Getting hit by a truck. Also known as “Summer Vacation”

I have a huge family. Here’s the tea…my mother had five children and had her first child when she was 18 years old and then had me when she was 38 so there is a significant age difference between the first born (my brother) and the baby (me!! Yes, even at my advanced age I am still referred to as the baby). With all the siblings and their children and now grandchildren we are indeed a really big group. Having a large family makes it difficult to always get together and “be a family”. With kids in school sometimes the summer break is the only option and planning has to be perfect in order to accommodate everyone’s schedule.

In years past we would pack up the kids and (sometimes) the spouses and enjoy the magical days of summer with our big extended family.
Planning a group/large family vacation requires exquisite planning to ensure all parties involved obtain the highest level of maximum non-stop vacation potential and everyone involved has the equivalent of a week or more of blissful heaven on earth……
Yeah right……If vacations went perfect no one would ever be miserable in the heat of summer and the heat of a family squabble at a theme park while passing strangers give a solidarity look of “I’ve been there my friend, I feel ya” and of course no one would ever be in an amusement park bathroom wiping away their tears AND a toddlers (who hates you and the world but will love you in four minutes and remind you just how much capacity to love a human heart can hold because that’s what toddlers do to you).

Yes, vacations and the break from routines can be heavenly but they can also be an exercise in futility that can leave you longing to return to the comfort of the home you couldn’t wait to escape to go on said “vacation”.

It is an adventure to say the least and the days of throwing a bikini and some clothes in a backpack for a spur of the moment trip are replaced with days AND days of planning as the carefree days of youth are replaced with the duties of wifedom and motherhood.

Yet, each year I couldn’t wait to do it all over again 😂

The summers before we lost my beautiful sister, Karla Rathert, to the monster that is cancer, we would all try to converge at a destination not far from our midwest homes and have a family vacation.

The summer of 2011 found us at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana.

Holiday World is a magical midwest mirage built essentially in the middle of a corn field. It brings families together to experience the thrills of roller coasters and water slides at a reasonably priced theme park while experiencing holiday decore in all its finery in the heat of summer. A lovely campground is adjacent to the screams and laughter of the park, which in partnership with the holiday theme, is called Lake Rudolph.

Many families have found that this is the perfect midwest location to have a quintessential All American Vacation.

We were spending our vacation along with these many families each day as we rode the rides and slid the slides. At night we would enjoy campfires and cooking together. After dinner we would ride around in rented golf carts yelling “MARCO” as the strangers passing us in their golf cart would reply (with the same enthusiasm) “POLO”.

The kids had fun. The adults had fun. It really was a great vacation. I remember thinking to myself how there had been no blow ups, no breakdowns, no lost kids, and how it had all just went absolutely perfect.

I was very sad to see this vacation end but after four days we had to get back to work because my husband had an important project to get back to at his office.

That summer we had traveled to Holiday World in our brand new RV and we were still in the blissful honeymoon stage (no, not my husband and I, we had already been married for 16 years) with the RV and all things camping. As we left that morning I was extra sad because the last few days had been a mixture of fun and family with brief glimpses of the memories of childhood complete with the freedom of camping and the fun of acting like a kid again with our kids.

After decamping and packing up our little outdoor living space we set off for our home in Carbondale Illinois. We had been driving for about two hours when the need for food seemed to hit us all at the same time and we all became “hangry” in unison. The camper cupboards were empty and my husband gave me the look numerous spouses have given their navigator which glared “find a restaurant now” and I begin to search for restaurants near me.

When an Amish restaurant appeared on my search I was ecstatic and I was more than happy to navigate our way to the parking lot. We arrived just as my kids, their friends, and my husband began to have the end of vacation meltdown that I knew was inevitable. I was tired and I didn’t want to deal with it. I had spent the last few days in bliss and now I was on my way home and I didn’t want to hear one more word from ANY of them. All I could think of was the fact that the rest of my family was still at the campground and I (poor bitchy me) was stuck with a large pile of dirty laundry stuffed in the storage bins below, the paper I hadn’t written for grad school loomimg before me, and the fact that in four hours we would be home and all these assholes would want to eat AGAIN.

Yep….I had the mom blues on top of the raging hunger.

When we entered the restaurant we were greeted with a kind smile and the smell of delicious food forced a similar smile on my perturbed face. Our party consisted of my husband, our teenage son, his friend, our ten year old daughter, her friend, and…yours truly. Due to the fact that there were six of us we were seated at a large table for eight in the middle of the seating area. The waitress took our order and all of us decided to try the -all you can eat buffet- because it looked absolutely delicious and I REALLY like fried chicken so the day was really starting to pick up! The kids jumped up to fill their plates as I was applying Amish peanut butter to homemade bread. (If you have never had Amish peanut butter and you are NOT allergic to peanuts -because I don’t need that guilt or responsibility- you should definitely try it. There is something magical about it. I can’t explain it, it just taste really good).

I looked up thinking “girl……finish that bread and go get in the buffet line before it gets crowded” but that thought was interrupted as I looked in front of me and saw the look of pure fear in my daughters best friends eyes. Ruthie June looked as if she was staring at a true horror somewhere over my shoulder. I couldn’t comprehend it as her mouth went wide into a scream and then I heard it.

