But You'll See The Bigger Picture...

{via}

I don't believe I mentioned this in my last post so I'll say it now. {Thank you capt'n obvious...}

I was gone from Wednesday afternoon until last night for a little something I love to call O.I.L. {not oil...}. I know I've discussed my love for this organization and what it stands for. I did, however, do something special this time. I officially retired. This may seem a little silly to you, but it was hard for me to admit it was time to go. It's nice because it means I'm officially done with school. If I wasn't, I wouldn't be retiring from this amazing organization. And you know what, I had the best time I EVER have because I just had fun. I made more motions, announcements, etc. I even told several jokes I would only whisper to Annette in the car after the day's work was done and we were alone. I got close to lots of people and I finally didn't have to re-meet as many people (which was VERY nice). O.I.L. and it's delegates have touched my life in so many ways and I am truly thankful to be apart of it for as long as I have. However, something else changed my life during session in a very, very different way.

On Saturday night, we always have a Governor's Ball. Depending on the people in charge, it can range from hotel party to classy evening. This year, it was classy evening. We had a wonderful three course dinner at the Jim Thorpe building just a few miles north of the capitol. After dinner and two speakers, we had a DJ help us dance for a few hours. {Some of us had a meeting at 12:30} Well, around 11pm, Annette and I decided to go ahead and head towards the hotel. After we get in the car, Annette told she needed to get cash, something at Walgreen's and gas. No prob. Instead of heading north to the hotel, we drove south to a local ATM that was opened 24 hours. After we got the money, we started to leave the parking lot. {I need to point out that the street we were going to turn onto was a 6-lane street with concrete dividers, minus the few places opened to turn left.} As Annette started to pull forward, I asked her to wait a second. Three cars were about to go by and the front car was driving a little fast. Annette replied with "You're right" and waited. After I murmured "What's the rush?", the front car started to speed up more, slid sideways, hit a pole, spun in the air, and finally rolled over a few times before it stopped on its side a building away from where it hit the pole. Annette promptly told me to call 911 as she started to drive towards the accident. I told the operator where we were, what the car looked like and that the victim needed an ambulance. As we got to the car, we noticed the other two cars originally driving behind the now crumpled car had all stopped and walked towards the car. Annette rolled her window down and asked "Do you know her?" to the people outside the car. After they say no, Annette told them to talk to her and to not move her for any reason. Annette instructed me to stay in the car while she helped, rolled down the car windows and walked towards the car. Within 5 minutes, two cops, an ambulance, and two fire trucks got to the scene.

Disclaimer::Because I was not there directly, the following information was provided by Annette.

Apparently the woman looked like she was in her 30's and she was just barely awake. The people who had stopped did not know her and in fact were hurting more than helping. When Annette asked if they were talking to her, they responded with "We did" and proceeded to talk amongst themselves and/or on their cell phones. In their defense, the cell phones could have been to call 911, but I don't know for sure. Annette told them to move and continued to say things to the woman to keep her awake. She never said her name, but I don't know if I'd remember my name after everything that woman went through in 5 seconds. There was blood all over the crumpled windshield and airbag, but it was dark and Annette couldn't tell how badly she was hurt. However, that is technically none of our business. Once the cop got to the scene, he asked what happened and the group started to shout over each other or amongst themselves yet again. Annette told him we witnessed it from the bank across the street and told him exactly what we saw. After they finished, he noticed she was in party clothes and asked why we stopped. Annette replied with, "Well, my mom is a doctor and always told me that she never leaves the scene of an emergency until she is dismissed." The cop smiled, thanked her for her honesty, and dismissed her. Around the time she walked towards me to return to the car, I noticed the firefighters bringing the jaws of life to the accident scene. I think deep down we were both just relieved that it was not a member of O.I.L.

As we drove away, we began to discuss how we both personally think this was the driver falling asleep at the wheel. Usually, when a driver is drunk, the car swerves quite a bit more. This driver suddenly accelerated before she swerved. I then admitted to Annette that, despite how selfish it would sound, I was so glad she didn't go ahead and turn left or else that woman would have hit us and we would have been involved in the accident. I don't know what happened to her, if she's still in the hospital, or what. If you pray, please keep this woman in your prayers (God knows who she is). If you don't pray, any happy thoughts are definitely appreciated. Phil checked online and the papers yesterday to see if it mentioned anything so hopefully it wasn't too bad.

Despite being so thankful that Annette and I were spared, I cannot seem to get the entire scene out of my head. I have seen the crash happen over and over again in my head and it's really starting to get to me. Part of why I froze, (and why I seem to freeze during any type of emergency), is because I have an extremely vivid imagination. I can picture cars crashing, and random things breaking to cause my ultimate demise hundreds of times every day. It's just my personality to do that. This means, when I actually see an emergency happening before my eyes, I cannot fathom that it's actually happening instead of it just being in my head. I may just need time to decompress after it, but it just really made me think of all the times my friends, and family have driven late at night with nothing happening to us. I truly feel like God has been watching out for me and clearly has big plans for me :)

Besides, He wouldn't kill me off before I graduated college. That would be oh so cruel...

So hug your loved ones and make good choices. It can all change in the beat of a heart.

Peace to you,

"Before the Morning" by Josh Wilson