Sharing my stories about challenging times helps me

I went through a very difficult time in my life that started shortly before Hurricane Rita. The Christmas before Rita hit, I had to have an emergency hysterectomy. Katie was hospitalized with pneumonia the day I was released (which was the day before Christmas Eve). My story, A Christmas Basket, published in Christmas Miracles, tells about that unfortunate incident and how good came from it.

In June that same year, Pete and the kids were involved in a horrendous car accident because a teenager was not paying attention. He was going full speed ahead while fidgeting with the radio when he ran into my precious family and changed our lives forever. Thankfully my children were okay, but pulling shards of glass out of a two-year-old's hair is not fun. The one who suffered was Pete. He had ruptured discs in his neck and eventually had to undergo surgery. Even so, he is not the same active man he once was. That has spurred quite a bit of poetry and unsent letters.

Also that summer my father was diagnosed with prostrate cancer. The BIG "C" WORD always brings a lot of anxiety and apprehension. My mother had breast cancer years before so we knew it would not be easy. Luckily my dad is fine now, but he did have a second run in with it several years after his first treatment. I am proud to say both of my parents are cancer survivors. That's a story in and of itself.

Then Hurricane Rita came along and we were forced to evacuate. Eight hours in the car, Houdini acts, diaper stints and three restless kids under the age of six are enough to make anyone crazy. When Ike came several years later, we stayed for the storm. Big mistake! The article (next paragraph) I have written tells about what I went through during those two hurricanes. For me, the chaos occurred before the storms hit. After Rita, we were in Dallas having a grand old time with family. We evacuated to a friend's home two days after Ike and also had a lot of fun. The kids think hurricane means vacation. Not!

My article, The Calm After the Storm: How to Survive a Hurricane, is highlighted on MyDaily.com. I have author Gina Misiroglu and the editors from Red Room to thank for this accomplishment. When I joined Red Room several months ago, I never dreamed they would be so helpful and personable. Gina helped me get my article from page to publication in less than a week. If you are a writer, I highly recommend you join Red Room.

Many other things happened between the two hurricanes, much of which I attribute to the mere fact of raising kids. And of course, there's Mary. She died shortly before Ike hit. I have written these stories down and hope to share all of them some day. I never knew something so rewarding could come out of life's struggles. That's what "sharing" is all about; it cleans us out.

Not again!

Yesterday I got a call, and all the memories from years ago came rushing forth. 

Pete had called earlier and said he would be home in fifteen minutes.  Twenty minutes later, he's not home and I get another call.

"I won't be home in fifteen minutes because there's been an accident," he said.

...And all the sudden I'm back to that day.  The day five years ago when I got a similar call.  Pete and the kids had come to visit me as I was decorating my room for Vacation Bible School.  Not shortly after they left, I get a call from my very harrowed husband.  There had been an accident.  A truck failed to stop and rammed into the back of his Saturn while he was waiting to turn left onto our street.  THE TEENAGE DRIVER HAD BEEN CHANGING HIS RADIO STATION. The kids were okay (thank you Jesus).

I dropped everything and rushed to the horrific scene.  The Saturn looked like an accordian and glass was everywhere.  Pete was holding a screaming Nicholas, who was just a baby.  Katie and Andrew were nowhere in sight.  I soon found out they had gone inside a friend's house to settle down.

"What happened?" I asked.

"The other guy tried to turn left onto a street from the right hand lane. Just a little damage to the driver's side of the Jeep. I'm waiting to fill out a police report," Pete answered.

The teenager had told the police what he was doing while the ambulance was taking Katie and Andrew to the hospital.  We wanted to be on the safe side.  Nicholas was in a baby harness car seat (the others in car seats for older kids) and appeared unscathed, so we didn't want to upset him more...he went with grandma.  Luckily, they got the okay from the doctor, but that night I sat pulling barely visible pieces of glass out of Nicholas' long curly hair. 

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"You know...the adrenaline is flowing and I'm mad as hell, but I'm okay."

Pete was not okay after the accident five years ago.  His neck was damaged; discs ruptured, to be precise. This was the beginning of a long torturous road for him: doctor's visits, steroid shots, physical therapy, painful tests, nerve damage and eventually neck surgery (not to mention Hurricane Rita wedging her way somewhere in the midst of all this).  To tell you the truth, Pete will never feel the way he did prior to that accident. 

All because the driver had been fussing over the radio.

I wonder if the guy yesterday was on his cell phone or texting.  What I do know is that negligent drivers have disrupted my family two too many times.  Please pay attention!