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Friday, March 27, 2015

A Day I'm Not Likely to Forget...

It felt really good to sleep in this morning! I know I always mention how busy we are, I've been working on changing that! I've been trying to cut back and cut things out. So far, it's been working. We've had a little bit more free time here and there, and it's been really nice. Within about a month all of our volleyball leagues will be over for the summer, so that will free up 4 evenings a week. It may seem like a lot, and it is a lot, but it is also excersize. It keeps us from sitting on the couch night after night, and keeps us moving. So in a way, it is kind of a good thing.

This morning after getting up late and moving really slowly, I decided I wanted to take a trip to Millington. I've seen on a Michigan Pyrex Collector's facebook page pictures from a shop there that is loaded with Pyrex, and I've been wanting to go. Today seemed like the perfect day. Until I got out of the shower and saw that the pretty little snow flurries that were dancing around my house had turned into a spring snowstorm and it was starting to stick on the grass.

As I was putting on my shoes, my youngest was in the living room watching tv and I stopped to talk with him for a few minutes. I was also trying to decide if I really wanted to go out in the cold and snow, and possibly have bad roads to deal with. The shops I wanted to go to were a little over an hour north, and I didn't know if the snow was just in my area or if it was all the way up too.

Eventually, I decided to go for it, and about 3 miles from my house, the roads were clear, and it wasn't even snowing! Feeling like I made the right decision, I pressed on. Once I got near Fenton, it started snowing again, and sometimes visibility got really low, then it would open up and be clear and dry. This on again, off again snow vs sun and clear went on for quite a while. Traffic was pretty decent, maybe even more than I've seen before on a Friday at late morning, early afternoon.

Everyone was going along at a good clip, speed limit and up I would say. Then out of nowhere, about 3 cars ahead of me, I see and hear a loud crash and two cars spin off! I was in the middle lane and it seemed like the one in my lane spun backwards toward the cement wall. It hit the wall and slid into the left lane with debris flying everywhere! The other car spun over toward the right wall and the moving traffic was swerving, slamming on brakes and trying to avoid the careening cars, as well as cars coming behind us.

It was very scary!! The worst accident I've ever seen. I managed to get my car through the huge debris field and avoided getting hit by a couple of semi trucks and other cars weaving through, just like I was. One minute we were all going 70+, the next, we were trying to dodge everything!! The stream of cars was moving so fast that I couldn't stop to see if I could help, so as soon as I was clear, I tried calling 911, but after 12 rings and no answer, I hung up-thinking that other people must have been calling as well. Then I saw a police car flying onto the southbound xpressway about a mile past the accident, and I knew help was for sure on the way.

I started praying for the drivers, the police and ambulance drivers, the families of the drivers, and any cars coming up the expressway unaware of what was waiting ahead. My heart is still racing just typing this! I can still hear the crash when I close my eyes! I am thanking God, that I took a couple of extra minutes to talk to my son this morning-because it could have been me! I've been thinking all day about how you really never know when your life will drastically change or even end-it could be life as normal-and then in a blink of an eye, everything changes!

I went on to go to all the shops on my list, but with a heavy heart, praying as I went. On the way home, I stopped at a Target not too far south of the accident to see if they had the 100th Anniversary Pyrex bowls and measuring cups and the cashier warned the lady in front of me to avoid 23/75 north because it was closed due to an accident. Three hours later, the expressway was still closed and traffic was backed up-2 lanes, solid bumper to bumper for 4 miles.

I mentioned how close I was to it, and the cashier said it was being reported as a case of a wrong-way driver and that there was one person in critical condition, and they weren't doing well. I couldn't even imagine how scary that was to see a car coming at you when you are driving 70 mph! She said she heard that people were calling 911 to report the wrong way driver right before the crash, so that is probably why no one answered when I called.

Online news reports are saying that there are two people who are critically injured from this crash. I will keep praying, and hoping for their recovery. So, if you're a praying person, please pray for those injured drivers and their families-their lives changed today in an instant.



2 comments:

  1. I've been in an extremely similar situation. It shook me up so bad that I still tear up thinking about it. I very narrowly avoided being hit head on by someone going at least 70 miles an hour. I had to go into the ditch at the last second to avoid it. The thing that gets me is that there is no way we wouldn't have been killed had we been hit. I had my mom, sister, and daughter in the car with me. Three generations could have been gone in the blink of an eye. I haven't driven on that road since. So happy everything is okay with you. I am praying for the others involved.

    Erica

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    1. WOW! I'm so glad you are OK!! That had to be so scary! It is really hard to wrap your mind around how quickly life can change when something like that happens.

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