goes where and where we like things and by the time my parents come back on Friday we'll have made it home.

I am so grateful for all of the help though. I'm grateful for my parents for coming down and working basically for three days straight, Paul and April who let me borrow there truck, Lauri who came and was so willing to do little and tedious things, Andy who showed up with cake, Steven, who, on a bum knee moved two loads of stuff and used his truck for one of them, and I'm so grateful for Stacey who came in and basically took care of all of the obnoxious little stuff in the old apartment, and then cooked dinner for everyone the next day. I truly am blessed with wonderful people in my life.

It was a bumpy road to get to this new phase of our life, but Bruce and I are here and we are ready to face it together.

With Grace and Safety,
Sarah