Baby on the Way!

Baby On the Way!

Leah Hickman

New Wilmington, PA

Wilmington Area
Senior High School

The music wasn’t
loud.

There were no cell
phones involved.

I had a carful of
people I love – my two best friends Kat and Anna and my sister
Caitlyn, who happens to have Down Syndrome.

We were driving from
our small town of New Wilmington (which has four corners, three
restaurants, two stop lights and a lot of Amish horse poop) to
Hermitage for ice cream cones.

I saw the stop light
ahead but was relying on the solid white lines of a crosswalk to show
me where to stop. I missed the mark and landed in the middle of the
intersection.

The guy who hit my
car told us to pull into the parking lot. I called my dad, “Come
to the Applebee’s parking lot and look for the middle aged man.
I’ve had a car accident.” Of course, he barely heard through my
muffled sobs.

As we waited, I was
terrified what the man who had hit my car might do. I waited with
the windows up until my father arrived.

My dad was confused
when he got to the parking lot. I guess my idea of “middle-aged
man” was not quite my father’s conception.

We pulled out the
information from our car insurance, exchanged numbers and took a few
pictures of the damage done.

My sister stayed
remarkably calm. She doesn’t always handle curveballs well.

My friends were
awesome. They explained to my father there was no music, no cell
phones, only focused driving.

But it was the man
whose night was not going as planned, the man who hit my car, who was
the best.

My father and I
apologized to him for any trouble we caused. “No problem,” he
said, “I’m just headed back to the hospital.”

We grew concerned.
The time was late on a Friday evening for a regular hospital visit.

When we saw our
concern he clarified, “My girlfriend is in labor. Our first
daughter Callaway is on the way!”

My stomach turned.
He was so nice and all I could think about was how my bad driving
would forever be a part of their daughter’s birth story. I
cringed.

He explained how he
was a golfer and wanted to share that love with his daughter. He and
his girlfriend were naming her “Callaway” after the golf brand.
I smiled just a bit.

Then he turned to me
and said, “I’m 36. This is only the second car accident I have
ever been in. My first one was when I was 16. My hope for you is
you have a good twenty plus years with no more accidents.”

I couldn’t believe
how kind he was given the circumstances. I knew he was going to be a
great dad.

As my father drove me home, I told him to turn left (instead of
right) at one of our two stoplights. He was confused. I explained
to him I wanted to stop at the homes of my two friends, Kat and Anna,
to apologize to their parents for any concern I brought them that
evening. They were grateful I stopped by and glad we were all doing
all right, though shaken.

For some reason, I
was keenly aware that parenting isn’t always so easy. No matter
your child’s age (whether being born that day like Callaway or
teenagers like myself and my sister Caitlyn) having your child set
forth into the world is sending your precious baby on her way.