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| They took the beating and I am glad I was inspired to have her wear them. |
Friday, June 15. Kyle's birthday.
Kyle had a funeral on Friday, which meant he left the house before anyone was awake. When we did get up and get going, the first thing on our agenda was to go see Dad at work and take him his birthday present.
Brooklyn didn't want to leave the house. She wanted to stay home and watch Dora. She was putting up quite the fit, which isn't unusual, but I figured she'd burn out once we got in the car and took off to see Kyle at work. (Which usually means getting a few M&Ms.)
She was fighting me as I buckled her in. She continued whining about it for a minute and then went quiet, until as I rounded the corner to leave our neighborhood, I heard her say, I'm going home!" and then all I heard was screaming.
Brooklyn's been able to unbuckle from a 5-point harness for over a year. She can squeeze and shimmy out of any kind of car seat, booster or regular seat belt. So it was no surprise she'd unbuckled herself, but for her to open the car door while I was driving was pretty shocking.
I slammed on the brakes, and jumped out of the car. Her little body was face down on the concrete road, and she was screaming. But then she went quiet as I picked her up and threw her back in the car and dashed home.
Upon serious examination, she wasn't broken anywhere and she wasn't bleeding. Not a drop of blood lost. She was scrapped up - road burn- on her face and chin, but other than that, she was in perfect shape.
I watched her closely waiting for signs of a consussion, and nothing came. She was happy after I snuggled her and loved her. It was very scary, is an understatement.
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| Taken the day of the accident. |
Catelyn and Landon and Jocleyn were told to stay in the car, as I carried Brooklyn in, but Catelyn disobeyed me, coming in the house in full on tears to tell me they had said two prayers, and just had to know if Brooklyn was going to die.
That made my eyes swell with my own tears, but after calming everyone down, we were off to see Kyle at work.
I look back at that experence and think several things:
1. I was absolutely inspired to put those heavy denim overalls on her that morning. Her chest, belly and knees were completely spared. Her little hands didn't have a scratch on them either. I am grateful I listened to the tiny promptings to put her in tough clothes instead of the little cotton shirt and shorts and flip flops I had originally chosen. And that I obeyed the prompting and insisted on the denim when she complained about it. I'm certain the jeans weren't life saving, but they were enough. And lesson learned (again) to listen and follow a prompting.
2. There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord was and is watching over us. The mantle of Kyle's calling is upon my whole family, and this was a tender mercy I will always be grateful for.
3. I know my kids know where to turn in an emergency. Enough said.
4. Despite my raw emotions surfacing over what could have happened and all the what-ifs, I found peace in the whole situation as we went to the temple that night for our ward temple night, and the kids soaked in my emotions (tears first and then calm and peaceful and grateful later). As a family, we needed that that day, especially.
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