Strange events

On Monday December 3rd we had a little more excitement on our road than I care for.  Our road has 4 houses on it.  It is a gravel road and we don't see a lot of traffic.  On this Monday my brother in laws company was hauling sludge to a field on our road.  Around 9:30 AM I heard the sound of metal crashing.  I had just started the washing machine and I was pretty sure that our washing machine had fallen apart upstairs.  I quickly knew that wasn't the case and saw that a semi was on its side in the ditch across the street from our front door. (side note, our dogs were sitting near the front porch and never even barked or moved when the semi crashed).

Luckily Joel's therapist was at our house (she usually is there on Thursdays) and I was able to leave her with the kids and run to the truck.  I quickly called my brother in law told him he had a truck turned over and to call 911. It turns out it was not one of my brother in laws trucks, but someone he had contracted because he needed help.  I didn't know if the driver needed help and I figured my time was better spent helping the driver than giving 911 my address.

As I crossed over the road and headed toward the truck I saw a man that I later learned was 75 years old and his name was Leroy.  He was hurt, scared, and having trouble breathing.  He was pretty sure he was going to die.  When I got to him he was on the ground outside the truck laying in sludge, bleeding from his forehead and missing a shoe.  Fluid was leaking out of the engine and I was scared to stay by it so I dragged Leroy out of the sludge and away from the truck.  By the time I did that one of my brother in laws employees got there and talked to Leroy.  We prayed for him and then I ran in the house and got him blankets. 

Then I went back to the house because that is where my kids were and the therapist that was there was not there to babysit my kids.  Although she did volunteer to stay long enough for me to take a shower because I was covered in sludge and I looked and smelled bad.

It seemed like forever before the ambulance and police arrived to take Leroy to the hospital.  Leroy is healing and doing well last I heard.  According to my brother in law they think he went through the windshield.  The steering wheel was in the seat and he is lucky he came out of the truck.

Afterwards I worried that maybe moving him wasn't a good idea, but the liquids leaking out of the truck worried me and I didn't want to leave him laying there.  Hind sight is always 20/20 and we probably would have been fine staying by the truck. The good news is that Leroy is recovering and doing well.  I talked to Leroy about a week after the accident and he was already home and told me he was praying for my family.  Praying for me?  He was the injured one!   I thanked him and told him we had been praying for him. 

About 45 minutes after I got back in the house Joel, Cecilia and I headed to pick Vincent up from school.  On the way I was returning a phone call to my sister in law about Christmas gifts and Brad called me 4 different times in about 2 minutes.  Finally after the 4th time I switched over to his phone call worried that something was wrong.  It turns out that someone had sent him a text and asked him if everything was ok at our house.  Of course Brad got really worried and even more worried as I didn't answer.  I told Brad that we were fine and told him about the accident.  I think it took several hours for both our heart rates to return to normal.  We were both happy when the day was over!