The Call

It's the call every parent hopes they never get. It's the one we got last night. "I was in an accident."

There's a reason why they call it an accident. Although often times there are direct causes, careless causes for an accident, we still call it an accident. Truth is, every single possible scenario went through my head last night as we were trying to carefully rush to the scene where are 17-year-old son was in an accident. He assured my husband on the call that he was ok. But a mother's heart sinks anyway. My son has been a remarkably responsible driver, he doesn't drink or hang out at parties with people who do, and he takes the idea of texting and driving, or even talking and driving pretty seriously. But we're conditioned to start running through the worst cases when we don't know the facts. We can probably thank the media for that, but I'm not getting on a soap box today. I'm just trying to write in order to sort out the traumatic experience of last night.

We arrived to the scene to an ambulance leaving. One of the kids in the car presumably had a concussion and was brought in just as precaution. That kid happened to be my son's best friend. We got out of the car and started to approach. We were the furthest away from where the accident occurred, and we walked up to two families, EMS, and our son who came running toward us in tears. Thankfully all the boys were ok, but our son who was driving, was shaken up. He was tearful and chattery and apologetic. He was devastated that his friend left in an ambulance.

Without getting into the details of the accident, it was legitimately an accident. He was not texting or talking on the phone, and he was not drinking. None of the kids were. And accidents happen. His truck was flipped over on its side, a jaw dropping sight for any parent.  His friend was released last night and my son and the other two boys seem fine today. It was just a pretty traumatic experience for them all.

Today we're just trying to come down from the experience.  We're waiting for the insurance company adjuster to tell us what's what. We're expecting the truck to be totaled, so it'll be a couple of weeks before we can replace the truck. I think my son is a little afraid when he thinks about driving again, anyway and might be happy to have the break.

I feel really grateful today. Grateful for the guardian angel watching over them. Grateful that they're all going to be okay. Grateful that the guys who they collided with were genuinely concerned about the welfare of the kids and don't seem to be concerned with fault. I'm grateful that we have the kind of relationship with Jacob's friends and their families that last night we were a collective community worried about our kids, and not just angry parents pointing fingers.

Having been in a serious accident before, I know it takes time to get over this. I know my son will go back to feeling like a new driver again, and that's not so bad. I know that for a couple of weeks it's going to be the first thing on everyone's mind. But I also know time heals, and by the grace of G-d all four boys will be here to heal together.