Crash and Burn - Live and laugh, Die and Cry

A few years ago, when the hot summer heat had struck its highest, we got the call that we were all invited to go to my Aunt’s house for a barbeque and a swim. Later they said that they were going to have a bonfire and roast marshmallows. All of us were very excited to go have a nice cool dip in the pool and play Marco Polo or some sort of tag underwater. We couldn’t wait to sink our teeth into a still hot off the grill burger or hot dog. But all of that was going to change...if only we had known it earlier.
It was almost noon when we started getting ready to leave getting our pool tubes and goggles and stuff like that. My mom had made her ‘famous’ chip-dip. It has refried beans, sour cream, taco seasoning, salsa, scallions, and mexican cheese. She had also brought some chips to go with the dip. We all hopped into the car and my dad backed up the red van to the end of the driveway and stopped to look at the oncoming traffic. Nothing was coming so he pulled out and drove straight up the road until he came to a red light at the intersection. We turned to the right and we watched the other cars just sitting waiting for the red light to turn green again. It was a nice sunny day and my dad decided to put on his sunglasses that...don’t tell him this but...make him look like a dork...any way, he continued driving up the deserted street towards where there would be a stop sign to where we would turn left. Along the way, we saw the street on the right side of the road and saw my Great Grandpa about to turn the opposite direction we were heading. But it’s a good thing that he didn’t go our direction for what was about to happen next.
We continued driving up that street and I continued to look out the window at the scenery. There were a lot of horses and cows out today, and for some reason, my sisters kept arguing about which horse was ‘theirs’ even though none of them came even close to being owned by a part of our family, let alone some friend. Next we came up to route 30 and we had to stop where the red brick building was so that we could turn left. There were a lot of cars just zooming by going, ‘vroom, vroom, screeeeeereeeeeck!’ Wait... screeeeeereeeeeck? My mom turned her head around to see what was making that awful screeching sound but she wasn’t quick enough. All of a sudden, there was a big bang and we were flying up the road like a cat chasing a mouse. My mom’s neck snapped when her head bounced off of the seatbelt. We all got out of the car to inspect the damage and all I could say was, ‘oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,’ There was a big crack in the back bumper, and when I looked behind us, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The automobile that had hit us was only a car, and the driver was some college kid. She was going 50 MPH and sitting in front of her was a big map; the reason for the screeching brakes because she didn’t see us with the map blocking her view. The front of her car was all smashed up and smoking from the impact of the crash.
I was terrified. I couldn’t even feel any thing because I hurt so much; emotionally and physically. I was really bummed to find out that we weren’t going to be going swimming any more, but in the back of an ambulance to the hospital on some really uncomfortable beds. During the crash, my head smashed up against the window and I later had a huge black and blue bruise on it. I found out that my sister also smashed her head on something and that there was something the size of an ostrich egg. My mom had to where a neck brace and was strapped to the top of the long hospital board. We all had to have oxygen masks on and we were all split up between two ambulances. I had never ridden in an ambulance before so this was a new experience for me; especially since we were in the leading ambulance and you could see way out of the humongous windows. It was actually kind of funny to see all of the cars, trucks, and vans pulling over for us, even though I had a few tears from being so frightened.
When we got to the hospital, we were rushed through the many hallways that contained many automatic doors and an elevator. We were all taken to separate rooms except my sisters and I had a very large room with dividers in it fir privacy. My mom and dad had a room with dividers as well but my mom’s was more traumatic. Her neck really hurt from being pushed so hard against her seat belt. She had to get x-rays and luckily nothing was broken seeing how the doctors handled it so well. Before When they were bringing us into the hospital, I was in a wheel chair (what? They think I lost my ability to walk, or what!). But it wasn’t just me; my sisters and my dad were in wheelchairs too; my mom was on the stretcher still. Later (when I was still in the wheelchair) I decided I wanted to ‘practice’ using it. I would go up and down through the room, back and forth, when the curtains were out of the way. My littlest sister wasn’t aloud at the time since she was so little. Alisha and I took turns zooming across the floor taking wide turns at the end where we would switch places.
Sure the hospital was ‘fun’ there was even more ‘fun’ up ahead. My mom had to wear this neck brace to help her neck get back to normal. She was in college at the time and she was having a hard time focusing with her reading because she said, ‘her eyes couldn’t stay in one spot for more than five seconds,’ so she had a hard time trying to get her assignments done as fast as she would usually would have. Her focus got better in time though. After the crash I noticed that the bruise on my head was starting to go away and my mom wanted to take a picture of it to prove something...I’m not sure what though; To prove that the college girl had crashed into us? Well, if they needed proof, they could just look at the back of our van! In addition to all that craziness, my mom signed us all up to go the chiropractor. My back and neck had been constantly hurting and I had many headaches everyday, whether they stopped or not. Every time we went, Dr. Cyr would snap my back or neck back into place. In addition to that, she also got us all to get massages by a girl named Jen. She was really nice and I like her because I really seemed to relate to her. Slowly but surly, the pains went away, we stopped going because our insurance wouldn’t pay any more because they thought we were fine.
My mom was able to read again and she even graduated from college and she got to keep the cap and gown she had...it’s hung up at the bottom of the stairs right now, I believe. But then something terrible came up.
The next time I saw Jen was at her daughter’s funeral. Liz hung herself. I don’t know why, all I know is that it happened. At the wake, we walked in and saw all these people standing outside the door in a line to get into the church where there was even more people in that same line. She had a lot of friends and family, and you’d wonder why someone would want to kill themselves when they had all of these people. My mom told me that nothing is so bad that you can’t live to see the next day; that you can somehow work it out. My mom helped put posters up and she even made a slideshow for the family. She said it was the least she could’ve done. That is one thing I won’t forget.
This changed my life. The crash will leave my heart scarred to remember to always be aware of your surroundings and to just hit the gas when you hear that screeching sound...just kidding...but its not a bad idea though. Even though someone I didn’t even know had hung herself, I felt like I missed her for some reason. Like how my mom had lost her baby, why did I miss someone I didn’t even know so much? Later after a lot of thinking, I realized that I had said that because I wanted to get to know them before they left the world. That baby was going to be my littlest sibling; I wanted to teach it to read when it was ready, and now it will never be. I wish I could have talked to Liz and somehow changed her mind, to make her feel good about herself instead of the opposite.
When in that car crash, that the person about to be hit had to be aware as well. They shouldn’t ignore the sound, because it’s obviously NOT GOOD!! Take a look into your rear view mirrors or something! This also compares to the Liz situation! If there was a problem, I think that Jen should’ve at least been home...she was in Arizaon at the time. She could’ve been aware of whether or not she was ok when she left. She could’ve called Liz during their trip to see if she was ok or, they could’ve brought her with them. There were many solutions that could have prevented her hanging herself.
In conclusion, I have learned many things through these situations. Stay aware no matter where you are, and nothing is so bad that you live to see another day. The End

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Nothing is so bad that you can't live to see another day.