The sound of metal scratching and bricks falling. A sound so loud my brain couldn’t even process it. I had heard people say that when the unforeseen happens seconds feel like minutes and the minutes seem like hours and now I was experiencing that very phenomenon. After I heard the noise the smell of burning rubber filled the room and I turned my head to the left to see my daughter Elisabeth and Ruthie June cry out in horror and run full speed to the left of me. I looked straight ahead and saw my son Daniel and his friend Tristan rush towards me as I was pushed forward into the table by an unseen force. I looked to my right to where my husband John had been sitting next to me just a second before but now he was not there. I couldn’t find him anywhere. I turned around and dust filled my lungs as a Ford F150 sat spinning its wheels where the empty part of our table had been just seconds before.

Ruthie had been the first to see the truck plow through the building and head straight for our table. I had been pushed forward by the debris and over the table as it fell over from the force but my husband had been pushed under the table and at an angle and was now buried under various parts of the falling wall. I couldn’t find him as I stood up.

It was the worst feeling I had ever had.

Only seconds had passed but the people at the table next to us and farther away from the truck had already jumped up and were moving the debris. We had been seated near two police officers and two EMT’s enjoying their lunch just seconds before but now they were pulling drywall and framing back from a pile and soon I saw my husband beneath that mess. He was cut on his arms and forehead and was not responding to the men for what seemed like an eternity but was actually only seconds. He finally opened his eyes and the EMT’s started to assess his injuries. I saw my kids and their friends rush toward us and I saw the pain and sadness in their faces and my heart broke for them. The first responders and the police officers were on it and kept the kids at a safe distance. They helped me stand and walk through the rubble. They had ambulances there immediately and one of the officers had both the girls in his arms as they cried in unison. We were taken by ambulance as the kids were brought to the hospital by the officers who were at the restaurant. It all happened so fast from that point. My husbands blood pressure was sky high so they were concerned and monitored it and his heart closely and then he was sent for more tests. I only had a few bruises and superficial abrasions. I don’t know how I was so lucky.

We were all so lucky. In a brief moment our entire life could have been so different. The very thought of how annoyed I was with them just a short time ago hit me like a hard slap in the face. How could I have been so petty? How could I be such a bitch?

My family literally got hit by truck yet we were all ok (aside from being scared to death). What if we would have been seated by the window where the truck had smashed that table and chairs to a crushed unrecognizable mess? What if the falling debris had not acted as a buffer between the truck and my husband? What if the kids would have been behind us and not in front of us?

Who the hell gets hit by a truck in an Amish restaurant?

We do, that’s who!!!!

Apparently the driver had meant to reverse the truck but had put it in drive by mistake and taking down the building and my husband was the result.

I share this experience with you because it was so surreal I still can not believe it happened. Calling my family at the water park and my niece actually answering on the first time was a miracle. They were, after all, at a water park. My niece said her little boy was tired so they were sitting in the shade and she just happened to have her phone out. Then explaining to them what happened was unreal and somewhat comical.

“You mean someone hit the RV as you were driving”

“You were hit in the parking lot…wait you were IN the restaurant”

I remember the ER doctor was not happy with me while using the portable xray because my phone would not stop ringing and I couldn’t reach my pocket. What I didn’t know at the time was that the local station back home had picked up the story and had announced on the news that John and Lisa Budslick had been hit by a truck and were rushed to a nearby hospital.

I felt very loved and the outpouring of concern was something that made me feel like a very lucky girl. I reconnected with high school friends that I had not talked to in years. I had friends who went above and beyond once we made it home and I felt love and appreciation that I had not GIVEN to anyone in a very long time. I felt so undeserving.

I also felt the true meaning of family as my family on vacation rushed to be by our side and our family still in Illinois rushed to Indiana to be with us.

It can all change in a SECOND.

It can all be over in a SECOND.

Life is precious and everytime I become a petty self serving bitch I try to remember that day and remember the fear when my husband was sitting next to me one second and then….he wasn’t.

I can still remember the look on the kids faces and I hope I never have to see that fear in their eyes ever again.

The funny part is no matter what mayhem or problems we have had on subsequent vacations all I have to say to get some perspective is….

“Yeah, but did you get hit by a truck?”

That day made me seek out the positive and made me appreciate the positive people in my life. That day made me forever know that you cant believe the BS on the news because there are lots and lots of good people and they FAR outweigh the bad.

And speaking of good……

This past Friday night we went to the Movies and the fire alarm went off and we were told to evacuate. It was a large 20 screen theater and that meant a whole lot of folks were out in a parking lot waiting and wondering in the Florida heat. Every person was nice and courteous during the evacuation. When we found out it was a false alarm the mood was even lighter. As we walked in I saw young family in front of us and their little boy was awestruck by the beautiful red fire truck parked in front of the theater. The fireman looked at him and said “would you like to see the fire truck?” The smile on that little boy’s face melted everyone’s heart and the firemen went above and beyond talking to him and showing him the truck.

Cheers to the fireman who made that child smile from ear to ear and let’s toast the many first responders who work hard to keep us safe and protected day after day.

Thank you taking this journey with me!

Next week….Let’s talk about family dinners and the memories attached!