Miracle at Sunset Point

I didn't realize until yesterday how few pictures we took on this trip. Bret used Jim's camera to take pictures from the moment we left until the moment we returned. While in Utah, we downloaded the camera to a cd and gave it to him, so we don't have copies of those pictures. While we were in Bryce Canyon, I didn't use my camera because I was acting as chauffeur. To be honest, we got all those pictures last summer. I don't currently have access though because I can't get to the external hard drive on the network right now. Instead, I'm posting pictures from recent weeks when Sera and I rejoined the local weekly playgroup. That's one of the best perks of summer. Yesterday's pictures was taken at a small man-made beach on a nearby lake the week before we left for Utah. Today's picture is riding the pony at the zoo from early June.

As I've previously mentioned, I took all the kids to Bryce Canyon every day to give Jim, Jeff, and Dee some privacy and quiet as they went through John's affairs. On Wednesday, I decided we'd picnic while there. I packed up chips, plates, napkins, juice boxes, and soft drinks. All the food we had with us would require heating, so we stopped at the store and picked up some luncheon meat and bread. When we dropped the guys off at Dee's house, she added cookies and apples to our stash.

We got to Bryce Canyon and headed to Sunset Point for our picnic. This area had picnic tables and restrooms, plus it was the site for a geology talk. Two of the boys had expressed an interest in this. In fact, they bonded discussing rocks. My thoughts were that Wendy would take the boys over to the geology talk while I took Sera back to the car and encouraged her to nap.

Two o'clock arrived and I sent the rest of the gang off while I walked an unhappy Sera to the car. She was in desperate need of her nap, but didn't want to leave the others. I was struggling to get her in her carseat when Wendy's son came back to the car. He was looking for her bag. I opened the passenger door and told him to come around as her bag was where she had been sitting, not on the other side of the car. When I leaned back in to finish buckling Sera, I must have grabbed the door frame because the next thing I knew the door had swung shut on my hand. The door was fully shut, and my hand was stuck. The pain was one of the most intense pains I've ever experienced. I started screaming for Kayson to come around the car and open the door. I was trying, but I could not open the door with my left hand. I was sure my hand was crushed. In what felt like hours, but was probably really seconds, he came around and opened the door for me. I painfully moved my fingers to make sure they weren't broken and sent him back to the others. I got Sera buckled and drove the car around to where the talk was taking place. You could see the mark angling across my fingers between the first and second knuckles on all four fingers. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as before, but I felt jittery and nauseous. Sera didn't fall asleep, but the 30-40 minutes we waited for the talk to end was enough for me to settle down. My fingers stiffened up and felt like they were swelling, but it didn't really look bad. I iced my hand immediately and again that evening. When I woke up on Thursday, my hand wasn't even sore.

When that door first closed, I was convinced that we would be visiting the local ER and that I'd seriously damaged my hand. I still can't believe that my hand was perfectly fine. I must have found a sweet spot between the door frame and door that protected my hand.

When everyone returned to the car, I drove us up to the highest point and started down stopping at the different view points. Sera had finally fallen asleep, and I wanted her to nap for at least an hour. Bret got out every time I stopped to take pictures. James got out a few times, and Kayson stayed in the car playing with his video game. Wendy also got out to take some pictures. When we got to the Natural Bridge, I made them all get out to see it. It's my favorite spot there.

My plan was to stop at the Visitors' Center to let the boys souvenir shop, and then stop at Old Bryce Town, another souvenir store, to let the kids look at all the pretty rocks. Sera woke up just as we pulled into the Visitors' Center. Close enough. We got to the rock store, as they named it, and I gave the boys a time to meet while Sera and I wandered. Wendy had a headache and decided to lie down in the car. I took Sera to this big bin of different rocks, mainly lots of quartz. You could fill a small bag for $2.49. Sera meticulously picked every single rock before adding it to her bag. That was the best $2.49 souvenir I've ever bought. After an ice cream cone treat, we all piled back in to meet up with the guys and head back to Dee's for dinner.

This evening ended like every other, with all of us sitting around the fire roasting marshmallows long after anyone wanted to eat any more of them. And that is just how it should be.