Describe a phone call you won't forget....
It was my last year in college, June 2006. It was officially just 3 days before I was set to walk across the stage for my Sociology degree diploma. I was graduating, after 5 tough years at the University of Washington. I was excited. My family was going to drive up to watch the ceremony and help celebrate. It was a wonderful time in my life.
Until the night I got the call. I was fast asleep and the phone rang waking me up. It was almost 1am and my mom was calling. My mom does NOT call in the middle of the night, I knew instantly something was wrong. I thought it was my granny, she had/has been dealing with severe Alzheimer's and I thought her time had come. I was wrong.
The first thing my mom said through her quivery voice was "hunny, I need you to sit down and listen to me." I was sitting on the edge of my bed in the complete darkness trying to wake up to listen. I started crying before I knew what I was crying for. Then the words came, I will never forget them "Your daddy was in an accident". Silence. Sobbing.
She went on to explain that he was hit by a drunk driver on the way to church. Him and his mom were in the small Saturn and were hit head on by a very large Explorer. The Saturn was completely totaled, my dad took all the impact. He was in the hospital. Then the worst came...
"Hunny, they told me to call you, they don't think he's going to make it through the night". I lost it. I couldn't breathe through my sobs. He had 16 broken ribs {we have 24 ribs total}, one of his ribs had punctured his spleen. Both of his lungs were collapsed and he couldn't breathe.
My mom and I sat on the phone for what seemed like forever. She said that my dad was soo excited and proud of me for graduating and he would NEVER want me to miss walking across the stage for him. We decided I would stay in Seattle and wait to come home for 3 days, heading home immediately after I walked the stage in my cap and gown. I did not sleep the rest of the night. I was in shock. I remember shaking and crying.
I called all my professors in the morning and was excused from all of my finals. Everyone was more than helpful. The days went by slowly and my dad was in a coma. He was still alive though. I walked the stage as planned. In attendance were my best friend and my boyfriend at the time. They filmed it for me so I could share it with my family one day. They took me out to eat afterwards still in my cap and gown. I took the train home immediately after.
{picture below taken in july after he was already doing better}
I will never forget seeing my dad in the hospital for the first time. I lost it. He had tubes coming out of him, he was hardly there. It was horrific.
{we snuck dad a Krispy Kreme - he got in trouble for it!}
It was a long summer. My dad didn't get out of the hospital until August. He did make an almost full recovery. He had to have a tracheotomy placed for a while and his singing voice is not the same today. The man who hit them was 3 times over the legal limit but never showed for court. There is a warrant out for him, but to date he is still free and nothing has been done about it.
It was months later and my mom put my graduation video on - even she refused to watch it until we could do it as a family. They made me put my cap and gown on and walk down the hall. We posed for pictures as a family and watched my graduation. It was a happy ending.
This post was inspired to be written by Writer's Workshop @
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