Ben's car accident

So, as the story goes...I had just worked a night shift at the hospital. As usual, I came home from work on Wednesday morning, gave Ben a quick "hi" and then "goodnight". Of course I never thought that this morning could be the last time I talked to Ben. If I knew this I would have told him a lot more than that. Ben got up and got ready for work. He gave me a quick kiss goodbye, which honestly, I don't even remember because I was so deep asleep. Only 2 hours later I was woke up by Ben's dad pounding on our back door. He could only tell me that Ben had gotten in a car accident and the car was totalled. You would all be surprised, but my heart sank for the safety of Ben. It didn't only sink for my sadness that my poor car was gone for good. We didn't have a whole bunch of information on the car accident at this point. I only knew that Ben was somewhat okay because he was the one who called us. That I was grateful for. Now, here's the real story that everyone wants to hear. Ben was on his way to a patient's house in Tremonton. He had his phone out with the GPS directing him to the patient's house. I'm not sure if the phone is what distracted him, or if it was just him being in a hurry. Anyway, he had gotten himself lost and was flipping a U-turn. He pulled off to the right side of the road and took a quick glance in his blindspot before he turned. What he didn't see when he looked was a garbage truck coming his way. As he flipped the U-turn, the full garbage truck (heading to dump the garbage), t-boned the driver side of the car going 50 mph. The car spun to the side of the road as the garbage truck kept going. Ben is pretty amazing in situations like this. Somehow he didn't lose consciousness and quickly made sure that all of his body parts were working. Weird, I know. He tried to kick open the driver door. Obviously that was not going to happen since the driver door was smashed in a couple of feet. That didn't take him too long to figure out so he jumped out the window. I don't know how, but he did this whole thing before anyone was able to get to the car to see how he was doing. We're so grateful for the people that met him at the car. They calmed him down and helped him get over the shock. One man even gave him his jacket to take to the hospital because Ben was shaking. Ben didn't have the guts to tell him that he wasn't cold, he was just in shock. Cute man. The ambulance got to the scene and forced Ben to go to the hospital. Ben was trying with everything that he had to not go to the hospital because we don't have health insurance. But, I'm glad he went to get taken care of. So, back to my story. I get to the hospital with Ben's dad (most important part, right?). They take me to the trauma room to see Ben. I can't even explain what I thought when I saw that I was going to the trauma room. I know what happens in the trauma room. I've seen dozens of patients die in the trauma room, and I've definately never seen any walking, conscious patients in the trauma room. Scary feeling. Luckily, this was a tiny hospital and apparently patients do walk in their trauma room. I met Ben as he was walking himself to the bathroom. That felt really good to see him again. I'm surprised about the things that I had time to think about in the car ride to the hospital. The police met us there and that's when I realized how blessed we really are. He told us that he doesn't know how Ben survived the accident. The full, very heavy garbage truck was going 50 mph and hit the car exactly where Ben was sitting. He told us that if there was a difference of a matter of seconds, there would be no way, not even a chance, that Ben would still be alive. At this point I realized how grateful I am for Ben. I couldn't believe that I almost lost him and I never told him how much I loved him. Ben got some quick, routine checks done. Amazingly, there was no internal bleeding and no concussion. He did break the end of his clavicle, next to the shoulder joint. We both agreed that we would gladly accept that. Ben was given a cheap little sling and we walked out of the emergency room together. I couldn't believe it. We had to go see the car. I couldn't just never say goodbye to that thing. The mechanic was actually a little bugged that I was attached to "sheet metal". I don't care what he thinks. That was a good car. It was a little emotional to see the damage. Looking at the car, if I didn't know any better, I would have bet money that it was a fatal accident. The pictures don't even do it justice. Driving home from Tremonton we had a lot of time to think about how blessed we are. Although Ben keeps telling me that he is pretty much superman because he single handedly took on a garbage truck (not a train like superman), we realize that the Lord's protection is the only way that Ben is still with me today. There is obviously more on this earth for Ben to accomplish. It's too easy to forget how the Lord blesses our lives every day. It's amazing to me how the Lord builds our testimonies. I will never again take advantage of that morning kiss goodbye. Life is too precious.