At 2:15 this morning, Stefan and I both sat upright in bed and asked, “What the hell was that?”

The sound of crushing, twisting metal on the street below our bedroom window was unmistakable. But we never could have anticipated what the situation would look like when we went to the window. The scene was something like this, minus all the firemen and other people milling around:

It was also a whole lot darker at that moment, because the street light that blinds Stefan every night as he lays in bed was off. It and our neighbor’s wall across the street had been struck, shutting off the light. And to be honest, there actually were people milling around on the street: the five kids that had been in this car who were all pretty much freaking out, yelling and seemed to be a bit panicked and/or in shock. And understandably so. We were also in shock. And all we could think was…what in the world happened here?

A couple kids took off in one direction and other kids took off the other way. It was total chaos. And since that black car with the sunroof is actually Stefan’s BMW, he threw on some clothes to go assess the situation and see if everyone was alright. Then he phoned in the accident, which the kids had apparently forgotten about, even though there was someone badly injured inside the car.

All the sudden there were even more people on the street and then the emergency vehicles started to show up. And what we couldn’t see from the window was the big 18-wheeler pulling an empty trailer a couple blocks down the road that had also been involved in this fiasco. Apparently the kids (16-20ish — yeah I’m totally old cause I’m calling them kids) were just leaving our next door neighbors house, and very shortly thereafter, they collided with this truck. We were sleeping and didn’t hear anything until it was all over, so I have no idea who was at fault here, nor would I make such assessments since I’m not a lawyer or the police. But this only further confirms that nothing good happens after 2am…so you might as well just stay home if you’re thinking about leaving the house after this witching hour.

Thankfully there is not too much traffic at that hour of the morning, and only one idiot felt the need to drive directly through the glass, car parts and other debris all over the road so he could continue on his journey. After that, our neighbor (father of two of the 5 people in the car) pulled his van into the street to block any other traffic that came along until the emergency vehicles showed up.

Within about 5 minutes, Die Johanniter had arrived, one of the ambulance emergency services here in Germany that gets both public and private funding. Local EMT services like you have in the US are not common here, and you will usually find Die Johanniter  or ASB (Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund) — both of which we make donations too every year, especially since our accident.

And shortly thereafter, the local fire department (which is literally less than 500m away and probably should have gotten there sooner) also arrived with their various trucks and the amazing light towers. They had it as bright as daylight out there in just a few minutes.

From our window I could see at least 9 emergency vehicles which was an impressive force. There had to be at least 15 members of our local fire department down there as well and they are actually all volunteers.

Within about 1.5 hours, everything was cleared up and they were loading the wrecked car onto the back of the flat-bed wrecker truck. You could barely even tell that anything had happened here. Aside from the slightly bent lamp post (which has actually already been removed

Up until this point, we thought that both of our cars which were parked on the street, right along where this had happened, had escaped unscathed. But when they lifted the car away, those hopes were rather dashed. And then the cops came over with their chalk marked off where Stefan’s car was parked and we knew it really couldn’t be good.

The way that Stefan had parked, the wheel was poking out at an angle and it seems that the other car probably was stopped quite a bit by that, sort of bouncing off his tire a little. Otherwise the whole side of Stefan’s car likely would have been damaged, possibly even making it undriveable (is that even a word?)

But as it looks now, with only phone consults, they will have to replace the hood and front fender (which have noticeable gashes, dings and dents), as well as the front axle and steering components. They might even replace more parts after having a closer look at the car but I have to say that I am pretty relieved to know that the car will be fully safe to drive again once it’s been repaired. The thought of another car bouncing off Stefan’s tire did not sound like it could possibly leave the BMW in safe driving condition. And I was going to insist that the axle at least be inspected…but apparently replacing the axle and steering is standard for BMW when this sort of accident occurs.

All of the kids have been to the hospital to be checked out and 3 of them have already been cleared. One is in critical condition and one of our neighbor’s sons actually shattered his pelvis so he will need several surgeries. We are praying for them and their families so that they heal quickly and can put all this behind them.

This is the kind of accident that really puts your life and its fragility into perspective. One moment you’re just driving along, having fun…and the next you might be fighting for your life or worse. I can only hope that the people involved take something spectacular out of this event.

Obviously this accident brought up a bunch of emotions from our own crash 8 months ago, which Stefan still dreams about regularly. I don’t have that problem, because I can hardly remember anything. But not a day has gone by that the accident hasn’t crossed my mind at least once, especially those seconds when I knew we were going to be hit…and when I briefly woke up hanging upside down.

We are so thankful that we all came out of the accident alive and more or less unharmed. In fact, I was at my surgeon’s office today and the two plates in my arm will be coming out in the next month or so, whenever I can get an appointment. So we are definitely ready to put all that behind us. But we know that only the best possible things came from that accident…and our lives are so much better now and have so much more focus than they ever did before the accident. We know that it likely happened for a reason, and it’s strange to say but we’re almost thankful that it happened. If it hadn’t, I’m pretty sure that the chain of events that took place right after the accident and have been taking place ever since, never would have progressed this quickly (if they had even happened at all.)

Have you ever experienced something that just drastically changed your life? What was it? Do you think things happen for a reason or is it all just dumb luck and random events?