Memory Monday – The Purple Truck

Teele and I were so happy when we were able to buy Royal a truck. He loved it! It was dependable and paid for.
August 22, 2003 we had a terrible monsoon storm hit. I was at home when the storm began and Royal was at his friend Bridger’s house. Teele was gone roping - which was normal for the storm to come when he is not home it ALWAYS happens that way. Royal was worried about me so he called home. I told him to stay put that there was nothing he could do to help us but he said he was coming any way. On his way to save his mom he saw a bunch of chickens flying through the air and felt like he was in a scene from the movie “Twister”. As he drove past the nursery he saw a huge potted palm tree, containing fully grown trees, flying threw the air. One narrowly missed him so he turned around and hurried back to Bridger’s house. The storm hit our house hard. We lost our chimney and the shingles off the roof. Here are some pictures of the aftermath.

 

These poles were located across the street from Queen Creek High School. They were broken for miles.

 

Bridger’s neighborhood suffered the most damage. Unfortunately his neighbor lost a family pet when pieces of a barn hit him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This goat was terrified and stood on his little house to stay dry.
 

So what about the truck? Well it narrowly missed being totaled by part of a barn.

You can see the scratches the bumper took from flying tumbleweeds when he was trying to get to me. The siding scraped the truck as it flew over scratching the side by his hand. You can tell by the look on his face that he was very sad about the damage. We ended up fixing everything but the front bumper.

A PURPLE truck? That’s what most people asked about but he LOVED purple because he played football for the QCHS Bulldogs and their colors were Purple and gold.

Then a few months later we traveled to Joseph City for Michael Wouter’s missionary farewell. He was going to the Philippines! We took the truck on it’s first road trip and it did well.

He went hunting and camping with his truck

 

Then we got some goats and they LOVED the purple truck! And Royal HATED the goats! It never failed the goats would get out of their pen and head straight for Royal’s truck! I used to laugh so hard when I would see the goats had yet again found his truck. Notice the shingles on the ground? That was from another storm in January of 2004.



 

Then June 4, 2004 Royal was working as a welder. He had a very important date that he didn’t want to be late for. So he came home grabbed his pay check and raced to the bank before they closed. A few minutes later I got the phone call every mom hates to hear. “Mom? I was just in an accident and I need help. I rolled my truck I’m in a farm field off of Gantzel and Combs.” So this is what we found. Some friends witnessed the accident and they told me that they just saw his truck fly off the road and flip in mid air then hit the ground and rolled. The police said judging from the skid marks my son was driving well over 110+ MPH. They were so thrilled he was alive and unhurt that they didn’t even issue him a ticket. They let us bring our own equipment and haul it away.
 

Royal was ejected out the back window. He said the truck just kept rolling and rolling. Police estimate it rolled 3 1/2 times before stopping. Other than glass and dirt ground into his back he was fine. We were so blessed on that June day.
 

Can you see him rubbing his eye? He was digging glass and dirt out but I like to tease him and tell him he was crying over his purple truck.
 

 

 

 

Our family was blessed with a miracle that day. Even though the truck was totaled it could have been much worse and probably should have been with how fast he was driving. Teele and I didn’t buy him another truck. It was one of those moments that you are so MAD at your child for being so irresponsible and so HAPPY he is okay. You don’t know if you should hug him or smack him! Of course we hugged him. I used to feel that way when he would run off in the store when he was little. He drove lots of junk after that and most of his money went to fixing old junker’s. He was always broke down after that and it took him 4 years to get another dependable truck. He’s had it one year and so far so good!

Looking back on raising my children I can see numerous times when Heavenly Father was there picking up the slack for me and watching over my children. How thankful I am for my blessings.