Saturday Night

Saturday night, around 9:15 Mackenzie and I were involved in a car accident. No one was injured, thank God! We were stopped at a red light when we were rear ended by a Ford F250. What followed was pure chaos. My first instinct was to call 911 so that if Mackenzie was hurt help would be there soon. Since I am not all that familiar with street names around this particular area, it was difficult explaining where we were. The driver, Mr. White, was no help at all. My mind was clouded and all I could do was listen to her cry. She looked okay-no bumps, no blood. The 911 operated had instructed me not to remove MC from her car seat, in case there were any neck/head injuries. At this point I was frantic, my cell phone was almost dead and I couldn't get a hold of Nathan. Luckily, an off-duty paramedic, Chris, had witnessed the accident and stopped to help. Chris checked out Mackenzie and believed that she was okay. He suggested that I still have her checked out at the hospital. We were greeted by a State Trooper, EMS and fire engine. Mr. White had still not spoken any words to me and looking back, I am glad he hadn't. Mackenzie and her car seat were removed from the vehicle and into the EMS. The two paramedics were awesome, she had stopped crying at this point and was now playing with a roll of sticky tape. They attempted to tape her head to the seat, but she continued to rip it off. They obviously had no idea who they were dealing with, haha! I gave the Trooper my information and overheard Chris, my friendly, off-duty paramedic, tell the Trooper that he smelled alcohol on Mr. White. WHAT???? I had no time to process, the EMS was waiting on me to take MC to the hospital.

Nathan met Mac and I at the hospital. The moment I saw him I broke down in tears. Mac was putting on a show for the crowd that had gathered around and I was reminded just how precious this little girl is to our family. She has become our everything and for a split second that was jeopardized by an individual that chose to drink and drive.

I later found out that Mr. White hit us traveling at 40-45 mph. He failed his sobriety test and refused to take a breathalyzer at the scene. He was arrested and charged with a DUI. I was surprised to see that Mr. White is the same age as us, he looked so much older that night. Could that be from heavy drinking? This sounds terrible, but I'm going to say it anyway- I hope that Mr. White sat in jail Saturday night terrified that he may have seriously hurt a baby, my baby.

Due to the fact that Mackenzie and I had to go to the hospital Nathan had to notify his chain of command. I was surprised and thankful for the amount of support we received from his fellow Marines. One of them even came to the hospital at 11:00 to give us a ride home, thanks! It feels good knowing we have people to rely when both sides of the family are so far away.