a close call..

A close friend of ours father (Bart) was involved in a semi rollover on Friday night. I'm unsure of all of the details, but Bart had to swerve to avoid hitting a car (full of scouts, by the way) that had cut in front of him to turn left. He rolled, and because he wasn't wearing his seat belt, was ejected through the windshield. Not wearing his seat belt actually ended up saving his life, because he would've been smashed by his dash had he been in when his truck landed. We went to visit him Saturday and he told us the first thing running through his mind while he truck was swerving out of control:

"Please God. Take my life, but please don't let me kill them.."

Luckily, no one in the other car was injured. They stopped to make sure he was okay and wait for the ambulance. He was life-flighted to a hospital in Salt Lake. It looks like he fractured two ribs, a pretty big gash on his forehead, scrapes and bruises all over, and is having a hard time keeping comfortable (understandably). Cody has known this family (and has pretty much been part of it) since about 5th grade. Remembering Cody's rollover accident back in 2004 was unavoidable.. As we entered Barts hospital room, the first words out of Barts mouth were, "Cody, I don't want to hear it, because I remember seeing you in the same place!"

Bart got us laughing and crying the whole time and I can't help but feel so grateful that his life was preserved. He's got a lot of recovery ahead of him, but he understands how lucky he is. I've become very close to this wonderful man, and I hope to have many more years of his jokes. I love you's were exchanged as we left, and I couldn't help but get teary-eyed just thinking about him. Cody has thought about driving commercial vehicles with Bart, and even though I might warm up to that in the future, Cody said before we left, "Well, Bart, thanks to you I don't think Fe will let me drive one of those rigs.." And I replied instantly, "NOPE!"

Yet another experience to help us realize how fragile life is..