Saturday July 10, 2010

I just got rolling. I’ve been up just over an hour. I didn’t oversleep, I just slept later than I normally do. Oh, I got up at 5:30 to take my meds, and then I laid back down. I have my laundry ready (bagged up). I am going to check my email, Face-book and Farmville before I get in myself ready to work out at the gym. So, this is what I am going to do today-workout and laundry…after that, I do not have anything set in stone. 

This is the day (43 years ago) we were in a car accident.  Mark was driving, Kirby sat in the middle of the front seat, Momma was on the right side of the front seat. Daddy was laying down asleep with his feet angled up, his head to the driver side of the car. I sat under his feet, my cousin Larry sat on an ice chest in front of me. I was eight years old. The driver of the other vehicle was drunk, didn’t have a license since it was suspended, borrowed another person’s vehicle, even.  That car hit our car on the driver’s side-the impact was in the middle  of that side between the front and back seats. The most serious injuries were to Mark and Daddy. Mark had head concussion and a broken arm. Daddy’s injuries killed him that night. Kirby had 3rd degree burns on his gluts. Momma had scratches on her forehead from the windshield impact. Larry had a 3 inch gash in his side near his hip. I had multiple head wounds and gashes on my feet from the broken glass. Momma and Larry were the only ones coherent enough after the impact to check on the rest of us.  Ambulances took Momma, Larry, and Kirby to Irving Community Hospital.  Because of the severity of the injuries, Mark and Daddy were rushed to Parkland, and I was rushed to St. Paul’s. At this time, Cheryl was married, but still living at home because Bill was somewhere stationed in the Marines. Gary was in the Marines, too, and I believe was stationed in Cuba. Of course, they immediately brought Gary home to be with his family through this crisis.

Oh, yeah, I do remember waking on the operating table…seeing hands and faces of the doctors working on my head injuries. I wasn’t awake too long because I think they knocked me back out.

I remember being in the hospital being visited by Roland and also Aunt Margaret. I know others visited, but those 2 stand out in my memory because Roland made me smile by something funny he said about the bandages on my head. I remember Aunt Margaret because I was embarrassed to ask her to help me hold the urinal to go to the bathroom. I also remember when Cheryl, Momma, Gary and Father Moore came in. Even though I was 8 years old, I knew something was odd because Momma and Cheryl were dressed in black. Father Moore stood at the end of my bed, read a verse from the Bible, and then explained to me that Daddy had gone home to live with Jesus. I remember Momma holding me to her as I shed a tear. I thanked Father Moore for visiting me.  I have this in my memory because Father Moore expressed surprise that an 8 year old would take the time to thank him for his visit on such an occasion. He complimented me on my manners.

Later