Scare of My Life

Yesterday, my mom and dad left for a fantastic Alaskan cruise. Have so much fun, mom and dad! I'm jealous of your 50 degree weather while we all suffer in the 101 degree temps with 100% humidity here.

I have, in my home, 4 dogs ranging in size from 6 pounds to 65 pounds for the next 10-11 days.
My mom and I's business is left solely to me for the duration of their vacation (which is kind of exhilarating for me).
I am repurposing a China hutch.
I have a wedding to attend this weekend.
I'm hosting a bachelorette party next weekend.
School starts in 3 weeks.
I have 2 children to tend to.
And I have day-to-day things, like grocery shopping and laundry and dishes and vacuuming, to stay on top of.
I said all that to say, my mind is already in 100 different places and it's my only guess as to why the scariest event of my life took place yesterday.

I was delivering an order to my old high school. I had already driven 45+ miles round trip to pick up some supplies for our business and was trying to get things done in order to stay on top of the ever-growing to-do list. I pulled into an empty parking spot in front of the school and left the car running for the girls while I finished some assembly of signs at the back of my car. When I finished, I leaned the signs against my rear bumper and went to get the girls out of their carseats. Kylee was first. I unbuckled her, she climbed out, and I had her stand next to the signs as I unloaded her sister. With Ryan on my hip, I went to the front passenger seat to grab my purse, an envelope, and to turn off my car.

Only when I turned the car off, the car starting rolling backwards.

With Kylee standing behind it.

PANIC!

I screamed. I ran to her, screaming at her to run. I don't remember where she ran, but my car kept backing up. And quickly. The next thing I knew, I was in my driver seat, slamming on the breaks and throwing the car into park. The baby was screaming, Kylee was safe on the sidewalk, and I looked down to see my hands shaking as my head was pounding. Ryan has a scrape and bruise on her face. I still don't know how it got there. My head is bruised and my heart is in my stomach but most importantly, Kylee is fine!

Somehow I managed to not ever put the car in park. Since the car was on an incline and in drive, it basically managed to stay put until the engine was shut off. Once the engine shut off, there was nothing to hold it on the incline, and it rolled backwards.

I wasn't in a rush. I wasn't texting or talking on the phone. It was a freak accident. And it could have ended much differently.

THANK GOD for an empty parking lot so that she could run without another car hitting her.
THANK GOD for her quick thinking and being able to run out of harm's way.
THANK GOD she didn't trip or stumble or she surely would have been run over.
THANK GOD nobody was seriously injured.

My heart is still in my stomach. At nap time, I just held them, loved on them and cried. They don't understand the severity of the situation but I do. I know it could have ended much differently than it did. I've never done anything like that before. How did I manage to leave the car in drive? I find myself trying to wrap my head around what happened but it only drives me crazy, gets me worked up and then I'm totally back in that moment, freaking out. Mommy brain is real. It causes me to wonder where my sunglasses are when they're on the top of my head, be able to put shoes on before I leave the house but search for them for 15 minutes before finding them in the closet, and forget I washed a load of laundry and wet clothes have been in the wash for 2 days. I don't know how I did what I did but I'm just thankful to still have my babies.