Counting our blessings

There's nothing quite like a car accident to make you really think about what's/who's important and what isn't.

Yesterday was one of those days for me.  I wasn't in a car accident but Allen was.  I had woken up earlier in the morning and started playing on my phone and when I did, I turned it to silent as not to bug Allen then when I fell back asleep of course it was still on silent.  I was fast asleep, catching up on my beauty rest that I had missed from the 'staying up late, waking up early' kind of weekend with my family (more on that later).  After 10 phone calls I finally woke up and realized that the buzzing wasn't in my dream and reached for my phone.  It was my Dad calling so I answered groggily and he was too soft spoken when he asked me when I talked to Allen last that my heart dropped into my stomach.  I replied to him that it wasn't since he left for work and then he told me that Allen had been in a car accident.  He said that all he knew was that Allen was ok but it was a somewhat serious accident and I needed to call him to find out where exactly he was on his drive to work.  I of course was in tears and frantic from the moment he mentioned the word accident.  I took a deep breath and dialed Allen's phone only to get his voicemail.  The whole time this is happening I'm flying around our bedroom trying to find something to throw on so I can get to him.  It felt like forever when he finally called me back, gave me the intersection he was at and told me that he was in fact "okay."
I grabbed my things and ran out the door.  Of course his drive to work is approximately 20 minutes without traffic so that whole drive I was trying to stay calm and not speed.
When I made it to the accident site I found them moved out of the intersection and into the entrance to a retail area.  I parked and jumped out of the car to hug my husband whom I wanted to see with my own eyes that he was truly in one piece.
Allen gave me the details as did one of the police officers and by this time the other driver had already been taken to the hospital for a cut she had sustained and was bleeding a good amount from.  Her car looked fine on the driver side so I had to walk around to the passenger side to see the damage.  Allen's truck however had absorbed the damage in his grill guard for the most part.
What ended up happening that I learned from Allen, the witness report and the police officer is that Allen was heading east approaching a green light going 40 mph when a lady heading west but intending to turn into the retail area failed to yield at the green light since she didn't have a green arrow and Allen hit the passenger side of her car as she made the turn.
We are thankful there was a witness who stopped to give her statement to the police because the other driver was over heard saying she didn't know why Allen hit her since she had a "green light."  The witness told her that no she didn't have a protective green light so the accident was her fault not Allen's.  The police ended up writing her a citation for failure to yield and that coupled with the witness statement should provide adequate assurance that we won't have to fight too hard for Allen's rights as the victim.
Both vehicles had to be towed due to not being drivable so we loaded up into my car when all was said and done and I took Allen to the hospital that was just down the road.  He kept complaining about not being able to move his right thumb and having a severe pain in it so we made sure to go get it looked at asap.  We spent the rest of the afternoon at the ER with him having x-rays, a tetanus shot and a splint applied to his hand/wrist.  The swelling continued to get worse as the day went on so by the time he had x-rays they could only tell that it hadn't been broken but couldn't tell if there was a fracture or a torn ligament.  The ER doctor referred us to an orthopedic doctor to call and visit in a week to have x-rays redone and a diagnosis given when the swelling had gone down.
The main issue with all of this "after care" is that Allen is a baseball coach.  His hands are a big part of his job.  Although he is technically a lefty, he's also ambidextrous and he pitches and bats with his right so this is a major inconvenience in that aspect because it's going to affect his job for an undetermined period of time.  His job is also the type that if he doesn't work, he doesn't get paid so we can't afford for him to be out at all.  Really it's all just a big inconvenience to be honest (which all automobile accidents really are) so we're going to have a couple of trying days as we get everything figured out.

When all is said and done though I am reminded that at the end of the day my husband was able to come home with me all in one piece.  Many are not afforded that luxury and I am not about to take it for granted.  It's been almost three years since I had an even worse scare with him and a drunk driver so I know how incredibly blessed I am to have him home with me and well.  We will get through this like we do any other hurdles we face and I can't deny how happy that makes me.  I really am counting my blessings today because it could have all played out so differently and I thank God for his grace during this whole ordeal.