Almost Tragedy

Today I will hold my little ones a little closer and say my prayers of thanks. We really had angels watching over my 2 little children. I know that sounds so cliché but I really do believe it today.

This afternoon my kids were driving me crazy! The Babe didn't have a nap and wouldn't stay in his bedroom for quiet time. The Little Lady is getting teeth and quite disagreeable with them. I forgot to eat lunch so I wasn't feeling well. It was just after 4:00 and I wanted the hubby to come home and rescue me. Instead, I decided I would go outside and let the Babe push the Little Lady around in the stroller, while I sat there and relaxed.

I went out and put the Little Lady in her stroller and told the Babe to push her around. I ran back in the house for literally 1 minute to grab some water and some fruit snacks because it was super hot outside and I hadn't eaten lunch. *insert bad parenting remarks* Yes, I'm a terrible mother and left my precious little ones outside for like 2 seconds unattended. Today it almost cost them their lives.

While I was in the house, I heard a loud noise outside. It sounded very much like the stroller had tipped over. I was sure I was going to go back out and find the Little Lady dumped over with her head cracked open because my 3-year-old had been careless with her. What I found I thought was worse.

I ran back out and I saw a black car right next to my stroller. The front side was all smashed in right where my stroller was. Of course, my heart stopped dead right there. I think it at least skipped a few beats. There were a couple of girls running towards the stroller. Then my brain kicked in and I realized the stroller wasn't mangled. Then I saw my kids unharmed! My children never looked so sweet and precious! I immediately grabbed my son into the best hug ever. The poor thing was shaking all over. The Little Lady had no clue what was going on and was surprisingly quiet.

There were 4 boys who got out of the car and a neighbor was running towards us. The first thing they all ask was if the children were ok. Apparently, this car, driven by an underage driver, had turned the corner to come down our street going waaaaaay too fast. He lost control of the vehicle and went up on the opposite curb. Overcorrecting, he went up on our curb and hit the back corner of a truck parked half in the driveway / half on the sidewalk a few houses down from ours. Then the underage driver decided to gun it to get away. He drove about 150 feet with one tire missing scratching the street with his exposed rim.

The part that really makes me so upset comes here. First, they tried to lie and say the underage kid wasn't driving. Some neighbor girls saw it and were fully prepared to tell the police of their lie. Then the underage driver called his parents and his father called to try to get the owner of the truck to lie to the police. What kind of message does that send to his son? Not only that lying is ok but even a step further that you can manipulate others to lie for you instead of being accountable for your actions.

Two hours later the police show up. Two. hours! The policeman made the comment that the underage driver had no idea of the magnitude of the situation. I couldn't agree more. We are so lucky that the truck was there or he would have killed both my kids. He could have gone to jail for vehicular manslaughter. But my children would still be gone.

It really made me think about a lot of things. First and foremost, I learned that if I turn my head for just one second something could happen. Another thing I learned would be that I should never take for granted my children and really try not to get so upset with them because you never know when that would be the last conversation with them. Also, I think I will lock my kids in the basement from the time they become interested in driving till they are 18. That started yesterday.