Not a "happy" Valentine's Day

Well today has been a pretty terrifying day. About 10 minutes after Kevin left for work my cell phone rang, it was Kevin calling to tell me he'd been in an accident and rolled his car down a hill. He said he was OK but I was still pretty freaked out and trying not to panic in front of the kids as I got them ready to go get him. It was snowing a lot so we drove super slow and carefully even though my heart was racing and I just wanted to get there. We finally got to where he had gone off the road and the cops were already there along with a guy that had pulled over to help. Kevin's car was at the bottom of a huge hill, apparently he hit a patch of ice, started sliding off the road and then rolled several times before coming back to rest upright on all 4 tires, then slid the rest of the way down and hit a tree. You can't really tell from the pictures since they are from the back, but the front of his car is demolished. Although for surviving a roll over, the roof of the car held up extremely well. It really is amazing that he walked away without any serious injuries. He busted his lip and his neck and back are really sore but other than that, he is OK. His laptop was shattered from being thrown around in the car - which could have easily been his head had his seatbelt not kept him secure. Thank God he had his seatbelt on....and it didn't fail. I finally lost it and started crying after we got there because it was just all too familiar, and the memories of the last accident and thinking of how easily this one could have had the same outcome. I'm just so, so, so glad that Kevin is OK. I don't know how I would go on if I had to do all this alone without him.

So now we are down to one vehicle for a while until everything is sorted out with the insurance and they give us a check to replace the Land Rover. Hopefully it will be enough to actually replace it. I don't even want to think about the insurance nightmare we are probably about to deal with.

I HATE that stupid highway 285 and this has made up my mind that we have to move soon. When we bought this house, it was because we thought that Kevin would be working from home and not doing a regular commute. I NEVER in a million years would have chosen to live so far from his work if I knew he'd have to be driving to and from there everyday. Now the reality is that he basically is a full time 8-5 employee at Qwest and has to do this stupid, dangerous commute everyday. So something has to change, this can't keep going on anymore. I hated him commuting from the very beginning and this just proves my fears were right. No more. If he is going to be working out of the house, then we need to live close to his work. I don't know how, but we are going to have to sell this house and move down into Denver - unless something else comes open in Austin soon and we could move back to Texas. That would be my dream come true. I am so DONE with this snow and ice. It's fun for playing and skiing but driving is dangerous enough without having to deal with that too. I've already lost one child to a car accident and could have lost my husband today. I HATE cars and highways and driving and just want to live where we have to drive as little as possible and in the safest conditions possible. Living at the top of a mountain and my husband working at the bottom in a place where it is snowy and icy sure isn't it.

Then to top things off, I talked to my dad on the phone while we were there at the accident and he told me he had fallen off the roof of a house he was working on, hit a brace on the way down and possibly fractured some ribs. If he would have hit his neck, instead of his back on that brace, he could have been killed. He's going to the hospital to get checked out, so I'm just praying that he is ok. So I almost lost the two men I love in one day today. Happy Valentine's Day! What a day. I'm just so incredibly relieved that everyone is ok and still alive. I was hugging Kobe after we got home and his skin was so warm against mine and I started thinking about how quickly that warmth can be taken away. In a fraction of a second. Not like I needed it, but today was another reminder for me to just treasure the time you have with your loved ones because you never know when that hug or kiss you gave them will the last. When I hugged Kevin goodbye this morning and told him I loved him, it easily could have been the last. It's funny because the last thing I told him before he left this morning was "I don't want you to go." I was worried about him driving in the snow and wishing he could stay home. It's scary how life can change in the blink of an eye, and always when you least expect it.

Anyway, here are the pictures I took with my phone of Kevin's car at the bottom of the hill:

Tire tracks where he slid off the road