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| so...billy got into a pretty bad car accident this morning at about 4:10.
i was on my way to work and noticed it was a tad foggy. it was cool though, i had fog lights so i could see ok. well...seeing wasn't my problem. keeping my car on the road was. i was attempting to make a slight left hand dog-leg turn on 613 in between roads 1 and 2. the road was a bit wet and i jerked the wheel a little too hard. not sure why i jerked the wheel though. i don't think i was tired, but that's probably because of all the adrenaline that was running thru me afterwards made up for it. well i started to slide and i went into uber defensive mode but it didn't help. the next thing i knew, i really couldn't see anything as my truck plowed thru a soy bean field. i remember hitting so many little, rough bumps and then one really, REALLY big bump at the end which ended up being a wall of dirt. i'm guessing i was going anywhere from 45 to 55mph at the moment of impact. my truck literally had to have flown for a split second because on the other side of the field, there was a drainage ditch about 15 to 20 feet wide. running perpendicular to the road. (for all you non-math people, that means 90 degree angle from the road, (again, it criss crossed and ran under the road)) i must have bounced off of the bank of the ditch and turned a little bit cause i ended up facing the road when all was said and done.
the eagle scout in me kicked in and i tried to turn my car off making sure i didn't explode or anything. i couldn't get my key out. i didn't smell gas, just the awful smell of the powder that came out of the airbag, which i might add, saved my life as well as my teeth. i knew i had to get out of there so i tried to open the door. nothing. tried the passenger door. nothing. none of them would open. good thing i don't panic very easily cause i probably would have tried to kick out a window or just started kicking random things trying to get them open. luckily i didn't have to. of all the things i didn't expect to work, the window rolled down. haha. the electric window. crazy. i crawled out and examined my predicament.
next step...911. i looked back in my car, couldn't find my phone. so i crawled back in to look for it. (stupid...i know...but i was thinking in terms of survival, not logic) found the phone. but the battery wasn't in it. now i was starting to worry. see, i had to go in early that day and only two of the mixing department lines at the factory had to go in early. so i started thinking, what if nobody would be around for another half hour? am i stuck here? so i crawled back out and started to get my bearings straight. i tried to find the road, but my head was all turned around, didn't know which way it was. i heard a car go by and realized where i was. there was a house about 100 yards from me. so i decided to try to run over to it. silly me, i felt bad for waking them up at 4am, but i kept walking. i heard a car coming down the road, so i ran back to the road as fast as i could, it was a semi, and he passed me. but there was another car coming. it was the nice lady i worked with at the factory with a few weeks ago. i made her the turtle out of chocolate cookie dough. we talked a little bit that week and she knew i wanted to be a minister. i asked her if she had a cell phone and she let me use it. from there, it was just waiting. she asked if i was ok cause she looked down at my car and was in shock that i was still alive. the adrenaline had been running thru me so fast i didn't even think to check to see if everything was working right. i gave myself a once over and even i was in shock. nothing really hurt. my left shoulder did, but that was because of the seat belt. it gave me a little cut on my shoulder, and the airbag cut up or burned my wrist when it deployed, but that was it! i have no idea how out of that whole thing, the only damage done to me was a couple cuts. wait, yeah i do...God. i'm sure i'll have some serious whiplash for a few days, but hopefully that'll go away.
The police came, checked on me, as we waited on the fire department to get there. that was another thing i worried about. my dad's on the fire department. he says that he knew as soon as the pager went off that it was me. mom says that he heard it off and dad said "no. no way" unfortunately, it was. dad was in charge of driving one of the trucks, but as soon as he saw me stanging on the road, he stopped being a fireman. he became a dad. he ran over and hugged me and made sure i was ok. the EMS came and checked me out. One of the sheriff's / firemen, jeff, came over and held my neck straight while we waited on the EMT's. it's crazy how my mind works. i didn't panic once. i sat in horror for a split second when i first got out of my truck and saw the damage, but i quickly pulled it together. i guess i deal with these situations differently than other people. i couldn't help but try and crack jokes to lighten the mood. dad was pretty much panicking, so i kept my cool. i kept telling the guys that i was really glad i didnt have to go into work today. too bad it cost me my truck. haha. on the way to the ambliltory care center i was telling donna and ben (the emt's) that i had a huge problem. haha my socks were wet. i hate wet socks. that's the worst feeling in the world. they chuckled and continued to check for broken bones, or internal bleeding of any kind. but nope. i was "clinically cleared" as the ER doctor put it.
