One Year Ago Today

Mom's been in a car accident. It's pretty bad. She doesn't have much time left. You had better get to the hospital as soon as you can.

I'm paraphrasing, but those were essentially the words I heard on my voice mail a year ago today. It was one of the most frightening moments of my life. You had better believe that I got myself to that emergency room as soon as was humanly possible.

Fortunately, once I arrived, I learned that the situation was not as critical as I had been led to believe. Mom had been in an accident, and her blood pressure had initially fallen to a dangerous level when she was brought into the E.R. But it was soon stabilized. When I walked in, she was awake and could talk. I breathed a sigh of relief. I also felt somewhat helpless, looking at her in that hospital bed, with all of those tubes and machines on and around her. All I could do was hold her hand and wait for my other siblings to arrive.

Mom had suffered a sprained wrist and a few broken ribs. Thankfully, her seatbelt had helped to lessen the blow of the crash. The worst part of her injuries was all of the bruising and the hematomas she had from the impact. They were all over her body, from head to toe, especially on both of her legs. The main thing that kept her in the hospital was the excruciating pain of getting up and trying to walk.

For the next week, Mom was in Lakeview Hospital. She spent the week after that in South Davis Community Hospital, going through hours and hours of painful physical therapy. But she remained tough all through the ordeal. In fact, the kind of recovery that Mom made was nothing short of miraculous. I have no doubt that the priesthood blessings she received played a large part in that.

In addition, the response and support from extended family members, friends, neighbors, and ward members was nothing short of overwhelming. I can't count the number of people who fasted for her, asked me about her condition on a daily basis, visited her in the hospital, brought flowers - what have you. A few of the nurses who cared for her and one of her physical therapists were members of my own ward.

One thing about tragic circumstances is that they never fail to offer us an opportunity to develop our own compassion toward the plights of others. They also, I think, teach us a great deal about gratitude.

I am grateful that things turned out the way they did when they initially appeared so bleak. I still have so much to learn from Mom. I'm glad she is still with us.


At the same time, I think of friends and acquaintances who have had family members end up in the hospital, whose prayers were not answered as they had hoped. Truth is, I don't know why some people walk out of hospitals; others are wheeled out, never to walk again; and still others never return at all.

I find comfort in these words:

I know that (Heavenly Father) loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.
-1 Nephi 11:17; parenthesis added

In other words, He loves us, and we can trust in that. Trusting in that may mean having the faith to wait to find out the answers to all of our Why? questions in time, or perhaps even in the life to come. But they will come.