We’re Not Crash Test Dummies

…but we sure felt like them last night.

It was a typical evening. We ate dinner, got the kids bundled up and packed everyone into the van to make a trip to the grocery store. Here we are just driving down street, having a conversation as we go along and it happened. Just seconds after entering the intersection a large SUV hits the gas to make a turn right in front of us like we were completely invisible. It all happened so fast, yet so slowly at the same time.

I see the front end of the SUV just feet away from us.

I look at the green light thinking “what the hell is she doing?”

My husband shouts “oh shiiiit”

The van sharply turns to the right and the tires squeal.

She’s still coming full force.

My only thought..”this is going to hurt like hell”

I instinctively turn my body away from the point of impact and grab the door in hopes of bracing.

Then it happens, she hits us, the front end of van lifts into the air and finally comes to a screaching halt.

It all happened in less than 30 seconds but felt like 30 minutes. When I finally realized what had just happened and how bad it really was all I could think of was getting my kids out of the car. The interior was filing with smoke from the engine. I limped out of the van racing to each door, the trunk, pulling and yanking yet nothing would open. I couldn’t breathe, I could barely walk yet I knew I had to get the kids out. Ignoring the burning pain radiating down my leg I managed to detach Emma’s carrier from the base and hand her to my husband. People were coming from everywhere helping us get the last two children out of harm’s way. I never got the chance to thank them, but from the bottom of my heart I do.

As I sat in the median trying desperately to console my baby girl it was then I realized just how much my body was hurting. My ears were ringing from my head crashing into the window, my shin was swelling and burning, my neck was aching, I couldn’t feel the tips of two of my fingers and I couldn’t breath. The seat belt that likely saved my life had also knocked the wind out of me and bruised my ribs.

After everything is said and done, the one thing that is weighing heavily on me right now – the teenager that recklessly did this to our family never once apologized. Not one word even after my husband raced to her vehicle to make sure she was okay. She could have taken everything that means anything to me away and didn’t have a word to say to us.

Today, we’re really feeling the pain of the crash. I almost laughed when the paramedic on the scene warned us, “as bad as you feel now, just wait until tomorrow”…he wasn’t kidding. I feel like I was run over by a bus and then some.