I never thought someone so innocent, like me in the second grade, could have such a life changing experience. It all happened so fast. Coffeetown Road never looked so crowded. There were people we didn’t know and people we did know, all swarming around asking my mom and I if we were all right. Honestly, I didn’t even know if I was all right myself. All I knew was that my mom was hurt bad and was barely able to move. Smoke filled the air as I clutched my right arm, unable to move it. It was hurting. It was hurting bad.

It all happened when my mom turned our brand new, silver Rav onto Coffeetown Road. We had just left my elementary school, where I was finishing rehearsal for the Grandparents’ Day show. When I was telling her my homework, she screamed. I looked out the front window to see the lights. The bright blinding lights on our side of the road coming straight towards us. Horror struck me as the rain continued to ping off the hood of our car. My mother swung us into a ditch, swerving to miss the rows of trees. The car still hit us. It was a hard impact. The airbag filled and covered my mom’s face. She had been knocked out and was unresponsive. I was screaming at her to get up and get out of the car, but it wasn’t working. I thought for sure that she was gone, but at the last minute her eyes burst open and she struggled to get out of the car. She fell to her knees as she got out of the car and struggled to unbuckle me. I somehow got out of the car and watched as smoke filled the air and the cars lined up waiting and watching. Some people were getting out of their cars to help and others were just waiting to see what would happen.

His voice was deep and it wrapped around my shoulders like a blanket. His voice soothing me with, “it will be alright; your dad is almost here.” My mom told me with all the strength left in her that she knew him and he was allowed to help me. I knew I should listen to her, and I knew she was right, but I didn’t feel like being held on to and being told that everything would be alright, because what if it wouldn't be? Would we make it to the hospital on time?

My dad and brother finally arrived at the scene. My dad kept my brother and I away from my mom as he went and sat with her. The lady from the nearby house was inspecting the boys who had hit us. One had bad scratches and broken ribs and the other just some scratches. My dad finally left my mom’s side and came to talk to me. He kept me occupied while we waited for the ambulance to get there.

The ambulance was quiet and the bed was hard. My brother sat by my side and talked to the medic in the back with us. I could only think of my mom in another ambulance, with my dad not knowing if she was going to live or not. I was so tired. I had stopped crying and was exhausted from crying so much. The medic in the back laid something on my chest and I struggled to get it with my only good arm that was strapped down. I fell asleep and dreamt the whole accident over and over again in my mind.

The hospital had a sweet smell filled with lavender and bandaids. The medics wheeled me down the halls and into a room. Thousands of eyes were on me as I keep moving further away from the crowd. I was enclosed in a quiet room at last. The doctor came in and put an IV in my arm. I waited forever for the doctor to come back as anger filled my dad’s face up with red. He left the room and came in with the doctor moments later.

The doctor wheeled me in my bed down the hall again to an X-Ray room. Getting onto the table was not fun. The doctor and his assistants rolled me off my bed which was extremely painful because he was rolling me over my badly hurt arm. I was laid onto a table and it moved me backwards into a tunnel type tube. I was told to hold my breath and then let it out. They took several X-Rays of me. I came out of the tunnel and they rolled me back into my bed.

I got back to my room and they put something into my IV to make me sleep. While I was asleep, they pulled and pushed on my arm to put the bone that was broken back into place. I spent a couple hours sleeping off the medicine that made me sleep in the first place. I woke up and was surprised to see my arm bandaged from my knuckles to the top of my shoulder. I was unable to move any part of my arm at all. It was tight and heavy. I kept almost falling over from the weight of it. The doctor decided to put me in a sling to help support it. It helped a lot and I could walk balanced again.

My dad went to see my mom and I stayed in my room waiting for him to come back. When he came back, I asked him what was wrong with my mom. He told me that she had a badly broken neck, a broken tailbone, and an injured elbow. I felt so bad for her. I just wanted to see her and hug her, but I wasn’t allowed out of bed or in her room.

That night I was taken to a hospital bedroom. I stayed overnight, constantly being awoken by the nurses coming to give me fluids through my IV and offering me more pillows. Meanwhile, I looked over at my dad who was in an uncomfortable chair barely awake, but not quite asleep. I was tired too, but I couldn’t sleep with the nurses constantly coming in. It was a long night as the car crash played over and over in my mind. I could see the lights, the look in my mom’s eyes, and the look on the boys’ faces. They continued to play over and over as the night went on.

The next morning, I got ready to head home. I was examined one more time before I left. I was put into a wheelchair and pushed to go see my mother for the first time since she was put into a separate ambulance. I was so happy I could barely sit still. I got into her room and saw her lying there in her bed. Tears filled my eyes and I lost control of them as they rolled down my face. She also lost control because she said that when she saw me she was so glad to know that I was okay. We sat there in her room as we cried on and on. I finally had to say goodbye, even though I didn’t want to ever leave her side.

I left the hospital and a nurse helped me out of the wheelchair and into my dad’s car. I didn’t get out of the hospital parking lot and I was already half asleep. I don’t remember any of the car ride home because I slept the whole way home. When I got home my grandparents and my other grandma were there to greet me. I didn’t have anything to do, so we read to each other and played games.

My  mom got home a week after I did and she was happy to be home. All of my family took turns coming to help us out around the house. Friends of my parents cooked food for us for dinner and we were all very appreciative for them helping us out also. I took the next week feeling pointless along with my mother. I couldn’t do anything with one arm, and my mom couldn’t do anything with her neck. She couldn’t walk up the steps with her brace on her neck and because of her tailbone, so she slept on my old bed in our living room. I never really slept comfortably with my cast on because I could only sleep on my one side.

We both got better as each week went by. Eventually, my mom was sleeping in her own bed upstairs again. I was glad she was getting better and that I was getting better too. Life went on, not as normal, but a little less abnormal. I spent nights waking up to an instant replay of the crash, but as time slipped by, each night the dream faded out. Life eventually went back to normal. After a lot of bribing I finally got back into a car. I was so shaken up riding in a car again that I had to go to therapy, but eventually, life was completely normal again.
I learned that people are not always going to drive carefully and that you have to take your time when you drive. Also, that in the rain you should take corners slowly and not let talking to your friends distract you while you are driving. What happened to me and my mom is what God made happen. God makes everything happen for a reason and some people learn that the hard way. I’m blessed. I survived a serious car accident that could have taken my life. Be blessed, God has a plan for you.