By the grace of God....

Gabe is okay. For those of you who haven't heard the story, Gabe was in a pretty bad accident late Wednesday night. He walked away from it virtually injury-free, but only because the Lord must have watching over him. Here's what happened.

Gabe went over to Josh's on Wednesday night to watch the first round of the NIT game for the Illini. After the game was over, he took Chad home and then headed to our house. He got to the intersection of College and Towanda (he was heading East on College) at about 10:30pm and came to a red light. He happened to see a police officer drive by him going west bound, and in his rearview mirror, noticed that he had flipped his lights on. In that same instant, he noticed an SUV coming up behind him and thought to himself "wow, that guys is flying". The cop had pulled a U-turn and started after the guy. The SUV apparently didn't do a good job of negotiating around Gabe's car, and going 74mph flew into the back of Gabe's idle car. Yes, you read that right...74mph. It completely smashed in the back of his car, lifted the back end of his car in the air and he landed facing the other direction.

Needless to say, they took him to the hospital, and arrested the guy driving the SUV (who didn't need to go the hospital - funny how that works out). He was charged with reckless driving, driving 40mph over the speed limit and DUI. All I have to say is that I cannot fathom the ignorance and selfishness it takes for one human being to drink and then get in their car. Wow, I sure hope he had a good time at his St. Patrick's Day party...my husband's in the hospital. Sorry, but if alcohol is that important to your social life that you would risk taking another person's life by driving, then consider me speechless. I guess that might seem dramatic, but the reality is, I could have lost my husband.

Fastforward to about 10:40pm. I'm at home and hear the phone ring. I assume that it's Gabe telling me he's on his way home. It's actually the Normal Police Department that calls and says

"Ma'am, are you the wife of Gabriel Myers?"
"Yes," I say, "why?"

"Your husband's been involved in a motor vehicle accident and they are transporting him to the hospital"

"What?! .... Are you serious?"

"Yes, ma'am, I'm very serious"

"Is he okay?"

"I don't know ma'am, you'll have to meet him at the hospital"

Possibly the worst phone call of my life. I quickly called Josh and April, and Josh came over as fast as possible to stay at the house, while I jumped in the car to get to the hospital. It was the longest drive ever. The nurse in the emergency room told me he was okay, but it wasn't until I got to see him that I finally let loose the tears. He was strapped to a board, oxygen in his nose and laying perfectly still. He was okay. His neck was hurt and they had to run some tests, but that was it. He was safe, he was okay, he was alive.

There are so many things about that night that make me thankful. Thankful that Gabe is okay. Thankful that Caleb and I were not in the car, as I know that Caleb would not have walked away okay. Thankful for a car (yes, a big grandpa car) that protected him. Thankful that no one else was at the intersection that could have been impacted. And yes, I'm even thankful that the man driving the SUV was okay. Neither one of them should be walking or talking and they are.

On a side note, the Buick is not okay. We had to tell Caleb that the Buick has some bumps and bruises and that we probably won't get to see it again. He talks about it a lot. I figured most people would want to see what became of our sad little Buick, so here are some pics:

The other guy's car:

So that's the story. We're very relieved that it is Spring Break so that Gabe can recup at home. We're also doing all of the other fun stuff that includes insurance, rental cars, doctor's appointments, replacing the car seat, searching for another vehicle (yes, probably another Buick). I guess we know how we're going to spend SB. Not that I mind...I have my husband here to do it with me.