Remembering To Be Grateful

It’s really easy to take everything for granted. Like that you went to the store and didn’t get in a car accident. Or that you don’t have any horrifying diseases. It seems I often only remember to be grateful when something is going wrong and I notice that it had been good before.

Tuesday we were driving back from Aaron’s parent’s house in Montana. Before we left we said a prayer for safety like we always do. It’s like it’s part of the checklist: pack car, go to the bathroom, buckle seatbelts, pray. We were a bit over a half hour into our 9+ hour drive when we experienced the scariest thing I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing in a car. Going almost 70 (the speed limit) in rain with some water on the roadway our car fishtails. We are on a two-lane highway and begin to slide at a 45 degree angle into the other lane toward a full size red pick-up coming straight at us. While managing to say over and over: “oh my gosh oh my gosh hold on hold on” all I can think of is how my baby brother (ok, he’s 13) is about to be smashed by the truck and probably my smaller baby as well. I want to die thinking about going home with half my family, but I can see no good ending to the situation, best case scenario rolling our truck into the ditch. Miraculously our truck gets some grip and somehow Aaron is able to ease it over to the shoulder on the opposite side of the road. We realize that not everyone who prays for protection is protected every time, but we KNOW that we were protected this time. Everyone is fine, the truck without even a scratch.

I spend the rest of the day (ok, I still am) agonizing over how close we came to a lot of serious injuries and perhaps worse. I replay the scene over and over in my head. But in the end all I can be is grateful. Grateful for this time, and all the others I don’t even think about.

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6 Responses to Remembering To Be Grateful

  1. Penny says:

    Okay, I think the spider story is scarier, but whatever!

    Seriously, I'm sooooo glad you can live to tell this story. Oh my goodness, I don't even want to think about other outcomes, so I won't. Wish I could give you a big, big hug, so accept a mental one will you? Love you sweetie.

  2. Natalie says:

    Thank goodness for prayer and protection. That is horrible and the story could have played out with many different endings! You were/are very blessed!

  3. Leslie says:

    Wow Kelsey. I am glad you and everybody is okay. I get knots in my stomach just envisioning that scary scene!

  4. Cheryloxx says:

    That is a terrifying story. What's worse is that it reminds me of our brush with a near fatal car crash…on a Montana highway…with highway speeds…and a truck. I still get sick to my stomache when I think about it. That is a very scary drive and I'm so glad you're okay.

  5. Sarah says:

    How terrifying! We had a moment like that in the snow. Only a miracle saved us. I was pregnant with Eric at the time.

  6. vanessa joie says:

    I'm so glad you're all okay. I slid on black ice once on a freeway and still have no idea how my comp and I didn't die right then.

    “If you don’t get everything you want, think of the things you don’t get that you don’t want.”
    Oscar Wilde

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