Angels Among Us

This morning I had one of those moments where time stood still. I was getting Lyric ready for pre-school when my phone rang. It was my mom. I really didn't think much of it. But on the other end all I remember hearing was, "Lindy, Mike's been in a serious accident." What, who, when, where, how? I wasn't even connecting who she was talking about at first.

Mike leaves for work at about 5:40 each morning. It's still dark, so it can often feel like the middle of the night still, unless Lyric has one of her mornings where she thinks it's normal to be awake at that hour. So, my mind was trying to gain composure. Obviously it had happened on his way to work, but we didn't know much beyond that. They had tried contacting me, but our house phone is messed up right now, so thank goodness they were able to get ahold of my parents.

My parents came over right away and my mom stayed with the kids while my dad drove me to the hospital. We knew that he had been ambulenced there. The nurse updated me when we got there, and then we were able to go back to him. At that point, he was waiting for results from the cat scan.

To make a long story short, he ended up with a concussion, five stitches and eight staples wound on his head, and I'm sure what'll be an extremely sore body tomorrow. Four hours after being taken in, he was being wheeled out! Nothing short of a miracle. The nurses and doctors kept telling him how lucky he was to even be alive.

We still don't know the full story because he's had some short term memory loss and only knows bits and pieces. The main road he drives each morning is a country road. That means that there are typically semis and lots of tractors on it. He was driving and all of the sudden saw a tractor in front of him. They are usually going at about the speed of a snail, and he realized he didn't have time to brake fast enough. He swerved to the left so that he would miss the tractor and that's when he clipped something hanging off of the tractor and spun. A suburban was in the oncoming lane and plowed into him.

At this point, Mike is pretty sure that he doesn't remember seeing lights on the tractor. He said it's almost as though it was all of the sudden dropped in front of him. Since it was still dark, it made it even more impossible to see. We're not sure of much beyond that at this point. We are waiting from the report from the CHP. They told him that they almost had to use the jaws of life to get him out. He was knocked unconscious quickly after swerving to miss the tractor.

The country roads are so scary and the tractors make it even scarier! They often have such huge pieces of equipment that hang far into the next lane, and if there wasn't appropriate lighting on the tractor, that's a death trap!

My dad came with me and we went to the place where his car was towed. It was another surreal feeling as we pulled up and saw the car. It was hardly recognizable. It was like one of those cars that you see on a tow truck and just know the person inside didn't make it out alive. I could not believe my eyes. There was no doubt in my mind that Mike literally had angels holding him as the accident happened. His seat and door are the only ones not mangled to death. Had the suburban hit two to three feet to the left, and it would have been a different story.

It was such a strong example to me of Heavenly Father's love and watch he has over each of us. This accident happened, yet he knew that he was going to preserve Mike and keep him safe. It's just one of those times that really make you realize how delicate life is. It can slip away in seconds. I feel lucky beyond words to have him home and doing relatively well. I have never had such a powerful witness of someone being protected and preserved like I witnessed today. And I feel so grateful for my mom, dad, and Jamie who were either with me or my kids all day helping! What a blessing and a relief that was for my mind.