Saturday, July 11, 2026
From the speaker on the Ring doorbell, I heard Miles.
“What are you doing there?” he asked. “I’m sitting at the jail waiting for you to come out.”
I immediately started crying.
“I thought you were punishing me by making me walk home,” I said.
“Stop crying,” he replied. “I would never leave you.”
Then he said, “Let me call Ben. Both of the boys are home.”
A couple of minutes later, the front door opened, and there stood my next-to-youngest son, Benji. He’s an adult now but still lives at home.
As I walked inside, I felt so incredibly grateful.
Miles was still talking to me through the Ring doorbell. He explained that the bail bondsman had told him it would probably be between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m. before I was released, so he had gone home to take care of a few things while he waited.
“I’m headed straight to you,” he said.
As I walked into the kitchen, I realized how thirsty I was. I poured myself a Diet Dr Thunder and took a long drink.
Oh, how I had missed that simple comfort.
Ben was standing in the kitchen watching me.
“Can I hug you?” he asked.
I laughed through my tears and said, “If you can stand this sweaty, nasty old woman, of course.”
He wrapped his arms around me, and I hugged him back, so thankful just to be home with my family.
A few minutes later, Miles walked through the door.
I threw my arms around him and held on as tightly as I could. I didn’t want to let go.
After we sat down on the couch, he told me about everything that had happened during the last 24 hours.
He had managed to get a week off work so he could stay home and help take care of me while I recovered because I was so sore.
Then he told me something I hadn’t known.
He had to go back and get the keys to our other car because they were still inside the Toyota.
He walked from the hospital to the wrecking yard. It took him about 40 minutes.
Then he walked another 40 minutes from the wrecking yard to where our other car was parked.
My heart sank.
All of that…
Because I chose to drink and drive.
All of that trouble.
All of that walking.
All of that destruction.
A life-changing event…
All because I chose to drink and get behind the wheel of our car.
That morning, he had also gone back to the wrecking yard to gather our personal belongings from the Toyota.
The car was beyond repair.
I had essentially snapped the transmission. Even sitting in park, it would roll backward and forward.
But I will say this…
I truly believe one of the reasons I’m still here, able to write these words today, is because I was driving a Toyota. Every single airbag deployed, and they did exactly what they were designed to do.
I was one very lucky woman.
And I don’t ever want to forget that.
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