Hidden Blessings

I guess I'd better start answering my phone! Yesterday during 8th period I got two phone calls from a 253 area code. I was in the middle of class, and thought it might be from Kenny or Kelly and I'd call them back. Then just as school ended, I had been on hold with the IRS for 15 minutes and they had just answered when I got 3 phone calls from another strange phone number in Utah. Again, I didn't want to give up my phone call to the IRS so I ignored the call. Soon after my classroom phone started ringing but I couldn't get to it because my homeroom team was meeting and they had moved the desks. Once again, I thought I would call back and then promptly forgot. About 1/2 hour later, I got a phone call from Talia. She informed me that Vili and Darl had been in an accident - they didn't have their phone with them - and she was on her way to pick them up and bring them home.

Vili had been in SLC for a doctor's appointment, and I had let Darl go with him at the last minute. On the way home, Vili took a drink of water and it wouldn't go down. He was choking and thought he had pulled the car to the inside emergency lane and told Darl he was in trouble. In actuality, he had blacked out. Instead of relaxing, as a normal person would, Vili became rigid with a death grip on the steering wheel and his leg pushing the gas pedal down. They hit the cement barricade in the median, then cut across the freeway hitting two cars. Then they went down the embankment towards the new theater at Thanksgiving Point, and ended up going straight for the theater. Poor Darl had been yelling at his dad and trying to turn the wheel to avoid an accident, but with Vili's death grip and the fact that he kept trying to turn against Darl's attempts, he had been unable to do anything. They were on Frontage Road at this point and a car was coming straight at them. Darl shoved Vili's hands off the steering wheel, yanked it to the left back up the embankment and was finally able to slam the gears into park. As soon as they got back to the top and the car slammed to a stop, Vili came to. He missed the entire thing! In fact, he tried to put the car into gear and drive on. Darl yelled at him that they couldn't go and took the key out of the ignition. Vili got angry and tried to put the key back in before he realized they were on the opposite side of the freeway from what he thought they should be. They had dragged 400 feet of fence with them and the tires were flat--the car is totaled, but no one is hurt! One of the cars they hit must not have stopped, because it is not on the police report, the other car was hit and the lady went to the hospital, but the policeman said she should be fine, nothing major.

Through all of this, the only thing I can think of is how grateful I am for all the little things that Heavenly Father blessed us with yesterday. I didn't go with Vili because I had missed work Monday with the flu. I figured he would be alright because he was just going for a check up. Darl asked to go with him and I told him no because he has missed too much school already - when we dropped him off at school, he called and begged to go. I relented without much opposition because for some reason I felt it would be OK for him to go. If Darl had not been there, I know Vili would be dead! Also, I had told Vili to trade and take Latu's Durango because it was bigger - he decided not to and took Pene's car instead. If he had taken the Durango, they would have rolled because it has too high center of gravity, and they would have both been hurt. I am grateful they were both wearing their seatbelts. I am grateful we had insurance, albeit only liability, but we have not always had insurance. I am grateful we had not fixed Pene's leaking radiator (or water pump) yet, because it would have been an entire waste of money. I am grateful Mason did not go with them!

Darl wouldn't go to school today - but that is OK, also. They are both alive, and no one was seriously hurt. I truly have so much to be grateful for!