Sirens blared as I waited on my husband to meet me at
McDonald’s. We’d driven separately to attend the Christmas Eve-eve service at
church. I’d gotten ahead of him in the chaos of traffic.
By the time I heard the sirens, several minutes had passed
and he’d not arrived. That feeling of fear hit the pit of my stomach. If you’ve
never felt that sick twist to the gut, I can tell you it’s not good. Just as
panic seeped through me, the phone rang. Thankfully Tim said, “I’m okay. I’ve
been in an accident, but I’m okay.” Even though I knew in my head he was okay,
the fear still gripped my heart. I wanted to go to him but couldn’t because of
the congested traffic. Instead, I met him at the hospital where he was checked
for injury. He ended up sore and bruised.
The car didn’t fare as well. The other driver, distracted by
who knows what, plowed into the back of Tim’s Honda CRV. The car was totaled.
I write this because I want to remind everyone of the
dangers of texting, using an iPad, or any other distracting device while
driving. I don’t know what the driver was doing or what distracted him. But I
do know that driving without paying full attention to the road can be
devastating. We are thankful that Tim’s injuries are not life threatening. But
they could have been. The car was wrapped around him. The back of his seat
broke and threw him backwards, which probably kept him from head injury. And
thank goodness he wore his seatbelt.
If you get nothing else out of this, please use common
sense, pay full attention and don’t text while you drive.