Unforeseen blessings

I must admit I have received a lot of help in my life - from my family and God - but just when I think I can't possibly be lucky or loved enough to receive more, days like yesterday happen. I guess I should start from the beginning...

We went out of town for Christmas with Donnie's family. We were planning on driving straight from the cabin to home on December 26, but at the last minute we decided to stay with Donnie's parents for a night to cut the drive in half.

When we got back to his parents' house we took my rings to be soldered - something I've wanted for like the last 2 years, but we never got around to it. We thought we would then head home Wednesday morning. Later, the jewelry store said my rings would not be ready until Thursday or Friday. So we stayed in town a little longer.

On Wednesday night Donnie's sister was going out to eat with some friends she met online - it's a group of moms who all live in that area and get together every month. Anyway, she invited me to tag along since we were still in town. At dinner I sat beside a girl who happens to be a car seat safety inspector (i didn't know they existed either). We started talking and she volunteered to check out Sydney's car seat - since I drove to the restaurant. She came out in the freezing snow and spent a good 15 minutes adjusting straps and making sure the seat was nice and tight and properly in the car.

I didn't think much about it and then when I returned to my in laws I told Donnie how Sydney's seat was really loose and installed improperly, but a car seat tech fixed everything and now it's perfect.

Fast forward one week to last night. Sydney had a fever for 3 days and it was pretty high yesterday so the nurse told me to bring her in to see the pediatrician. So last night we went to the doctor and had her checked out. At about 6 p.m. Sydney and I left the doctor's office and started our way back home. We were maybe 2 miles from the doctor's, sitting at a red light, when I heard a loud noise. At first I thought the car beside me backfired, but then I felt a huge jolt and realized I was just in a multi-car accident. Apparently I stooped, the car behind me stopped, but the third car came at about 50 mph and didn't stop until she hit the middle car.

So here is where the blessings come in. The second car, a 1980-something Monte Carlo, not only had a trunk roughly the size of my bathroom, but there was a full-sized spare tire in there. The trunk was completely smashed, but the police officer said that the tire actually absorbed a lot of the force from the impact. Our car - a mid-size SUV - received some damage to the back end (about $2400 according to the body shop), but the tire in the middle car saved us from a lot more.

The other 2 cars had to be towed and the driver-at-fault's sister, a passenger in the car was taken to the ER on a stretcher because she couldn't feel her legs (I talked to their mom later and she said they were fine).

Sydney and I were checked out and she has a little muscle strain, but will be just fine in a few days. We are giving her Motrin and she'll be just fine. No permanent damage, no broken bones, nothing. I can't help but think if we would have returned home as planned and if I never met the car seat lady, Sydney would have been strapped into a seat that was improperly secured in our car and would be a lot worse off.

I have a cervical strain - the muscles and ligaments in my neck are injured - but I will be fine in about 2 or 3 weeks. I have a neck brace - which I will not wear - a heating pad, and lots and lots of Tylenol.

So the random decision to stay at Donnie's parents a few days, the random meeting of car seat lady, and the random tire that the middle girl happened to put in her car a few days earlier, saved my daughter from any major injury. I guess it's not so random after all.