Olivia and I were headed home from a dear friend's wedding reception on Friday night. We were driving home alone because Craig came straight from work to meet up with us for the weekend in his car. Craig left the reception a few minutes after us. He was probably only a bit behind us.
We had just passed the bend on the freeway right before 2600 south in Bountiful when I saw the cars ahead slamming on their breaks. I had only a split second to decide whether or not to take the exit at 2600 south. I was in the middle lane and really couldn't get over in time to exit. We'd just have to wait it out.
At the time Olivia was sound asleep. I could only pray that she would stay asleep and we could get moving, again. We sat there. Waiting. And waiting. I knew that Olivia would be getting hungry, so I sat there, anxious, knowing that when she woke up she would be really upset.
I watched as people behind me were backing up in the emergency lane to get off the exit at 2600 south. It was pretty scary. Ahead, I could see cars backing down the on ramp. I was just waiting for an on-coming car to hit one of the cars backing up. This was not good.
To make matters worse, Olivia woke up and started to cry. Before I knew it, she was crying so loud her hollers resembled a siren. After waiting 40 minutes, I was about ready to tear my hair out. I could not calm her down. And we weren't moving an inch.
Finally, after an hour of waiting, we started moving. I was so relieved that we would be home soon. I was sick, because my phone had died earlier that day and no one could communicate with us. I knew everyone would be worried and have no idea where we were in the mess of cars.
I pulled into my parents' driveway where my mom was waiting for us and immediately opened the garage door. Her motherly instinct must have told her I had a screaming baby in the car. When we went inside my mom told me that Craig was out looking for us. They could see that there had been another wreck on the freeway and were worried that I was in the other because I had been gone so long. Craig had even called highway patrol to see if a black Mazda6 had been in the second wreck. What a sweet, concerned husband I have. I felt so bad.
Long story short, we are all safe and sound. I learned a good lesson this weekend, though--It's really important to always have a means to communicate with others. Always charge your cell phone, because you never know what could happen.
2 comments:
Seriously that is like my WORST nightmare of all time. Jett is fine sleeping in the car as long as we are moving and I can't imagine how the world would come to an end if we got stuck in traffic.
I can't believe you survived that. If I were you I would have just got her out of her car-seat and started breast feeding her in the car.
I am glad you made it home safely.
we played that game once. it was miserable! good thing kids are resilient! (oh, an mommies too!)
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