I’ve had plenty of moments in my life that reminded me how thankful I should be. How each day is not guaranteed and to be happy to be alive and have my family with me. I had one of these moments at the local Dollar Tree store.
I work part-time. I work every day until noon. Hubby had the day off today so I decided to stop on my way home from work to take care of a few things. My oldest son needed a foam craft ball for a cell model so I stopped at Michaels. I was thirsty and was craving a cold coca-cola. Michael’s used to have a soda cooler but they apparently don’t anymore. So I decided to shoot across the parking lot to the Dollar Tree.
I hadn’t been in the Dollar Tree for a while so I decided to have a quick look around. I grabbed my coke I wanted and picked up another basket filler for my “secret pal” gift at work. Normally I stay in that store and browse longer than I do but I thought, “You know what, I’m tired and I want to get home and see hubby and the kids. Besides that if I stay and browse I’ll spend more money” So I got in line. I thought it to be unusually busy for the middle of the day. Only 2 registers open and 4 to 5 people in each line. The cashier was very polite and bid me a nice day. I thanked her and was on my way. As I was walking out I noticed two women I guessed to be a mom and a grandmother. The one was holding a bouquet of balloons the other was pushing a stroller and there was a toddler walking with them.
I pulled out of my spot in the shopping complex and only made it about 3 stores down the road when I heard this tire screech sound and a sound that reminded me of a long crackle. I looked back and saw a bunch of people running toward the Dollar Tree. I saw the balloon bouquet going up in the air that the one woman had been carrying. I saw people stopping and staring. I couldn’t see what happened. I prayed it was just a fender bender and everyone was ok. I got to the end of the parking lot and a police car with it’s lights and sirens came flying in. All I could think was “What on earth happened”.
I got home and told my hubby that I think something happened at the Dollar tree just a couple minutes after I left I checked the local news stations website and saw this breaking news: http://www.wjactv.com/news/news/breaking-news-vehicle-crashes-cambria-co-store-5-v/nR4xJ/
I wish I could post the picture but I have no rights to it. Anywho the gist is that a woman driving an SUV, for whatever reason (yet to be determined) hit into a car in the parking lot, put her car in reverse, and drove right into the dollar tree taking out one of the open cash register and injuring 5 people. One person was pinned under her car. There were witnesses to the accident commenting on the facebook page. Sadly there are rumors that one person has passed away but it hasn’t been posted in the news yet.
It really made me think, had I stayed just a few more minutes and browsed it could have been me and my unborn child in that line. Had I taken just a little longer at Michael’s before going over to the Dollar Tree i might have been one of those 5 people. It literally happened 2 minutes from me leaving the store, 3 minutes from me paying for my coca-cola and basket filler. I can’t imagine the people in the store. I mean who expects a car to come backing into the store?! The poor people probably never had a chance to move or even process what was happening.
As grateful as I am to be alive and make the decision to go home when I did, my heart goes out to the victims and the family of the one that has been said to have passed away. I can’t imagine what that was like. There are witnesses that say what they saw the driver do. I hope it’s not true and I hope it was truly just a horrible horrible accident and not something done out of anger. I pray for the driver as well as their family for the trials they will have to endure.
My guardian angel was with me today whispering in my ear.
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