The Things That Matter

We have all done it. Just a quick text or status update from our phones while driving down the road. No harm, no foul, right?

Last night, as I was sitting at a stop light on the way home from an awesome night out with friends I was rear-ended. Z was in the backseat, in her car seat. The driver of the other car never even saw my car stopped at the stop light. She had just gotten off from her waitressing job, was on the way home. She made a decision to text instead of driving her vehicle.

I keep wondering what could have been that important. So important that she risked not only her life, but my child's. I know, with an almost certainty, that she will never text and drive again. I know that she feels terrible today and I feel bad that this is how she has to learn such an important lesson. It could have been so much more severe, so much worse than how it panned out.

And as I think about her and how she is dealing with all of this today, I am also thinking about the things that matter.

My daughter and I, although rushed to the hospital by ambulance, are fine. We are sore, we are shaken, but we will get better and we will be okay. Our car (our brand new car), though damaged, will also be fine.

Hubs and I have learned important lessons about driving distractions and how imperative it is to stay focused while driving.

I think about how things aligned to make the outcome better than it could have been. This week the American Association of Pediatrics released new guidelines for child car seat safety. Due to that release, I saw this blog post and these pictures of the correct placement of car seat straps and tightness guidelines. I had just adjusted Z's straps on Friday, thank God.

There are several great videos about texting and driving, but until you experience it first hand it doesn't sink in as well as it should.

You are driving a vehicle that weighs at least a ton, anything that you need to say can wait. If you can't wait, pull over.

You are someone's child, you could hit someone else's child.

It's not worth losing the things that matter.

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