...The Start of 08...

I have an amazing best friend who ii can call for anything. But in 07, we had a rough year, very rocky... we were on two different pages in our lives and careers and it took a toll on us. I felt she could be doing better, and she felt she was doing her best! So we wasn't calling each other everyday, not going out as much... we were growing apart... she had to think about everything that ii was telling her and realized she could be doing more, but ii needed to change the way ii say things sometime... but she did what she had to do to get to a better place... She had got TWO jobs, a car and was moving out in a month!! We were restoring the past two months of distance and decided that we needed to go out, Just me & her! Not the rest of our group. She decided to drive, so she picked me up and we were on our way...

We leave the get together & we were having a normal conversation... about how cute we looked that night, what the plans for tomorrow were & what we were going to do after we split up. Less than a mile away from my house, sitting and waiting patiently @ a red light ii picked up my digital camera and began going through the night's events. The light changed and we were making a left hand turn but before ii knew it ii was crying and in so much pain. The driver had ran the light.

As my best friend rest her head on my shoulder in disbelief, crying from the pain. I slowly ask her, "are you alright," she replied "ii think so..." ii then tell her "ii cant feel my legs..." ii don't look to see what has happened... ii try to reach for my phone ii scream "ii need to call my mom!!" Sierra {my bf} begins to panic when she sees that the car is smoking, she jumps out the car as fast as she could and yells, "Tree we have to get out, the car might catch on fire" ii yell back ii cant move" that's when ii look to see what wrong with my legs.. the glove compartment had been smashed into my legs... so many thoughts ran through my head, was ii going to be able to walk again? will they have to give me fake legs? so many things... I hear Sierra yelling to the witnesses, "please help my best friend out the car, she cant move her legs... please someone help her"

As the ambulance arrived, they pulled me out the car, ii felt weak like my body had been hit with a million baseball bats all at one time!! As Sierra & ii took this ride to the hospital, naked and scared, {they cut all of our clothes, even our under garments} we held hands, both shaking, feeling each others fears with every shake!! My thoughts now are: Sierra you worked so hard for your car, two jobs and you lost it in less than 5 seconds due to someones ignorance and negligence... ii cared more about her and her accomplishments, as she cared more about me and my well-being...

ii didn't get a chance to tell her that ii was so proud of her and how far she had come with getting not one but two jobs and a new car!! ii never said good job! it was gone before ii could!! ii was afraid that ii would never get the chance to tell her!! {tear}

we were both drugged immediately after the accident and went for x-rays & scans.. . about 6 hours in the removed my neck brace and informed me that ii have sever nerve damage in both my legs and soft tissue damage in my legs & later ii found out that ii had a hairline fracture in my collarbone. Both wrist were put in ace bandages and braces were put on both legs and ii was given crutches and released.

@ that same time, Sierra was in the bed across from me and they told her she would need to keep her neck brace on and that she would have to stay. She had lost feeling in her left side and her neck & back were hurt. she couldn't walk the first two days. shes doing a lot better now!

I have to say that this made me so thankful for a lot of things. I may be materialistic sometimes and very shallow, when in reality, if ii would have lost my life that night, none of those things would have mattered... when it is my turn to walk with God, my clothes or shoes wont matter, my job, car, hair... nothing will matter...

Sierra, ii wouldn't want to have been in that car with anyone else but you.. ii am so glad that we both will make a full recovery from this!!! ii love you so much!! and ii am so PROUD of you!!!!

Satrina "Tree" Love