October 31, 2013 was day for the record books, the record books of my life that is. It started as a normal coffee, dress in subtle holiday colors, drive 50 minutes to work, forget to log in to g-chat to let Neal know I made it safely to work. Neal calls office to make sure I made it. I feel a little guilty for not remembering. Work a some through the morning, chat with co-workers, work some more.
Then at 12:15pm something you don't even think about because it is so absurd happened. My office wall crashed in and an Ford F-150 drove right in to my office. The office that I was working in, just sitting at my desk. In about five seconds I was not sitting anymore, I was thrown to the floor, stuck in little corner of my office and had no clue what just happened but screaming my head off. After about 30 seconds of screaming I realized I was the one screaming, so mentally told myself to stop screaming, did a brief self evaluation concluding I wasn't majorly hurt then wondered what the hell just happened. From my position on the floor I couldn't see the bright red truck because fortunately there was a bookcase that protected me from the truck but was also blocking my view. All I could tell was when I look to the right it looked like a bomb went off and went I looked to the left out my office door all was right in the world.
The next few minutes are all a blur. There were some repair men on the roof looking at our air conditions that of course heard the crash and heard my death screams that raced off the roofed running to my rescue. They lifted me out my little triangle of safety over my desk that was wedged in my door and thankfully put me in a chair. Now I could see what really happened and it was surreal, crazy and a bit humorous (only because no one was seriously hurt). By this time all the rescue personnel had arrived and convinced me I needed to take a trip in the ambulance just to make sure everything was okay. So I got strapped in the gurney and taken outside. This was the view from outside.
In the midst of the chaos my co-worker had called Neal saying there had been an accident but I was not seriously hurt and "there is no blood" she told him. Neal then raced up to Temple with his flashers on, determined to make in record time. On the way to the ER I called Neal to let him know I was okay and that he could lay off the gas a little so he made it safely. From then on everything was pretty routine for an ER, I guess. This was my first ride in an ambulance and first visit to the ER. A day of many firsts!
The room I was taken to had just been cleared by a patient that had a code blue, not comforting and a nursed dressed as a bumble bee hooked me up to heart rate machine also, not comforting. A doctor came in and checked me out. My heart rate was back down to normal, my eyes were following his light, my heart sounded good from his view point I was fine especially since I never lost consciousness. He did want to take some x-rays of my hips since that is the only thing I was complaining about hurting.
Neal arrived at the hospital so I was so happy to see his face, hug him, and pray with grateful and thankful hearts that there were no serious injuries. I called my Mom, she didn't pick up. I called my Dad, he asked if they needed to come to Texas immediately, such a sweet offer, but I was okay so need to call in special care givers. We waited for the X-ray tech, got the x-ray (no broken bones) and were discharged. Neal took a video
to embarrass me later for documentation purposes of course.
After all this fun we went back to the office just so Neal could see how crazy it all was. This is outside my office, my desk was wedged in the door so you had to climb over to get in or out.
From the trucks view. Can you imagine if you were the driver.
Under the light switch was my corner of safety. A few more inches and I would have been crushed.
Another office view, the construction crew is already in action placing support beams and boarding up the side so it isn't open the world.
Neal documented all angles.
As we drove home we were singing prayers of thanksgiving with only scrapes and bruises, God truly was watching over. I group texted with my family that night and my Mom said it was also "clean living" which we joke about but she right, all the glory goes to God!
