21 Years Ago Today

Today is my anniversary, of the day I almost died.

My parents, my brother Tim and I were driving up Provo Canyon on the way to the annual family reunion. It was a beautiful sunny day. The traffic was thick in both directions. We were about a mile from the damn when we were in a terrible car accident. A truck pulling a trailer heading south lost a wheel and it came bouncing down the road right at our vehicle. Many miracles happened after that, that I am very grateful for.
· I am grateful that when the tire hit us and sent us rolling over the edge of the road-that there was a clump of bushes that stopped the vehicle from rolling all the way down to the river below.
· I am grateful that even though there were many cars on the road-ours was the only one involved.
· I am grateful that both of my parents were wearing their seatbelts.
· I am grateful that Tim, even though he was not wearing his seatbelt, was somehow able to stay inside the vehicle.
· I am grateful that when I was thrown from the vehicle and my hand was cut on the glass--that I still had a hand.
· I am grateful that when I landed on the ground my head was cradled in a shallow hole in the dirt so that when the van landed on my neck and shoulders-it trapped me, but did not crush me.
· I am grateful that the doctor that was fishing in the river below had for some reason decided to fish on the side that was closest to the accident.
· I am grateful that I only ended up with a broken arm and stitches scattered across my body-I didn’t lose a hand or an arm or my life.
· I am grateful for all the people who stopped to help us while we waited for the ambulance to arrive.
· I am grateful that Tim and Dad were able to be treated at the scene and did not require a ride to the hospital in the ambulance with my mom and myself.
· I am grateful that even though mom ended up with the worst of the injuries and had to spend a week in the hospital-that she was not cut, which for her would have been fatal. Most of all I am grateful that we all survived the accident.

I cannot drive/ride through that canyon without thinking of that day 21 years ago. I drove past the sight of the accident today and was reminded, yet again, how grateful I am to be alive.