Several years ago, I woke up to an absolutely, picture-perfect day. The sun was brightly shining, and the temperature was just perfect--not too hot, not too cold, but just right to wear a short-sleeved shirt without a jacket. The birds were singing in the tree outside my window. Yes, this was a perfect day. As I went through my day, I was longing to go someplace, any place to escape the confines of the house and to have an excuse to enjoy this glorious weather. As these thoughts meandered through my mind, my mom asked if I wanted to go with her to McDonald's so she could get a Diet Coke. Of course, I eagerly said yes!
As we were leaving the McDonald's parking lot to go home, I desperately wanted to continue our adventure. But where could we go? Not being able to come up with any ideas, I allowed my mom to continue our journey home. When we got home, I reluctantly went inside. My mom then informed me she was going to go to Walmart. "Oh man! Why couldn't she have said this before!?" I wanted to go with her, but it was getting late. I had made food before we left for McDonald's and was very hungry. If I went back out with my mom, I might become very sick from not eating. With a heavy heart, I decided to stay home.
As my mom was leaving, she was trying to find an item she needed to return to Walmart. I helped in the search, but mysteriously, the item could not be found. For some unknown reason, a sense of panic took hold of me. I felt as though I needed to find the item. I felt as though I needed to delay my mom's departure. My mom decided to leave for Walmart without the item. The panic within me was growing. "I need to stop her. I need to stop her car!" These desperate words rang through my mind. But, I had no logical reason for stopping her. I stood in the kitchen, watching my mom drive out the driveway. "Stop her! YOU MUST STOP HER!!!" screamed in my ears. Instead of moving, I remained rooted to the ground. Suddenly, the world rent. I saw what was like two worlds existing at one time. I saw myself run out the kitchen door and down the driveway toward my mom's car. I saw myself wave down my mom, and she stopped the car. At the same time, I saw another world in which I stood with my feet planted to the floor, and my mom's car drove down the street. Although the incident was terribly frightful, I turned away from the kitchen window and started making myself a plate of food from the pots and pans simmering on the stove.
It seemed like only a few moments before the phone rang. I saw on the caller ID it was my mom. In a chaotic tone she said, "I have been in an accident. I am going to the hospital." She then hung up. Immediately, my heart sank, my stomach did a flip-flop and I thought I was going to collapse to the ground. My mom had only just left. Where was the accident? How badly was she hurt?
In an instant, I sprang out our kitchen door and was running down our driveway. I ran across the street, through a church parking lot and up a small embankment which overlooked the highway. I frantically searched for my mom. Where was she!? In a frenzy, I was praying to God that my mom was not badly hurt. As I stood on the small hill, I suddenly saw an ambulance enter the freeway on-ramp. As the ambulance was ascending the ramp, it turned on its lights and siren. I watched as the ambulance drove down the highway and out of sight. My heart sank again. My mind quickly started remembering information from my physics class. If my mom was on the highway when the accident happened, she would have been going 55-60 miles per hour. The force of the impact would have been very great. Her injuries would be severe. As this chaos of information was streaming through my head, I heard a reassuring voice, "Everything will be ok." I called back to God, "I know, but it is so hard to not be worried when I do not know what happened or how my mom is!" I then felt the urge to go back home.
(Link to Part Two click here)
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