Counting My Blessings

Yesterday was a day that all parents of teenage drivers fear.  Your child runs into the house scared to death and yells "I just crashed my car!" 

My 15 year old son had just left for practice at 5:35 a.m.  It's only 18 degrees outside and dark.  He didn't even make it a mile down the road and something broke on his car and sent him spinning into the ditch.  I wasn't there, so I don't know 100 % what happened, but from what he tells us, the car started to drift toward the ditch and when he tried to bring it back to the center of the road, it over-corrected and spun into the ditch.  He wasn't on his phone, because he discovered it was dead when he tried to call us to tell us what happened. 

He ran almost a mile back to the house, in the dark, in the cold and probably shaking like a leaf-not from the cold, but from pure fear that it happened.  Once he burst through the door, we thought he was mad about something, until my husband took a better look at him.  He was cold, shaking and not able to explain what happened.  Had he been any closer to our house, his car would have ended up in a three to four foot deep ditch.  The outcome could have been terrible.

I am so glad we have taught him that seatbelts should always be worn and to keep the phones put away.  He has been an avid seatbelt wearer since he was very little, so that has followed through to his own driving habits. 

All day I was in a very somber mood, trying not to think too much about it.  It's amazing how one little "wreck" can cause you to look at life and run through possible outcomes.  I hope that is the worst wreck he has in his driving future.  If it is, then he will be lucky.  I've know other kids that weren't that lucky and I'm sure their parents wanted a different outcome too.  I found myself thanking God yesterday several times for keeping my son safe and watching over him.

I think it also made my son a little more tolerant of his dad and myself.  We never heard gripping or complaining last night.  He did what he was asked and actually was pleasant to be around.  Not that I wanted something like that to make it happen, but since it did, I think it opened his eyes and made him appreciate what he has.