The Fray

So for my birthday, Trevor gave me an early present and took me to the Fray concert on July 31st. It was awesome! We were about 7 rows back (enough to see Isaac Slades former days as a plumber) . We arrived early and just wandered around at various environmentalist stands and what not. We sat a lot, just waiting. While sitting, this group of women started talking to a guy who had come from backstage. They seemed to know him rather well. We later figured out he was the Fray's photographer. These ladies were very drunk, and the first opening band hadn't even come on yet. By the time the second opening band was performing, one of the ladies had already vomitted all over herself, and had to leave early. We overheard later that she was one of the band members' wife. Yeah, she was wife to the Fray. It made sense with the photographer and how it didn't really matter that she was too drunk to see the concert. Well the Fray finally came on. The concert was supposed to start at 7:30 and the Fray came on about 9:45. I wasn't too happy about that seeing as how I had to get up at 5 am the next morning for work. Oh well, I don't stay up late that often. We partied and thoroughly enjoyed the concert. The lighting was just amazing and I couldn't help but think of Jorder Luke. Now I understand why he wants to do that when he grows up. It was awesome. There were these lantern lights that hung down. Sometimes they flashed crazy lights and sometimes (bottom picture) they looked like lanterns. Then there was this awesome screen thing that flashed like crazy. And in one song (bottom picture again) it showed a film from their road trip. My favorite song was the Fray's rendition of Shakira's "Hips don't lie." I was cracking up. They sang it in girl voices and made up spanish/jibberish. I was dying. We enjoyed it so much. Trevor went on a quest for water, and came back with the woman who had vomitted all over. She couldn't get in because she didn't have her ticket, so Trevor gave her one of ours. She confirmed that she was, in fact, married to one of the Fray. Then she took us front row and center with her (that's where I got the bottom picture). Trevor told her that he was a massage therapy student and he could give free massage therapy to her or her husband or whoever (implying the Fray). She sounded enthusiastic about that. We got very excited. What if we went backstage and hung out with the Fray? Well, she got too sick again and left early. We never heard from her. But she was extremely nice and very beautiful. I liked her a lot (but then again, drunks can be likable.) And we got kicked out of front row by the security gaurd. While one of the opening bands was still on this thought flashed in my head. It said "Be careful driving home tonight, there's going to be an accident." In the excitement and anticipation of possibly meeting the Fray and all the noise of the concert, I forgot all about it. But when we drove home, I was unusually anxious with Trevor driving. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, but I was freaking out. So Trevor drove slow to humor me. It was about midnight, and we were driving about 60-65 on the freeway in the commuter lane. A sedan passed us like we were standing still. Trevor flashed his brights on them to tell them to slow down, and they did a little. They were about a car lane ahead and to the right of us. After about two minutes of following them, they drifted into the other lane (I think he dozed), and then over corrected. The car began spinning out of control. It went in front of a Jeep to the right of them, and missed it by inches. The Jeep hit it's breaks, but strangely didn't swirve as I would have. To the right of the Jeep was a Semi, and it smacked right into the spinning sedan. I thought it had hit the drivers side door right on, and I was sure, very sure, the driver was dead. We pulled over, and Trevor immediately called 911. He got out and ran to them. I stayed put. I knew I couldn't handle those images in my head. I honestly couldn't move. So I just prayed. Trevor couldn't get their doors open (the firemen had to use the jaws of life), but he talked to them to keep them conscious. Appearantly the semi had really hit them at an angle on the drivers back door. It had pushed the trunk and back seat into the front basically. Part of the door had cut into the drivers neck. The driver had gone into convulsions and the passenger was in shock. Luckily, authorities arrived very quickly, but everything from the time the car drifted into the other lane was in slow motion. It seemed like an eternity. The car was still in the lanes of traffic, so Trevor was also trying to direct traffic out of the way. I was terrified he'd get hit. It was very dark and very late. I was relieved when the authorities did get there. After filing a police report and all that business, we were finally able to leave. Both the man and woman were on stretchers when they were hauled away, and I prayed they'd be alright. Two thoughts struck as we drove away. Why didn't that Jeep swirve? It should have. That' s just instinct. If it had swirved, we would be in that accident. We should have been. He should have swirved, but I just had the feeling that something kept him in that lane. Also, the semi didn't have a load at all, so it was able to slow better. I'm very sure that if the semi did have a full load, those people would have died. The impact would have been much worse. Although it was a horrible thing, it could've been much worse. There should have been 5 cars in that accident instead of two, but the Jeep didn't swirve. And we are safe. That night when we finally got to bed (about 2 AM) Trevor kept squeezing me so tight that I couldn't breathe. We were so thankful to have each other and have the oppurtunity to be together, alive and healthy. I'm still a little traumatized and get anxious driving. Isn't it amazing how we trust all those other drivers with our lives? They could slip up and we could be in serious trouble. It's also amazing how much your life can change in just 30 seconds. That's all it was before that semi smacked into them, and I'm sure their life is very different right now. It's amazing how much we take for granted. There's still so much I want to do; graduate college, have kids, have grandkids, have our own home, go see more of the world....and the list goes on and on. I'm so thankful that I still have the oppurtunity to do so. I'm not taking it for granted.