i couldn't stop thinking about all the things that i just screwed up with one slip up. steph and i had a date planned in columbus on monday, since we didn't have school. i was gonna go over really early so we could spend all day together. now she has to drive to me. i'm not gonna be able to work unless i get a bike or bum rides every time. luckily i live close enough to campus that i could just walk. hopefully i know ppl on campus that i can hang out with for a while during the day to keep myself busy. i won't be able to go to church in springfield because i won't have a ride there. which also means i won't be able to see cyle and patty's new baby when he comes. sorry rocket man. i won't be able to have the simple freedoms and pleasures of cruising around dayton whenever i want. i didn't even get to enjoy my brand new rebuild engine just installed 3 or 4 weeks ago! :( i realize that i just wasted a lot of money which is going to be putting me farther away from buying that little sparkly thing that i wanna get for a little someone. but i am thankful more than anything in the world that God was watching over me. The whole day today, every chance i've gotten i kept saying and will continue to thank our God for protecting me the way he did.
dad and i went out to the junk yard to see my truck again to get pictures, which i may put up later when i get them. then to the crash scene again a little later when it was light out. trying to find my license plate and the battery to my phone. i stood in sheer amazement when i saw the trail from the road to my stopping place. not even 6 feet from my skid marks there was a guide wire and a telephone pole to the right of it. and about 10 or 15 feet to my left was another guide wire. the three joined in another 90 degree angle. (you math majors are loving me right now, huh?) i "threaded the needle" so to speak and missed all of them. Dad said that if i had hit any of them, they would have had to cut me out of the vehicle. all i gotta say is that God was definately watching over me. my guardian angels were workin overtime this morning.
if this wasn't spooky enough as it is, get this. i don't remember turning my steering wheel once even a little bit as soon as i hit that field. but when terry and i went back out later, you could tell that my front wheels turned just a little to the left. if i hadn't, they would have had to cut me out.
i'm not writing this because i want you to feel sorry for me. i just want you guys to know that God is good. There is no way that i would be alive right now if it wasn't for our God and Savior. For the damage that was done to the truck, i should have been beat up a lot more than what i am. Praise God!!!! that he was watching over me.
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| ok i thought this was cool. last wednesday my best friend and i went to white wizard in lima to get him a tattoo. the cool part is that i helped draw this tat. and it's now on someone's body. that's pretty sweet to me. it's on his right arm and yes, it wraps all the way around. the cross is on the outside, easier to show off. lol.
http://www.xtat.org/gallery.php?cat=name&name=Terry+Hardy
copy and paste y'all.
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| i probably should have had this out yesterday...but i'm lazy and kinda forgot about it so...here we are.
anyways. Sunday our church got the privelage of hearing "GoJeffith" also known as J-Bo also known as jeff...give the sermon. i must say, he did an excellent job at it, too. later that evening, i got to talk a little to the youth which was pretty fun. i just wish there were more to talk to. our numbers are steady, but at about 15. i can't wait to get done with school so i can really start working with these guys. any pastors out there that have youth groups wanna give any tips or ideas on how to get the youth to come?
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| aaaaand it's official. cars hate me. either that or i hate cars...but i think i'm leaning toward the first one. i'm not mean to them any more. why do they hate me so much?? i was on my way to that pretty girl's house who is now my girlfriend again :) as i was slowing down to get off of 30, i noticed that there was a bit of a knock in my engine compartment. i made the comment, that i've never heard that sound before while i was on the phone with young stephanie at that particular time (i got distracted by the pretty girl talking to me on the phone and i missed my exit, and had to find alternative routes) anywyas. i got it to her house and shut it off, hoping that it was just a fluke. so i waited a little bit, and started it back up. sure enough, it was still there. and louder. as if my truck was mad at me for something. the drakes were kind enough to call around to some neighborhood friends to see if they could diagnose the problem. sure enough, one of the guys had told me exactly what i expected to be the problem..."somethin isn't right in there" dang it. all, that's exactly what i said! i could be a mechanic! (i'm not making fun of them, cause they were very kind to come out and look at my truck) but anyways, there she sat. too broke to drive anywhere. AAA towed it to a garage about 8 miles out of town where luckily, God has graced us with a mechanic that just happens to be Steph's mom's brother in law, who has a sterling reputation, and is fairly reasonable. which is great, but it's still gonna cost an arm a leg and my first born child to fix. no clue what the problem is yet, bu all i have to say is that if this thing gets fixed, and it runs fine, i promise to be good to her. yes, i may load it up with a bunch of sound equipment for crusade from time to time, but it's all for the Glory of God, so she shouldn't be mad at me for that. unless she's the devil. then she might be mad. we'll find out, won't we. pray that it's not gonna cost me my first born child. i can deal with an arm, def leppard's drummer only had one arm...but i could go with it being fairly inexpensive. so...anyone want a slightly used oldsmobile bravada? ;)
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| well back to the wonderful world of work. it was a bummer being broke. (you're not the only one who can use alliteration, rachel. haha. second shift mixing this week then first shift creme mixer the rest of the summer. that's pretty exciting stuff. i'm about to head that way as we speak. just thought i'd use my creative skills before i went and dumbed myself down for 8 hours. ok. that's really all i had to say. oh, and i can't believe the rookie (steph and the green team) beat a seasoned professional (me and the raspberries) haha. oh well. next year!
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