Accident

Today, my brother Charlie (yes, of the infamous garage) was in a car accident. He is in stable condition now, but we did have a bit of a scare. It was really rather interesting that I found out about the accident about six hours before I realized Charlie was involved.

We went to pick raspberries today, and on the way home, they were re-routing traffic because of an accident. I think I was probably there very shortly after it happened, because they were just starting to turn cars around. I didn't think much of it until this evening when my brother Mike called to say that Charlie was in a hospital two hours away. Mom and Dad are both gone (Mom in Nevada with my sister who is getting ready to have her baby, and Dad at Scout Camp with my two youngest brothers) so Mike went to work. After a while, he had called Mom and started the search for Dad. I called my friend Becky, and within minutes I had several calls from friends in our ward volunteering to help. Within the hour I had the kids in bed, and Chivaun, Laurie and Katie at my house to watch them. They were doing dishes and cleaning before I left. Becky came over a little later to stay with the kids (it was 8pm when we left) and field phone calls. You don't usually find out how much people care, but I feel it now.

When we (John, Mike and I) got to the hospital, I was prepared for a shock. We were told he was in a head-on collision going 55mph, and that he had head injuries and assorted breaks. The shock was how good he looked. They had him hooked to a ventilator because he was sedated to keep him from ripping tubes out, but the reality was, he looks great. He had some stitches above one eye, a compound fracture in his pinky and a broken wrist on his left arm, he has a broken disc in his neck and a bruised lung. But, the break in his neck seems to effect only that bone. He is in miraculous condition considering the severity of his accident.

How grateful I am to have a Heavenly Father who was watching over Charlie, and great friends who were watching over me. I will post more as we find out more of how he is doing.