Our son Brandon was in a head-on collision the Friday before Thanksgiving at about 4:30 p.m. The man who hit him was traveling north on the freeway when he crossed the median and hit Brandon's truck that was traveling south. Brandon never saw him coming. There were no brake marks at the scene. It was estimated the impact was a minimum of 140 mph. The man from Illinois died, but because Brandon was in a heavier 3/4 ton truck, he was injured, but lived. He was cut deeply on left side of forward down into his eye bridge, his leg took much of the impact, his nose was broken. There are future surgeries ahead, but he is ALIVE and we are full of thanksgiving. The Eye, Ear, & Nose doc said it was a miracle he did not lose his eye or sever the nerve that goes from ears to sinus. The first responders said it was the worst wreck they have responded to and had some one actually live. Brandon's good friend, who is an EMT, was one of the first on scene and helped him, but did not recognize that it was him. He is recouping at our home and each day he improves remarkably.
This was our "here" year, the Thanksgiving when all come to our house instead of going to their in-laws. I thought I was coping amazingly well with the trauma of the accident until the day before Thanksgiving told the real story. I was preparing the batter for the pumpkin pies. I tasted it before pouring in the shells. Yuck, was something ever missing. I added more spice, no diff, but just figured my taster was off. I was just getting ready to fill the shells, when I realized I had not put in the pumpkin! We brine our turkey now...so moist and yummy. We had been brining it for about 12 hours when I realized I had doubled the salt ratio! At the dinner, I kept repeating "don't salt the turkey...remember don't salt the turkey". After dinner, I felt two hands on the back of my shoulders. It was Walt. He turned me around and told me to go the bedroom to rest, he was going to help clean the kitchen. We had several Thanksgiving firsts; almost pumpkinless pumpkin pie, double brine turkey, Walt helping clean up after Thanksgiving, and Brandon with a swollen face, bandaged elbow, hand, and leg. But we were all full of thanks for sparing our son and bringing us all together to count our blessings.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Repentant Blogger
I was feeling really bad about ignoring my blog since LAST summer. As a matter of fact, my last post was about Granny Boy Camp, and I just finished another one a few weeks ago. I am using this blog for my journal (mostly, I keep more sacred experiences in another journal), so I know posting is important. I would have loved to have a blog when I was raising my family...to have special photos, journal entries, and then publish it...what a dream. Well, my family is raised and I still have a busy life that can be documented. There is no excuse. I checked out most everyone's blog I follow closely and I realized many are not posting often either. Has Facebook changed the importance of blogging? I hope not.
A few months ago, Walt was released from Bishopric after five years. I realized that with his release has come a freedom. First of June managed four days at our mountain get away. Last of June we went on nine day anniversary get away to Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. May we had a trip to Las Vegas to tour dam at Lake Mead, April off to to Moab Utah for four days where I had a victim advocate conference for one day, and we played the other days. Walt and I went to my nephew Brent Arnold's wedding in the Twin Falls Temple last week. The Boise temple is closed. We then toured Shoshone Falls and Thousand Springs area, with my brother Steve, as we worked our way back to Boise for a later reception. We brought Ginny, Tim’s wife, back with us. Some trips have been interspersed with a visit to Cody and Jessi's house in Spanish Fork near Provo. Walt and I have also been on mountain five weekends in a row. I ran into a neighbor from our ward today at Costco. She asked if I had been gone all summer. The trips have been nice, but I am staying home this weekend. Our mountain place will be taken over by my Cluff Clan hunters. I usually cook, just put ear plugs in, then go to my bedroom to read, but I don’t even want to do that much. I am staying home and unpacking my suitcase that has been on the floor of our closet all summer. I still work part-time as a Victim Advocate for the police department, but have been able to work my time easily around this looser schedule. Walt and I have always enjoyed traveling together. He has to be in control of the steering wheel as I am content to relax and look out the window. We have listened to some audio books and great music on Pandora radio. I just tether my phone to the speakers on our car....no advertisements...just coasting along on the road to somewhere. Sweet sweet freedom we have never experienced until these last few months. I want to post pictures, but I am going to post this without for now. I made a goal of writing a post by 5:30 and I want to accomplish at least one goal today.
I was feeling really bad about ignoring my blog since LAST summer. As a matter of fact, my last post was about Granny Boy Camp, and I just finished another one a few weeks ago. I am using this blog for my journal (mostly, I keep more sacred experiences in another journal), so I know posting is important. I would have loved to have a blog when I was raising my family...to have special photos, journal entries, and then publish it...what a dream. Well, my family is raised and I still have a busy life that can be documented. There is no excuse. I checked out most everyone's blog I follow closely and I realized many are not posting often either. Has Facebook changed the importance of blogging? I hope not.
A few months ago, Walt was released from Bishopric after five years. I realized that with his release has come a freedom. First of June managed four days at our mountain get away. Last of June we went on nine day anniversary get away to Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. May we had a trip to Las Vegas to tour dam at Lake Mead, April off to to Moab Utah for four days where I had a victim advocate conference for one day, and we played the other days. Walt and I went to my nephew Brent Arnold's wedding in the Twin Falls Temple last week. The Boise temple is closed. We then toured Shoshone Falls and Thousand Springs area, with my brother Steve, as we worked our way back to Boise for a later reception. We brought Ginny, Tim’s wife, back with us. Some trips have been interspersed with a visit to Cody and Jessi's house in Spanish Fork near Provo. Walt and I have also been on mountain five weekends in a row. I ran into a neighbor from our ward today at Costco. She asked if I had been gone all summer. The trips have been nice, but I am staying home this weekend. Our mountain place will be taken over by my Cluff Clan hunters. I usually cook, just put ear plugs in, then go to my bedroom to read, but I don’t even want to do that much. I am staying home and unpacking my suitcase that has been on the floor of our closet all summer. I still work part-time as a Victim Advocate for the police department, but have been able to work my time easily around this looser schedule. Walt and I have always enjoyed traveling together. He has to be in control of the steering wheel as I am content to relax and look out the window. We have listened to some audio books and great music on Pandora radio. I just tether my phone to the speakers on our car....no advertisements...just coasting along on the road to somewhere. Sweet sweet freedom we have never experienced until these last few months. I want to post pictures, but I am going to post this without for now. I made a goal of writing a post by 5:30 and I want to accomplish at least one goal today.
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