The Wreck
Victoria Arnett
“He is getting flown to the hospital right now.” As soon as I hear those words come out of the phone, this terrible, feeling grips me, trying to take me over. I couldn’t really talk. All I could do was sit there, trying to keep it together. Why did this have to happen on such a perfect day?
I’m sitting there in this huge Mexican restaurant. I was invited to a reunion with my friend’s family for the weekend in Albuquerque. There is a live mariachi band playing there too, and they were playing and singing so loud, I can barely hear my friends. We are laughing about it all and just enjoying ourselves. The smell of amazing food is in the air and all these happy faces circled around the table made everything so much better too. Everything was going great. This summer has been amazing. Then, I feel my phone in my pocket vibrating from a call. I think I should just check it just to make sure that it wasn’t something important. I see my brother was calling me. I get kind of excited. Me and him don’t call much but every time he does call me, it is always super fun, and he always makes me laugh. I don’t get to see him much after he moved out so I thought I should step out of the restaurant really quick to talk with him just for a bit. I walk outside and find a nice bench to sit at to talk to him. when I answer, he immediately starts worrying me. He won’t stop asking this question “Are you ok?” He never talks so serious like this. I’m not sure what’s happening, but he was making me nervous. I keep telling him “I’m fine. Why? What’s wrong? What happened?” I’m getting anxious. Something is wrong. Something is off. he says “Ok, I’m going to tell you something, but I need to make sure you are perfectly ok and before I tell you, I want you to know that everything is going fine, and you don’t need to worry about anything.” Now I’m super nervous. What is he not just telling me? He goes on saying “Dad just got in an accident on the motorcycle. Some people driving on the road found him and they called the ambulance. He broke a lot of stuff, and he is getting flown to the hospital right now.” For some reason it’s hard for me to understand that this is all happening, and it isn’t some joke. My dad never gets hurt, he never falls or anything. It’s an inside joke with my family about just how cautious he is. I keep asking questions, trying to understand. Asking about what happened or if he is going to be ok, but no one knew. He said that him, my mom, and grandparents were on their way to the hospital right then to try to see him. But I’m stuck here. He tells me they won’t be home for a while and that I should stay with my cousins that live in Albuquerque. He says he needs to go and pack but he thought it would be good to let me know what was going on before he left. The last thing he says before hanging up is promise to me that everything was going to be ok. After he hangs up, I sit outside for a bit trying to figure out what to do. I know I’m going to have to tell my friend’s parents. I can’t just leave unannounced. My mind is turning with so many things. I calm myself and I breathe in the fresh air before I walk back into the restaurant. I feel perfectly fine as I walk in to tell them, but as soon as I try to get the words out of my mouth, it’s like I freeze. The words were stuck in my mouth and refused to leave. I couldn’t believe myself. When I try to push those words out, I started crying, trying to explain it all. Everyone there is looking concerned at me. I knew I couldn’t get these words out so I called my brother again, and I told him that he would have to explain to my friend’s parents what was happening since I couldn’t seem to get the words out. Everyone was asking if my dad was ok, I wish I knew that myself so I could answer all their questions. That night seemed like it went on forever, and it all seemed so hard. I think about how much this would impact the next several months of mine and my family’s life.
I stayed with my cousins for a while until my brother got back home. He had to take over our family business since my dad couldn’t do it and my mom was staying in the hospital with my dad through it all. I’m always home alone. I am not allowed to see my dad. I think that was the hardest part for me. I was too young to visit, I guess fourteen isn’t old enough to go visit in that hospital. No one was allowed to show me pictures and I wasn’t allowed even to face time because he didn’t want me to see him like that. Thank God that he even made it out. He broke his back, nose, and wrist and something in his neck, but he was alive. So, I’ve been stuck and my cousins and now I’m stuck at home. It felt like I had to take care of myself. My mom told me that he needs to wear this huge brace around his body and neck to support him when he is standing, moving around, or doing anything other than laying down. After a few weeks, my dad finally get sent to a rehab place in Roswell. He’s got to re-learn and teach his body everything. I haven’t seen him in what feels like forever. I’m nervous and even a bit scared to see my own dad. My mom finally gets me to go visit him. I bring some gifts that I have for him, and we get in the car. That drive was so nerve racking. What if he is different? What if he changed and will never be the same? Will I ever be able to do things with him like normal again? We get into the hospital, and I am walking through those long, twisting hallways getting more anxious by the second. I’m searching like crazy for his room number. I’m so nervous for some reason. Finally, I see his room number. I almost don’t want to go in, but my mom wants me to walk in first. As soon as I walk through those doors and he turns in his bed to look over and see me, tears well up in his eyes and start streaking down his face. He was crying so hard, like I’ve never seen from here before. He is covered in scars all over his face. I don’t know what to think or do. He keeps apologizing to me, its breaking my heart. I’ve never seen my dad like this. He tried to hug me, but he was in so much pain, he could barely move. I was so sad and happy at the same time. Sad to see my dad in this pain and knowing there is nothing I can do, but happy because I’ve missed him so much and am just glad he is ok. I’m glad that I can just spend this time with him. I start visiting him for hours every day in rehab. I love seeing his eyes light up when I walk into that room. And we just talk, talk about my day and what has been going on the past weeks. I learn from the physical therapists how to put his brace on without hurting him and I help him put his brace on and he would walk me around showing me where he goes through the day. I’m so happy that he is ok. I really don’t know what I would do without one of my biggest supporters in my life. When I matriculated to NMMI, he even tried showing up for as long as he could even if he was in pain. He had to leave early to go lay down because he was hurting, but I understood. Things like that meant so much to me. I know this is going to impact my life for a really long time, but that doesn’t matter. Things like this really show you how to appreciate the little things in life and make every moment count.
