pledge

Go to Oprah's Site and pledge to not use your phone when you drive. It is stupid and you are risking other people's lives because of your selfishness.

You may be thinking -- "okay April, going a little overboard here"..... but there is a reason I am passionate about this. A little over 9 years ago Sam and I were in a totally preventable accident. Ours is a little more stupid and embarrassing -- but just as preventable as texting and talking on the phone. Thank goodness it is illegal now in Oregon and I hope it becomes illegal everywhere.

If you are wondering what happened with Sam and I, well........ he had just returned home from his mission (he was in Argentina for 2 years) 6 days earlier and he proposed to me that night at my little brothers football game (over the loud speaker in the middle of the stands in front of everyone......so not Sam...but very fun). Anyways we were on our way - driving over to Sam's parents house to tell them the news and in all of the engagement excitement -- we were young, dumb kids and kissed while I was driving. My eyes were off the road, the car drifted to the right and hit a telephone pole. I never saw it coming (because my eyes weren't on the road) -- so I never applied the brakes and I totaled the car. I have no memory of that night - except by miracle I do remember the engagement. Sam on the other hand remembers everything, the sounds, the pain, the fear. He thought he watched me die. I suffered a severe concussion and severe shock (they were actually more worried about my level of shock than anything else), they had to cut my clothes off, I got stitches above my eye and on my knee, my face between my eyes and up my forehead were so swollen I looked like an alien and I had memory problems that still sometimes affect me. I had to be on bed rest for a month (my poor mom and sister had to bathe me - yikes) After I was able to get up and around -we figured out I also suffered back injuries. Sam broke his hand and his collar bone. It still drives me insane that I can't remember anything about it. It's like my brain is always searching and scanning trying to remember. I do get senses of things sometimes, like if I see an accident played out on a movie or tv -- it makes me sick because it's almost like a deja vu feeling. I also have a sense that I have had things done - but I don't remember, like getting a brain scan and having oxygen in my nose. I don't remember having those things done, but somehow my body remembers the feeling -- it's weird. The thing that kills me still to this day is that I had gone 2 years without Sam and 6 days after I got him back, I almost killed him. I don't know why we didn't die, there were no airbags and everyone at the scene said they honestly didn't know how we lived. Even the thought of losing him and it being my fault.......I just have to push that out of my mind otherwise it is too much for me to handle. We are so luck that there were no other cars or people around that I could have ran into. I can't think about that either. That was 9 years ago and it still bothers me so much to think about.

I hope everyone thinks about what is most important when they are driving -- be safe. And always wear your seatbelt!!

ok -- i'm done preaching now :)