"CATS" (cats aren't the only ones that get a second chance at life)

This is my daughter before the show, happy and excited for the evening ahead. Read on and find out the horrific way our evening ended.

Last Saturday Caitlin and I traveled to St. George to spend some mother/daughter time together enjoying some shopping and then the theatre at Tuacahn. We went to see the musical "Cats" which we both enjoyed very much.

After the show I tried to coax Caitlin to go up and meet the actors and have her picture taken with them as she did last year when we saw "Aida", but she declined. So consequently, we were in our car at 10:45 and headed back to St. George.

We were driving eastbound along the main road in Ivans with no cars in front of us, but the onslaught of cars coming from Tuacahn were gathering behind us. We were enjoying our conversation about the show when suddenly I noticed the headlights of a single car in the westbound lanes. There were no other vehicles on either side of the road between us and this single vehicle.

Just as I was pointing out to Caitlin that the car coming towards us was traveling at an excessive speed, the unthinkable happened right before our eyes. The car appeared to have missed a curve due to its speed and either ran into boulders or a wall dividing the road from the homes next to it, I'm not exactly sure what, but the next thing we saw was the car launching into the air and flipping multiple times as it emitted sparks everywhere.

It was surreal. At the point the vehicle launched, our car was directly opposite to it and Caitlin and I were both aware that we could be in immediate danger. It was like something out of a movie scene. Caitlin was sobbing and I was telling her to call 9-1-1 as I tried to decide the safest place that I could pull my car over. There were lots of cars coming behind me and the shoulder of the road was not really wide enough for me to safely park there. As I spoke to the operator, I pulled over for a few moments and was then able to pull into a gated community while I continued to give the operator information. We were advised to continue on to our destination. In a matter of moments several emergency vehicles passed us on the road.

I have tried to find out information about the accident for the past three days. Tonight Caitlin received a phone call from the St. George police officer who is over the case (remember the 9-1-1 call came from her phone). She directed him to me and he was able to give me the details about the accident that we didn't know. I was also asked to give a statement about what I witnessed.

The driver of the vehicle was drunk and it was determined that he was driving 74 mph. He was charged with reckless endangerment (just hearing those charges made me swoon, Caitlin and I would have been the most likely victims if he had steered his vehicle in the other direction) and DUI. He had only minor injuries for which we were glad (cats aren't the only ones that get a second chance at life). I'm happy that we found out the result, it was traumatizing to Caitlin and she really needed closure.

I am grateful for prayer. As I have mentioned on this blog before, I pray daily that my friends and family will have safety on the roads. But we all need to do our part too... while driving; don't talk on cell phones, don't text, don't speed, be alert at all times, and wear your seatbelt (the driver of this vehicle would not have survived if he hadn't worn his seatblet)... I love you all, mean it!!!

Cell Phones, Seatbelts, and I-15

Today I almost had all of my freckles shoved down my throat, literally....and I don't even have freckles. It all started after I left an extremely busy day at work, I was so happy to get on the freeway and head home. I had only been on the freeway a few minutes when it happened. I could see that the cars ahead of me were quickly slowing down so of course I slowed down as well (wondering what was going on), I automatically looked into my rear view mirror to see what was coming behind me. This is what I saw; a woman driver talking on her cell phone not even looking ahead. I thought, "she is going to hit me." It all happened so fast, but I watched as she finally looked (I saw the horror on her face) and it was to late, a moment later she hit me and I lurched forward (thank goodness I was wearing my seat belt). Anyway, the rest is history. A big inconvenience for me and for my poor Silver Bullet, actually Silver Bullet came out far better than her car, but can you believe she actually had the nerve to tell me that. I kindly reminded her that she was the one who hit me while talking on her cell phone and not watching the road. So this is my message to those of you who are reading this post:

DO.NOT.TALK.ON.THE.PHONE.WHILE.DRIVING.

There is nothing important enough to risk your life for, or the lives of others, that you can't wait until you can stop the car and call. I'm 51 years old. I've made it through at least 41 of those years just fine without having a cell phone at my beck and call (excuse the pun).

I just want to share something personal with you; every single day I pray for the safety of my family, my friends, and myself while we are on the roads. Whether we are going to school, to work, or about our errands. In the last year or two my sister-in-law, my son, my husband, my neice, my bff, and now myself have been involved in some sort of automobile accident where thankfully no one was injured. So tonight I will be saying a prayer of gratitude; because it could have been worse.

Love you all, mean it