A Rescue Operation

We had a crazy week last week.  Nathan was home for spring break, but since we weren't on break ourselves, we didn't get to spend tons of relaxing time with him.  We did get to go ice skating with him on Wednesday, which was super fun for the little kids.

One of the main things we were doing was getting Luke ready for the state mock trial championship.  His team left last Thursday, and they didn't start back home until Sunday evening (exciting news:  they won!).  Bob and I went off to bed, figuring they would be back here around 12:45.  They drove our big van.  Their coach drove it down to Williamsburg and back into the area, but her car was at another teammate's house, so Luke, Isaac, and another boy had to drive back here.  Although Luke has had lots of experience driving the big van, he can't drive more than one unrelated person, since he hasn't had his license for more than a year, and he isn't 18 (VA rule, not ours).  So they 3 boys were toodling on back this way around 12:30 to drop off the other boy first.  It was raining, and Isaac was driving when Luke said to slow down because there was debris in the road.  It turned out to be car parts, and they were from a terrible accident.  Someone driving east had crossed the median and hit another car head-on.  The driver of the east-bound car had been ejected and was lying on the road, seriously injured.  The other driver was lying by his car, in shock.  Although 911 had been called, no one was on the scene yet, as the accident had really just happened.  The boys stopped, and the big van was able to block traffic, since the one guy was lying in the road.  Isaac is an Eagle Scout, so he hopped out and was helpful.  I have this travel pillow in the van that I use in the small of my back when driving (because the seats are SO uncomfortable, especially on long trips), and at some point that pillow was used for something.

Anyhow, eventually ambulances and police showed up, and the boys were able to go their way, albeit shaken up.  Luke finally got home around 1:35.  He had tried to call a few times, but we were sound asleep, blissfully unaware he was an hour later than I had projected.  He came in and woke us up to tell us about the accident.  I think the whole thing was pretty surreal!  One of the first things he said was, "You're going to have to buy another pillow for the van!"  Well, of course that was fine!  It was nothing special, and I was glad it could be used!

But on Tuesday as the younger kids and I set off for their morning co-op, I was driving on the same road, and I was trying to figure out exactly where the accident had happened.  I saw a bunch of debris on both sides of the road, and I was sure that was where it was.  Traffic was stopped at a light, and I was pretty far back from the light, but as I stopped, I saw a forlorn white something in the median.  It was my pillow!  It was just lying there, looking pathetic, in the grass!  Now that bothered me.

I drive that stretch of road almost daily, so I kept driving past my poor pillow, all neglected in the elements.  I really wanted to pick it up so I didn't have to watch it decompose over years as I drove by.  The problem was, I couldn't figure out exactly how to go about getting it.  It was in the center median, with 3 lanes of traffic on each side.  The median actually was a ditch at that point, and there wasn't enough room to pull off to the left there without going into the ditch.  There wasn't really anyplace to pull off to the right either, and it wasn't that close to the turn lane or anything, and besides, I wasn't crazy about darting across 3 lanes of traffic and back!  I puzzled about it pretty much every day this past week, trying to figure out how to scoop the poor thing up.  It really bothered me!  (Spiritual application:  like the good shepherd who leaves his 99 sheep and goes after the one lost one to bring it home.  Thank you, Dayton Christian, for instilling in me the need to find spaps everywhere, lol.)

Finally I came up with a plan.  The ditch leveled out some as you get closer to the stop light, so I could pull off behind the turn lane, and it was pretty flat.  So after I picked up Jonathan from his math class Thursday, I told him I was going to attempt to rescue the pillow.  I even had to make a u-turn to get there, but I was able to pull off, hike back, snatch up my pillow, and return to the minivan, studiously avoiding the curious eyes of everyone stopped at the light who must be wondering why I would ever pick up anything at all from the side of the road.  I threw the pillow right into the washer as soon as we got home, but it really wasn't too bad.  No blood or anything gross, just a bit of dirt that had been kicked up onto it.  After washing, it looks good as new!  I was so relieved to not have it lying there by the side of the road.  It wasn't that it was irreplaceable; it was just that it was mine, and I hated seeing it out there abandoned!  I wonder why no one cleaned it up?  Something like that would take forever to break down.  It would have been an eyesore for years!

So now you know what consumed my thoughts this past week, LOL.