I’m sitting there in this huge Mexican restaurant. I was invited to a reunion with my friend’s family for the weekend in Albuquerque. There is a live mariachi band playing there too, and they were playing and singing so loud, I can barely hear my friends. We are laughing about it all and just enjoying ourselves. The smell of amazing food is in the air and all these happy faces circled around the table made everything so much better too. Everything was going great. This summer has been amazing. Then, I feel my phone in my pocket vibrating from a call. I think I should just check it just to make sure that it wasn’t something important. I see my brother was calling me. I get kind of excited. Me and him don’t call much but every time he does call me, it is always super fun, and he always makes me laugh. I don’t get to see him much after he moved out so I thought I should step out of the restaurant really quick to talk with him just for a bit. I walk outside and find a nice bench to sit at to talk to him. when I answer, he immediately starts worrying me. He won’t stop asking this question “Are you ok?” He never talks so serious like this. I’m not sure what’s happening, but he was making me nervous. I keep telling him “I’m fine. Why? What’s wrong? What happened?” I’m getting anxious. Something is wrong. Something is off. he says “Ok, I’m going to tell you something, but I need to make sure you are perfectly ok and before I tell you, I want you to know that everything is going fine, and you don’t need to worry about anything.” Now I’m super nervous. What is he not just telling me? He goes on saying “Dad just got in an accident on the motorcycle. Some people driving on the road found him and they called the ambulance. He broke a lot of stuff, and he is getting flown to the hospital right now.” For some reason it’s hard for me to understand that this is all happening, and it isn’t some joke. My dad never gets hurt, he never falls or anything. It’s an inside joke with my family about just how cautious he is. I keep asking questions, trying to understand. Asking about what happened or if he is going to be ok, but no one knew. He said that him, my mom, and grandparents were on their way to the hospital right then to try to see him. But I’m stuck here. He tells me they won’t be home for a while and that I should stay with my cousins that live in Albuquerque. He says he needs to go and pack but he thought it would be good to let me know what was going on before he left. The last thing he says before hanging up is promise to me that everything was going to be ok. After he hangs up, I sit outside for a bit trying to figure out what to do. I know I’m going to have to tell my friend’s parents. I can’t just leave unannounced. My mind is turning with so many things. I calm myself and I breathe in the fresh air before I walk back into the restaurant. I feel perfectly fine as I walk in to tell them, but as soon as I try to get the words out of my mouth, it’s like I freeze. The words were stuck in my mouth and refused to leave. I couldn’t believe myself. When I try to push those words out, I started crying, trying to explain it all. Everyone there is looking concerned at me. I knew I couldn’t get these words out so I called my brother again, and I told him that he would have to explain to my friend’s parents what was happening since I couldn’t seem to get the words out. Everyone was asking if my dad was ok, I wish I knew that myself so I could answer all their questions. That night seemed like it went on forever, and it all seemed so hard. I think about how much this would impact the next several months of mine and my family’s life.
I stayed with my cousins for a while until my brother got back home. He had to take over our family business since my dad couldn’t do it and my mom was staying in the hospital with my dad through it all. I’m always home alone. I am not allowed to see my dad. I think that was the hardest part for me. I was too young to visit, I guess fourteen isn’t old enough to go visit in that hospital. No one was allowed to show me pictures and I wasn’t allowed even to face time because he didn’t want me to see him like that. Thank God that he even made it out. He broke his back, nose, and wrist and something in his neck, but he was alive. So, I’ve been stuck and my cousins and now I’m stuck at home. It felt like I had to take care of myself. My mom told me that he needs to wear this huge brace around his body and neck to support him when he is standing, moving around, or doing anything other than laying down. After a few weeks, my dad finally get sent to a rehab place in Roswell. He’s got to re-learn and teach his body everything. I haven’t seen him in what feels like forever. I’m nervous and even a bit scared to see my own dad. My mom finally gets me to go visit him. I bring some gifts that I have for him, and we get in the car. That drive was so nerve racking. What if he is different? What if he changed and will never be the same? Will I ever be able to do things with him like normal again? We get into the hospital, and I am walking through those long, twisting hallways getting more anxious by the second. I’m searching like crazy for his room number. I’m so nervous for some reason. Finally, I see his room number. I almost don’t want to go in, but my mom wants me to walk in first. As soon as I walk through those doors and he turns in his bed to look over and see me, tears well up in his eyes and start streaking down his face. He was crying so hard, like I’ve never seen from here before. He is covered in scars all over his face. I don’t know what to think or do. He keeps apologizing to me, its breaking my heart. I’ve never seen my dad like this. He tried to hug me, but he was in so much pain, he could barely move. I was so sad and happy at the same time. Sad to see my dad in this pain and knowing there is nothing I can do, but happy because I’ve missed him so much and am just glad he is ok. I’m glad that I can just spend this time with him. I start visiting him for hours every day in rehab. I love seeing his eyes light up when I walk into that room. And we just talk, talk about my day and what has been going on the past weeks. I learn from the physical therapists how to put his brace on without hurting him and I help him put his brace on and he would walk me around showing me where he goes through the day. I’m so happy that he is ok. I really don’t know what I would do without one of my biggest supporters in my life. When I matriculated to NMMI, he even tried showing up for as long as he could even if he was in pain. He had to leave early to go lay down because he was hurting, but I understood. Things like that meant so much to me. I know this is going to impact my life for a really long time, but that doesn’t matter. Things like this really show you how to appreciate the little things in life and make every moment count.
"If you are always racing to the next moment,what happens to the moment you're in? Slow down and enjoy the moment you're in and live your life to the fullest"
-Nanette Mathews
-Nanette Mathews