Yes I Am Alive But Only Through The Grace Of God

By Flea - Be A Survivor

My friends, I am sorry for having been quiet recently. My Christmas vacation was less than ideal to put it mildly. The wife and I traveled to NJ to visit relatives (we drove). Everything was going according to plan until we left.

We were driving on the NJ Turnpike which most folks familiar with the area know sucks big time. The Turnpike is always crowded and they charge an arm and a leg to drive on it.

We were sitting in standstill traffic when all of the sudden I looked in the rearview mirror and what I saw something changed my life...a semi barreling straight at us (probably 30-35 mph) and I knew he wasn't stopping.

I didn't even have time to warn my wife before the impact. I have NEVER, EVER, EVER experienced something so violent in my life and I pray I never do again.

The semi plowed into us and crushed our vehicle between it and the cars in front of us. When the dust settled I looked over at my wife and saw she was alive and I knew I was alive so I immediately had happiness in my heart.

I then remembered we had TWO dogs (our children, we don't have any real kids) in a crate in the back and I slowly turned to see a mangled crate in the rear of the vehicle BUT both of them were ALIVE!

Somehow our little dogs squeezed through a gap in the destroyed crate and was in my lap before I knew it. The bigger dog had to be cut out of the crate by the tow truck driver with bolt cutters.

They took my wife to the hospital but I stayed with the wreck because the NJ state troopers (I wasn't happy with them or the ambulance folks, who were more concerned about me signing a waiver then ever taking a glance at my injuries.) wouldn't tell me what was going to happen to my dogs if I went to the hospital.

Anyway we sustained some injuries but it could have been a lot worse.

We were WEARING seatbelts and the airbags deployed which I believe helped keep our injuries to a minimum. The Ford we were driving had a 5 star front and rear impact rating and crumpled where it was suppossed to. That poor truck is totaled but we receieved a fair settlement from the insurance company on it (they believe it or not, have been great).

I am healing up nicely, my wife's injuries are a bit more complicated (knee). The dogs, remarkably, are fine, just shaken up. ANOTHER LESSON...if our dogs had been free roaming in the car they would be DEAD, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The crate they were in saved their lives so think about that when traveling with your pets.

That is all...