Happy Anniversary

Not in the traditional sense, but an anniversary none the less. Today marks eight years since the accident. In our lives there are turning points; moments, perhaps days or weeks or months even, where the course of our life is shifted. December 3, 2000 my life changed and will be a day I will never, ever, forget.

Dad and I had just started dating. He was going to introduce me to his friend Judy in Tiburon and take her one of the Christmas trees he cut in the mountains. We were waiting to get onto the freeway when a dump truck was coming too quickly off the off ramp and was headed straight for your Daddy's truck. I will never forget the moment I looked into those headlights and thought to myself, "oh my God, he's going to hit us," and that he did. Several moments after that one are permanently etched into my mind like photographs in an album.

The feeling of the scissors running up my legs as the paramedics cut my jeans off. Being loaded into the helicoptor and panicing because I knew helicoptors were for serious accidents. Hearing your Granddad, my Dad's voice in the emergency room but not being able to see him. Hearing your Dad being wheeled in next to me and the pain he was in.

I don't know why, I can't explain it, but that is the night I fell in love with your Dad. That night I knew we would spend the rest of our lives together. That night my life changed forever...and for the better. What a difficult time that was, but if I could go back and change any of it I wouldn't. I am who I am today because of that day and that accident. I am a wife, I am a mommy, I live for each moment and try my darndest to keep a positive attitude, I take nothing for granted, I love deeper, laugh louder and stay angry shorter and speak my mind. I leave dirty dishes in the sink and let the answering machine pick up if it means spending more time with those that I love. All of these things I hope to one day teach you.