Everybody's Fine!
It's the first thing you always say when something really big and traumatic happens. So let me just get it out of the way first. Everybody's Fine!At 3:30 this morning a car ran into my house. And I don't mean they broke a window and sped away. I mean my dishwasher is over by the couch. The sink is blocking the pantry door. Oh, and there's a large gaping hole where a wall used to be.
Two 15 year olds were driving too fast and lost control. They panicked and hit the gas instead of the brake. They skidded into the curb across the street and ran up my lawn and into my kitchen. I know they were going fast because the wall isn't what stopped them. The island in the middle of the kitchen is what stopped them. One of them ran away. The other started to run but came back when my wife yelled at him to stop. She told him that he might be hurt and he needed to get looked at. To his credit, he stayed until the police came.
There's something about waking up to an enormous crash. There's something completely else about running out of your bedroom and seeing a pair of headlights shining through dust and smoke. But the true test comes when you go outside (ordered out, really, in case of a gas leak) and see your neighbors gathered together, already putting together ideas for how to take care of you. One house took in James, where he talked a bit about how scary monsters aren't real and then fell back asleep, and another gave us a key so we could use their bathroom to wash up and shower later. At least 4 others offered us assistance in the form of "whatever you need" and meant it. We have always said we were blessed by the people around us. Today has proven it again.
There are a ton of things to do. The house won't be habitable for a while and my mom will take us in as long as we need. Insurance will need to be contacted often and contractors will have to survey the damage. For now, two 4 by 4's are holding up the roof and a piece of plywood is keeping people out. My car was parked at the curb and it got swiped but it's fine. The tow truck did a number on the front lawn. And we have no kitchen. But we are amazed at how much stuff is okay. And we aren't into stuff that much anyway. My collection of pint glasses is in pieces. Oh well.
Let me save you all the awkward necessity of pointing out the irony in this happening during "Positive Reinforcement Week." I get it. The fact is that my family is okay and God is good. We'll be inconvenienced for a while and then we'll get back in our house with new carpet, new paint, new appliances, and a new wall. A little prayer for us to get over the initial trauma would be nice. But everybody's fine. Everybody's fine.
posted by Thurman8er @ 9:01 AM
5 Comments:
How strange and scary it was to be watching the early morning news and see a car through your little brother's house...
How grateful I was to hear the news anchor say, "the couple and a four year old inside the house were fine. Nobody was hurt."
I love you.
Your positive attitude through such a harrowing experience continues to make it "positive week." I'm so glad that you or anyone in your family wasn't hurt. Now what I've gotten to "know" you I wish we were closer to help you. At the very least you have the prayers you asked for. Just be glad you don't have to deal with FEMA.
gbxvw (state of mind knuckleheads are in when they drive through your home)
Holy cow, Steve & Lisa (& James.) I am so thankful you are all OK. Did the oven I was the first to use at Lisa's Pampered Chef show survive? I still have PC connections if you need to replace anything. Lisa needs to scrapbook the newspaper clipping...!
Lisa is going to be scrapbooking everything. No worries.
The oven survived. And we can open it again now that the sink isn't blocking it anymore.
Randy, my neighbor Chris the Minister was the first person I saw outside when I walked out. Lisa was taking James over to Chris' house. I stood next to him for a while, just looking at the back in of the car. Finally, I said, "Gotta be a sermon in here somewhere, huh?"
Scary.
znlsz (the sounds I made when I finally got to sleep yesterday)
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