Four and more to go

Last week my youngest child had her FOURTH near death miss. Though it can be a little heart wrenching for me, they do make great family reunion tales.

This most recent attempt on her life happened in the library parking lot. I parked the van next to an empty spot and the girls started to get out of the van. A small pick-up truck pulled past and suddenly started backing up into the space beside me. Really, the whole incident only lasted approximately 4 seconds. Sonia, my oldest, and I noticed the truck backing up right away. I took two steps forward and started wildly waving my arms, thinking he would surely notice this large jumping adult. Sonia yelped as she jumped out of the way, behind the van, into safety. But Whitney hadn't moved yet but turned towards her sister as she moved away.

But the dang truck didn't stop. He wasn't seeing me waving! This strange feeling of helplessness suddenly went through my whole self. My options were very limited as the truck was almost there and 3 seconds had gone by. I could keep waving and hope that it would be effective. I could make some wild effort to jump, grab Whitney, and get out of the way but I dismissed that as useless. I could get to her but I wouldn't be able to get out of the way with her, making it so both of us were in the way of the wheels. Calling her name would make her turn towards me, exactly what I didn't want. I think I just yelled "MOVE" at her but I didn't think it would be helpful. I was panicing.

And the truck stopped.

Four feet away from Whitney.

The driver of the truck pulled forward and parked in a spot on the other row. He was extremely nonchalant about the whole issue, never understanding how stressed I was. Apparently he never saw me. Nope, not at all. He changed his mind when he saw Sonia's bobbing head as she leapt out of the way. She's just barely tall enough that her head stood above the top of his tailgate. This is the first year she's not the shortest in her class.