In an instant.

WARNING: Please do not allow your little ones to read this. It is serious adult content.

My blog rarely takes a serious tone. Usually, you get "happy go lucky" posts of my 2 kiddos with whatever is going on in our lives that week. At this point, I am not even sure how many of you are reading this. I do know that some of you readers are believers. I know that the power of prayer is amazing, and I just want those of you who do pray, to say a little prayer tonight or think a peaceful thought for a man I don't know...

a man I have never met...

but a man I will not forget ...

for as long as I live.

Jeff and I were running to get something to eat this afternoon. Mario was napping, so we told Allie to "keep an eye on him" (reminder: she is 13 AND took a babysitting CPR class to be certified) while Jeff and I went a few short miles from our house to grab fast food through a drive-thru. We got to the end of our road which intersects with a 2 lane highway on a hill. You can see our house from the intersection. We were sitting in our car waiting to turn left up the busy road. A car stopped halfway up the hill ready to turn left into our road, and he waved us on to "let us out." Our road in incredibly difficult to pull out of, so this happens often where folks let you out. I inched up, looked up the hill to see what was coming and saw a pick up heading quickly down the hill. Jeff said, "Don't go."

Thank God.

I listened and a split second later, while still sitting in the same place with my blinker on Jeff and I were witness to the most horrific accident we have ever seen. Really, it was worse than any movie I have ever seen. Violent. We were not involved in the accident, but were first on the scene. In a split second chaos broke out. I jumped out of the car, got on the cell phone with 911 telling them that there was a man ejected from his car. Jeff parked the car off to the side and went to tend to some of the injuries. I will not go into any detail, but I will tell you that I have never seen anything so sad, so violent...so awful, so ... there are just no words.

I have never seen a person die, until today.

After the ambulances and fire trucks and life flights, 2 and a half hours had passed. We gave our report to the police while trying to help where we could. All the while, there was a man there. Someone's son...someone's baby boy at one time... possibly someone's daddy.. or grandpap. I wondered throughout that time where he was on his way to... who was waiting on him. He died instantly. He did not suffer. That is a comfort, but still made me think how I would feel if that were someone I knew there. Just lying there on the pavement for all that time. I just prayed.

There were others also injured. Some serious, some minor. We helped where we could.. calling people for folks... comforting a child...I don't want anyone to tell me that I was a "quick thinker" or helpful. This post is not about me. That is not the point of this post. I was not even sure if I was going to post this at all... was it "right" to write about this - a person that I do not know? I still am not sure.

What I would like is for all of you to know that a man died today. A man I do not know and never will. I may never even know what his name is. I spent 2 and a half hours with him today. Strange. Sad. I just need to know that others know that and maybe could pray for him. Pray that he did not know what we witnessed. Pray that he is a peace.

I am thankful that Allie was not with me as we had originally discussed her riding with me while Jeff stayed back. I know how negatively Jeff and I were effected by this all day - and frankly for a very long time - and I cannot even imagine how she would have handled such a sight. I am also thankful that the survivors of the accident were stable when life-flighted. Please pray for them. I will not go into any details to protect their privacy, but keep them in your prayers if you would.

I am off to bed. I am not sure what kind of sleep Jeff or I will get this week. It is difficult to wrap your brain around death when it is expected, when it is old age or illness... it is difficult to wrap your brain around any tragedy. It has made all of us realize that we have to be more careful.. stop talking on the cell while driving...pay attention... calm down... SLOW down... just wait. It certainly has made me tell my family I love them a few extra times today. It has made me think, and seriously, with how busy we all get, sometimes it takes a lot to get me to stop and think...I am not sure really what to do with all that has happened today in my brain... I am not sure how to erase the image that I have etched in there. I wish it was an Etch-a-Sketch, and I could just shake my head a bit....it just doesn't work that way.

If you or your loved one is a paramedic, firefighter, police officer, etc... THANK YOU. I do not know how you do it. The nurses and paramedics who just pulled over to help were amazing. Calm. Prepared. They are true heroes in my book.

This all just has made me really realize...

It can all get taken away... in an instant.