On Monday night...

On Monday night, Josh and I experienced something that was very unusual and hopefully a once in a lifetime experience.

On Monday night around 7:30, we were on our way home from the Holladay Library. I was sitting in the back seat with Reese because she was kind of fussy (daylight savings just happened to fall the same week as her first molars coming in). I looked up and noticed a car had somehow crashed and was up on the curb in front of Normandie Cafe. Immediately after I noticed the car, Josh yelled, "I think there's a body in the road!!" (not something you hear everyday, or want to ever hear for that matter.) I look out the window, and sure enough, a man was lying motionless in the middle of the road. Josh pulled our car in front of him to block traffic, and I got out to try to direct cars around us. Some cars came close to not stopping, and I was worried someone would hit our car - especially with our baby girl in the back seat.

Josh immediately ran over to the man, and started talking to him, but he was completely unconscious. He placed his hand on his back and could tell he was struggling to breathe. The girl that had been driving the car that was on the curb, got out and came over to Josh and he told her to call 911. By this time, the manager of Normandie and a few other people realized what was going on and stopped to help. Josh instructed them to find a blanket or something to help keep this man warm. It was getting dark and starting to rain. I pulled our car forward a bit more to block both lanes of eastbound traffic and took Reese inside Normandie. She could sense the panic and was crying the saddest cry.

A few minutes later, the paramedics and several police cars showed up. Josh said they had to cut the man's shirt and jacket off before placing him in a stretcher. He said he thought the man was around 30 years old and that he smelled very strongly of alcohol, and had a bag attached to him that was full of various types of alcohol. The man remained unconscious, and had a lot of blood coming out of his head. They loaded him up and took off to the hospital.

As you can imagine, the driver of the car that caused the accident was in hysterics. I would guess she was anywhere from 17-20 years old, but it's hard to be sure. She said the man just stepped in front of her and there was nothing she could do. Considering the fact that he had clearly been drinking, that very well could have been the case. Her car was a decent distance from where he was in the road and had a lot of damage to the front, so hopefully her story is true and she wasn't driving while distracted or anything. As far as we know, there were no witnesses to the accident. We drove by within seconds of it happening, and were the first ones on the scene. If we hadn't been driving down the road at that time, I think it very likely that he would have been hit by an eastbound car. He was in dark clothing, and it was hard to tell at first glace that it was a person in the road. Had it not been daylight savings just the day before, it would have been completely dark outside and I'm sure this man would have had a much worse outcome.

We were at the scene for 30-40 minutes. Josh was out in the rain the whole time and the nice manager at Normandie offered us some hot chocolate as we were leaving. The police officers were really nice and appreciative of the help Josh and the others who had stopped to help.

Monday night was definitely one of the craziest and most unusual things I've ever experienced. I hope that was the first and the last time we see a person lying in the road like that. We haven't been able to find any news articles related to this accident, so we have no idea if the man survived or if the driver was charged or cited for anything.

I am so grateful Josh noticed that man in the road and didn't hesitate to stop and help. He was able to remain calm and help instruct others on how to help as we waited for police and paramedics. I was (and still am!) very proud of him. Josh says he doesn't know how he thought to say some of the things he said, but I'm sure he was inspired. Hopefully this man gets another chance at life and will decide to make wiser choices from now on. I hope the driver can feel some comfort at this time, as I'm sure she is really struggling.

Ever since Monday night, I've been trying to count my blessings as often as possible and making an extra effort to drive very carefully. Be safe, everyone!