Monday November 9th was a crazy day. I had taken Brooke to an orthopedic surgeon because her ankle was bothering her. The surgeon, Doctor Gibbons, just happens to be my cousins son which is kind of cool. She ended up getting a cortisone shot in her ankle which I watched... interesting and that otta hurt at the same time. Brooke dropped me off on her way to school in Connell and I started into my day. Then I got the call, "Dad, I got in a wreck"...those are awful calls, a world of emotions come compressed into a single moment. I got a few details, I'm fine, the car is a mess, I hit a truck, so I went to get her really not knowing what all to expect. when I arrive, there are 4 State Patrol cars there, and a county crew putting absorbent on a line of fuel on the road that stretched 80 or so yards. The car is in the median on a bit of a hill pointed somewhat back to the road she left and a tanker truck she tangled with may be 100 yards up the road. The truck is fully loaded with jet fuel, that was a bit unsettling. He was climbing the hill at Mesa on Highway 395 so he was going a bit slow and Brooke came up behind him on cruise control at 70MPH. Her phone buzzed and she looked to see who it was...bad idea...looked up to see she was way to close to the truck. She swerved out into the passing lane and then over corrected which caused her to come back into the back side of the drive axle wheels of the truck. In other words she missed the back end of the truck but hit the truck on the side. The trucks wheels pushed the nose of the car up and bent the fender up on the truck and damaged the off loading pipes which spilled the fuel. The front of the car is smashed bad from the trucks wheels, road rash on the top corners, and dings pretty much everywhere. She says it was in slow motion, she remembers going over 3 times, no one stopped to say they witnessed it which is crazy because it is quite a long straight stretch and there always seems to be vehicles there. The cabin portion of the car came through very well for which I am grateful. Brooke seems to be fine, her chest is sore from the seat belt and her neck muscles were a bit sore along with the ankle she got the cortisone shot in. We went back to Dr. Gibbons again the next morning to get a medical release so she could play in the State Volleyball Tournament a couple days later. We are so thankful she basically walked away from something that could have been so terrible.
This video is of the sand dune we stop at. Too bad you miss Melissa's unplanned, not so graceful entry into the water, Carter really uses his head when he runs down the dune.
The other mountain we went to was the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. The whole drive from Washington the boys were singing "I Love to See the Temple" One of the Primary songs they have been learning. They were so excited to be able to go inside.
Melissa has officially graduated from high school. It seems like such a short time ago we were a young couple just starting a family and the parents who had kids graduating from high school were way old and wrinkled. I am beginning to realize that life happens so fast, I still think I am young but I probably look way old and wrinkled to newly weds. Over half of my family has now finished the high school drama years and are leaving the nest to fly on their own. John Lennon said "Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans." When our kids were born we had all these plans and dreams for our family, life was exciting. When they were all small we had no time for ourselves, we just wanted to make it though the day. When they were about to leave they were independent, fun, and challenging, we drove a lot and laughed and worried. When they come home to visit, life could not be more fulfilling.
It has been interesting as we visit with the newly empty nesters who ask us if we planed our family so that we would have these two little ones around to keep us company. I must say I have been surprised how parents struggle when their last child graduates, I'm thinking I will not like it much either.
It's ironic we live in world with politicians who have global warming as an agenda they promote when we have been witnessing some of the coolest and longest springs the past few years I have ever experienced. This is the field behind my house this spring, we have the irrigation running and a snow storm at the same time. I should get extra carbon credits don't you think. May be then Al Gore can buy them from me to fly around in his private jet and I can farm as a hobby. Hey, where's my barf bag.
Less than a week before Clair and I were to leave for Hawaii, Carter was chasing Collin and tripped on a rug. He broke two bones in his foot. Luckily, the Todd Merrill family took our boy for the whole week and made it possible for us to have a great time. We were not worried at all because just about everyone of their kids had a foot issue last year. Carter did not mind being carried everywhere for 2 weeks before they put on a walking cast for three more weeks. He totally loved having unlimited screen time on the Wii and computer. This first cast was a "glow in the dark" one.
