This has not been a good day.
When I left for work this morning, I was prepared to leave work early and go to a funeral. I wasn't prepared for what actually happened.
I left work at 9:30 this morning and drove to the church for the funeral. I arrived at the church, went inside....and then Karla called me to find out where I was at. I advised her I was in the foyer and that I had not gone inside the auditorium yet....I told her I would wait for her. She was on her way to the church, but a train had stopped on the tracks and was not moving, so she was trying to find an alternate route in order to get to the funeral on time.
I advised her to take her time and not to rush because she had plenty of time. While I spoke to her on the phone, I was in the foyer with many other people, so I could hardly hear her. I thought I had heard a screeching sound in my phone, but wasn't sure, so I hung up. I spoke to a couple of people and then Karla called me back and advised me that she had just been in an accident and told me to get there asap. She was hysterical, so I could not understand her location, so I called her back. Then, she gave me her location.
I sped to the site and parked my truck next to the fire engines that were already on the scene. It seems as if she was driving south on Shields, while she was talking to me on the phone. She did not notice that her light had turned red and kept going. She slammed into the side of a truck, spun around and then hit another truck. Both the front of her car and the back were destroyed.
When I arrived, she was sitting on the curb and the firefighters and EMSA paramedics were checking her vitals. The other driver was slightly injured and his family was also being tended to by paramedics. There were no visible injuries to him or his family, but for safety reasons, they took his wife and daughter to the hospital for observation. The third vehicle that was involved had minor damage.
We had the car towed to Pucketts and then I took Karla to the ER at Southwest Medical. They got us in right away and immediately started taking x-rays to check for any broken bones. Fortunately, nothing was broken, but she did have whiplash and had pain in her wrist, ankle and chest (where the airbag hit her). The doctor gave her some pain medication and told her to take the rest of the week off from work. She is hurting this evening and I know she will be even more sore tomorrow.
One good thing....she did not receive a ticket (yet) for running the red light. It seems as if the officer did not have a ticket book, so she could not write any tickets. That also benefited the driver she ran in to because he had no state drivers license and no insurance. However, the officer did advise the other driver that driving without a state drivers license is a felony and that she could have him put in jail. But...since his wife and daughter was transported to the hospital, she decided not to take him to jail, which he was very appreciative of.
Karla and I had a chance to talk to him and I gave him one of my church business cards....and invited him to church. He seemed like a real nice guy that was just worried about his family. We got a chance to witness to him, so something good did come out of the accident.
Materialistic things can be replaced, but lives can't be. I am not sure how we are going to replace her car. I am sure the insurance company will total it, but the amount we get will probably not pay the car off. Right now, we just have to live one day at a time and get Karla well.
We did have a great youth service tonight and played a game. Unfortunately, one of our teenage students fell and possibly broke her arm while we were playing the game. I called her mom and told her to take her to the emergency room and then to call me back when she finds something out. She just called me back and told me that the student did not break her arm, but just sprained it. They treated it with an ace bandage and gave her some pain medication.
I am ready for this day to be over with.
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