The Perfect Day

My husband, 18 year old son and I spent the day redecorating our 2 youngest boys bedroom. They had decided that they were too old at 9 and 6 for bunk beds and wanted their own bed!  As I own a shabby chic furniture store, it was imperative that I find the two perfect beds for their room. New stuff is junk, just in case y’all were wondering! That week I painted the beds Junebug green, the dresser navy blue with green accents, and had the perfect accessories picked out. That Sunday I was ready to decorate! It was what I consider the perfect day. I was doing what I love, in my very own home! My husband was motivated and excited to help. Our 18 year old son was helping and we were having a great day getting the room ready for the big reveal. In order for us to surprise them, they had went to stay with their grandmother for the weekend. Around 2pm, we were close to having it finished but needed just a little more time. Alex didn’t want to go to his dad’s that day, but decided he would so that he could get the boys and bring them home for us while we finished. He had made this very same drive for us many times before.

As a mother you think that if something happens you will somehow know or have an indication. I didn’t have a clue. At 4:09pm, I received a call from a 615 area code. I immediately knew something was wrong. A man explained to me that my son Alex was in a bad wreck and that I needed to get there as fast as I could. I asked him if their were other passengers in the vehicle and he told me yes. I knew then that our lives were forever changed. All four boys were pinned in the vehicle. While getting information to locate the scene of the accident to get there, I could hear my son begging to talk to me. As soon as Alex was on the phone he said “I am so sorry, I tried to stop it” then immediately started to list his and his brothers injuries and asked me to get there as soon as possible. To this day I am amazed at how clear headed this son of mine was, but more about that a little later. I told my husband we didn’t have time to put socks on or change clothes, I ran to get our 20 year old from his room and we raced to the scene of the accident. Before we ever arrived to the scene we knew what had caused the wreck. The rain and warm weather were the perfect cocktail for slick roads. We were having trouble accelerating from stop signs due to lack of traction.

So what do you do in a moment like this? The only thing you can do…. pray.