Home Safe

Had just a moment amongst the chaos of returning home, to thank my new friends and followers for your prayers for our safe return home! Due to mechanical difficulties with a broken dirtbike early this week, we chose to drive home yesterday, instead of through the night Monday. I was happy for that. I find it easier to drive at night, but doing that when the temps are sub zero is not good. With our many years as Boy Scout leaders with our sons, we know and live the motto: Be Prepared. We had extra hats, gloves, coats and blankets, but why push our luck. As it turned out, we were very fortunate. We made it safely to Lexington, KY last night. We had made several stops along the way, so we were still traveling later than expected (final tally was 16 hours to get home). We had just pulled onto the interstate, and only a few cars in front of us, traffic came to a complete stop. For over half an hour, we sat. It was 18 degrees. I was thankful for the extra blankets. And I was tense. Not for us, but for the reason for the stop. We could see smoke ahead, and realized both directions of traffic had stopped. We all know bad things happen when this is what you see at eight thirty, on a dark winter night. When we finally started moving, our stomachs tightened at the sight of what was once a pick up truck, only the bed remained. The smoke was clearing, but it was obvious there were no survivors. We only saw the one vehicle, but that was enough. We realized how blessed we were for the timing, we could have been right there.  I thought about the fact that my son would be planning to drive himself home at the end of his training, and I decided he would not. I can't protect my children everywhere they are, but I will not let an inexperienced driver travel 800 miles alone. I will be returning to South Carolina next month! Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families that were changed by that accident last night.