in the blink of an eye

I called my dad on Tuesday for what I expected would be a run of the mill chat, but wound up having one of those calls where the world goes into slow motion and you feel like you're watching a movie ... and your veins are cold and full of pins and needles that start at the top of your head and run down your neck to your arms, and you know what you heard but you need to hear it again because you just don't believe it. 

My niece (the dancer/skater/cutie) was in a car accident on Monday night.  A bad one.  She's going to be OK ... she actually is OK in the big picture sense, but it was a doozy.  Sister Suz said that if she hadn't already gotten a call from the EMT that Dancer/Skater/Cutie was stable and looked like she would be OK, she would have freaked out when she arrived at the scene because the car was totalled. 

But she's going to be fine.  Her pelvis is fractured, she's bruised and cut/banged up, but there's nothing life threatening; so, OK.  I suspect the biggest hurdle will not be a physical one, cause the fracture, cuts and bruises will heal (apparently a pelvis fracture - or this pelvis fracture - will not have long term impact), but the poor kid is freaked out by it all (as you'd expect).  She talked about seeing the car coming at them ... knowing that it was going to hit ... feeling the impact ... the terror of being trapped in the car and having no idea whether that was because she was smushed in, or if there was something wrong with her legs (and everything else that must go through your mind if you're in a bad accident: will i get out of this?  could this be so bad that i might die?)  Just horrible; the poor kid.  That's a big scare for one so young.  (actually, it would be a big scare for anyone, wouldn't it?).  But she's OK.  She'll be in bed for a couple of weeks and then on crutches for the remainder of the summer, but will live to dance and skate again.  Breathing many sighs of relief.

I know that life can change in the blink of an eye, but I sometimes forget.  Hearing: "There's been an accident" on the other end of the phone sure brings it back in bold relief: nothing is forever and everything's up for grabs.

So I'm a grateful gal today.  Happy to smell the roses, be here now, sha la la la la la live for today, love, love, love (it's easy).

And if I may suggest: hug the ones you love often and with feeling.  As Mom used to like to say (and sing): Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think.

Virtual hugs to friends, far and wide. 

~      ~      ~

(this past weekend - before the accident - dancer/skater/cutie and i were playing around in the dirt at baseball boy [my nephew]'s game - when he wasn't at bat or fielding of course [he played really well] - and she took the above photo of our creation with my camera ...)

Comments

[Marilyn]

Glad she's okay...

[maria]

Deb, I've been terrible about posting comments lately (... life's been hectic taking care of my own patient, but nothing as serious as this). I'm so sorry for your sweet niece, and so glad it wasn't any worse ... because this is certainly bad enough!

I hope she is healing and feeling much better already, and that your sister is over the shock ... so scary, those moments when there's a seismic shift and your world goes topsy turvey. Maybe at least one good thing is that it's the summer and she won't have tons of schoolwork to make up or have to navigate around on crutches in the winter (... just rying to find the silver lining in all this).

Please keep us updated on her progress, and hugs to you, her caring aunt.

[kat]

god, that's scary...for her, for her family, for you. and things like this certainly do throw things into strong relief. life is short and precious and you never know. thanks for the reminder.