For the record, should you ever receive a phone call from Dopey, you should become mildly alarmed as the boy never uses the phone to talk, and rarely text's with any regularlity. When my phone rang around three yesterday, registering the dwarf's name on the phone display this sent my "spidey" senses a tingle. Now you may say, did you just not have an "incident" with Dopey... why yes, he attempted to blow up my kitchen just a few weeks ago, and delivered the news of the fire and explosion in the same calm manner..."Mom, I had a little accident." I believe that he actually used the same words with both calls.
In kind, I respond calmly, assuming that the "little accident" was just that, something small, however recalling his idea of "little" to the last time he uttered those words, and upon seeing that damage myself, the situation was no little thing, I leave swiftly to go meet him and assist him with the finer details of being involved in an auto accident.
As I am leaving my neighborhood, driving to my eldest male dwarf at the accident scene, less than 2 miles from home, I am passed on the road by the firetruck, and the sheriff vehicles. Now my tingles are incredibly agitated. I think however, about all the senior citizen drivers in my state, and how on any given day in a mile stretch I can see three fender benders, so I continue on driving feeling about 75% confident that all this, is not for the sake of Dopey and his "little accident".
As I arrive at the intersection where I need to turn, or as close to it as I can get because of the back log of traffic and emergency personnel, I now for the first time become somewhat panicked and incredibly concerned about what lies in wait around the corner where my eldest dwarf is.
Of course, I am not driving a small vehicle that can easily maneuver around on the berm of the road, nor do they make sirens you can pop on the roof of your vehicle that scream, "Mom on a mission!" OR, "This back log is because, my kid was in the accident causing this big mess! " OR, "Get out of my way NOW !" No, none of these things exist, so I sit and crawl along the last quarter of a mile to get to Dopey.
Can I just say at this point, the mind is a very powerful tool, and left unchecked, can reek havoc on your thoughts. I am not prone to panic. Dopey clearly gets this gift from me. However, knowing what I do about the dwarf, and what the presence of emergency personnel at an accident scene typically means....that 1/4 mile snail crawl was painful.
As I round the corner searching somewhat frantically the scene before me, my eyes lock on the giant six foot plus dwarf, standing off to the side of the road, looking sadly out of place, sheepish and bewildered. His car is safely to the curb, out of the way, and realize that as I pull up to park by him that my hands have shaking and I had been holding my breath. Again, amazing, what and how your body does when you throw in a bit of stress ... I park in front of his car, and jump out of the van and run to him and just hug him. And he hugs me back. All of the hype and build up of the emergency personnel is NOT for Dopey.
Since I can no longer see over his shoulder when I hug him, I cut it short, come back to the practical aspects of what needs to be done, and start looking to see what all this fuss is about if it is not for Dopey. Quickly, I see the driver of the other car walking towards us. She seems to be fine, we exchange greetings and she indicates that she tried to avoid him but was unable too. She and I both agree that our 15 year old vehicles can be replaced but that lives can not and she is so grateful that Dopey is not hurt nor was she. I wholeheartedly agree. It seems a passer by called 911. It also seems that the other drivers car was totaled, as her transmission was sitting on the ground and she had a flat tire and some other damage that prevented her car from being moved off to the side of the road, so the emergency personnel in Florida were assisting with the traffic control and flow.
Now for the bad news... aside from the obvious of the car needing fixed, and the cost associated with that, aside from the new driver being in an accident and now not having a car to drive for sometime, he has been slapped with a hefty fine and points, one week into his driving career. The good news is however, in the state of Florida, there is an online four hour class you can take, that will allow you to have those points erased immediately from your record with proof of passing the class. He has 30 days to take the class, pass it online, and pay the fine. To say that he is highly motivated would be an understatement!
We are rejoicing in the lessons of life that were learned today.
- We rejoice that Dopey is calm in spirit, and not prone to panicking. This is a strength that will serve him well as he pursues a career in the medical field or if he ever becomes a father himself one day.
- We are rejoicing that as with all things in Dopey's life, (refer to the blog about the science experiment for more proof of this) the Lord is watching and protecting him when the Prince and I are not with him to do so.
- We are grateful for the men and women who serve Manatee county as first responders and so grateful that they only had to provide traffic control yesterday afternoon.
- We recognize that there are some dwarfs in our home that need to learn things the "hard" way. No amount of conversation, or instruction is able to provide the first hand experiences that will leave the lasting impressions and imprints on their lives as they grow to become the person that Christ desires them to be. We have come to realize as their parents that these lessons are usually hard, and costly, but necessary for their refinement.
- Personally, I am rejoicing in how amazingly the Prince is standing up to the barrage of "incidents" we have been laying before him recently with compassion, grace and empathy. If he is angry at all, he is doing a great job of keeping it inside!
- Certainly not the least of these lessons, Dopey will never again forget the rule regarding looking left, right and left again, prior to pulling out into traffic.
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