It Wasn't Our Time...

Before we left for vacation last week, we were driving to my parent's place on a busy Friday evening - dealing with the post-work crowd right before the big holiday weekend. Well, we ended up taking a "back way" there, to avoid more traffic. Turns out, it was not our best choice. In short, we were almost hit head on in the left turn lane by a car full of 16 year old morons not paying attention. In Matt's efforts to avoid this, he swerved to the right ever so slightly, only to be missed by a car to the right side of us. That car missed hitting us by about 3 inches. That car was going about 45 miles per hour. I saw it in the side mirror as it all occured and I sat in terror with my hands partway over my eyes. Once we were finally off the main drag and in a safe spot, I found myself overwrought over what had just occured. I realized that if Matt had swerved only a few more inches, we would have been hit where Tommy was sitting. My precious baby boy in his little infant seat. I mean we would have been hit HARD and who knows what would have happened. I started crying because I let myself think about how close we were to having something horrible happen to our family. I cried because I was so happy we were all o.k. In that instant, I realized how precious life is and how much I love this family. Those 16 year old idots had no idea what was in front of them. When I turned around to look at our two little kids, I just saw innocence and trust and it made me cry harder. My whole LIFE was in our car. It was just the worst feeling on earth. Lucy said to me, "That's o.k. Mom..Mommy's sad." I told her mom was scared by what happened with the cars. At that moment it all came to me - I told Matt we had to all say a prayer together right that minute because the only explanation was that it wasn't our turn. God has other plans for us and that wasn't the end. I don't mean to sound overdramatic, although I am sure to some it sounds that way. It was just a terrible feeling I never want to have again. In retrospect, I try and look at the moment as a gift that helped me remember how precious every minute is and we should never take anything for granted. On those days I feel overstressed or overworked, I need to take a deep breath and remember how much all of this means to me. Oh, and I will not be allowing Lucy or Tommy to drive a car until they turn 35. :)