Family Relations Week 9

My Family Crisis

In the summer of 2012, right after I graduated from high school, my mom and I went to Utah to visit family and my dad went on a business trip to Texas. One day, I was hanging out with my big sister and her newborn son at her house. Suddenly, we got a phone call from our mom. My sister picked it up and our mom told us that our dad got in a bad car accident and was injured really bad. She said, that my dad was stopping, because there was traffic on the freeway. An old woman in the car right behind my dad was going 65 miles per hour and didn’t realize that she needed to stop. She rear-ended my dad’s car incredibly hard. We were freaking out and our mom told us that our dad was in the hospital, and the doctors were checking his head to make sure he didn’t have any brain damage. We were all worried that we might lose him. I was crying extremely hard when I heard about what happen to my dad. I didn’t eat that day. I remember telling my Heavenly Father, “Please do not take my dad away. I want him someday to come to my wedding. I want him to see my children. I still need him. I can’t lose my dad at age 18. My dad is the world to me and I love him very much.” It turned out that my dad was fine and there was nothing wrong with his head. The doctors had to take some of the muscle out of his two legs, in order to save his legs. Yeah, it’s gross! My dad’s two legs used to be fat and now they are skinny. Consequently, he needed to be in a wheelchair for a while. We met up with my dad the next day in Arizona, and we finally hugged him and we were so glad he was all right. During the summer of 2012, my dad had to be in the hospital a lot and have physical therapy. He did this for a year or so. After this, my dad could walk again and recovered really well.

That summer, my family and I learned that we should spend more time together, because you never know when you might lose someone you love. Throughout my dad’s accident, he was never angry or negative. He keeps everything positive, he made sure that we always had a smile on our faces while he made funny jokes. His positive attitude made the whole experience more bearable. My family and I believe that if we keep spending time together, have fun, handle situations, and keep things positive, we will be closer as a family and we will be able to deal with family crisis situations in the future.