I left work at 4:30 and called my parents' house. When I got the machine, I called my mom's cell phone, and some guy answered. I said, "Dava? (which is what we call my stepfather)" and he says, "No, this is [something unintelligable]" so I say, "sorry I have the wrong number." I hang up and call my brother, who came into town on short notice because he was worried about my sister. He says our parents are on their way to pick up our niece, then we're all going to get dinner before he and I go visit our sister in the hospital. I hang up with him when he says that he's got our mom calling on the other line and that he'll see me later. I then realize I have a voice mail from someone who called while I talked to my brother. It says, "Stacey, this is the guy who you called on the cell phone. Please call me back." I figured my mom must have lost her cell phone, so I call him back. She didn't lose her cell phone. The man was a police officer who was investigating the scene of a car accident. The victims are gone, and he's not sure who was in the car, but he found the cell phone there. I FREAK OUT. I ask where they are, and he says that they were taken to Shock Trauma. I FREAK OUT EVEN MORE. Do NOT say Shock Trauma to me! That's where people who are close to death go! Plus I had no idea who was in the car. It could have just been my parents, or it could have been my parents and my niece. I hang up with the cop and immediately call my sister who answers and tells me that she has my niece there, my parents never made it their house, but that she's been in contact with the hospital. I call my brother and tell him I'll pick him up just as soon as I get home and change out of my work clothes. I arrive home and run into the apartment. Where I just start crying. Like chest heaving cries. I've barely gotten any sleep this week, I've been worried sick over my sister and now I might lose one or both of my parents. I grabbed the closest cat and cried into her fur for just a minute, then changed and drove to my parents' house, picked up my brother, and went to the hospital.

When I saw them I didn't know what to do. They were lying on stretchers next to each other with machines all around them and neck braces on. But they were awake. In pain, but capable of talking. They were waiting on X-Rays to come back to make sure they didn't break anything, and if they didn't, they got to go home that night. It turns out they got rear ended by a tractor trailer. My stepfather's car has a HUGE trunk. We joke that it would be a good car for someone in the mob because you could fit three grown bodies in there. Well, according to the paramedics and firemen, that huge trunk saved their life. Their car was crumpled from the back bumper to the front of the back seat, and had they had a smaller trunk they'd probably be dead. The pictures of the car were devestating. Had anyone been in the back seat they would have died instantly. My parents were extremely lucky.

We left the hospital at about 9:30 with my parents who were banged up and scraped but no worse for the wear. My mom is worse off than my step-dad, as the passenger side of the car bore the brunt of the accident. She got a few prescriptions and she is really sore, but that's it. Thank God. They had to cut open the car to get her out. They also had to cut off her shirt and bra, which she was upset about because she just bought the bra at Victoria's Secret and it was expensive! I had to laugh when she told me that.

We've had two close calls in my family this week. I've been in hospitals so much that I can't stop smelling them. It's constantly in my nose.

This event has really brought me to reality. I try to imagine life without my parents, and I can't. I can't even try to imagine it without crying. In the past I've put other things ahead of my family, but now I can't imagine doing such a thing. Between the near death of my sister and what I thought was the near death of my parents, I've changed.

The past few nights I've slept on the couch. I haven't been able to sleep in my room. I keep feeling like I'm going to have to jump up and do something, that I can't totally relax. Maybe that will change when my sister comes home. I hope so. This place is really empty without her.

I have to be at work in eight hours I know I won't be able to sleep tonight. Everything is OK with my parents but I can't seem to stop tearing up at the thought of what could have been. My sister sounded really good on the phone today but I can't stop remembering how horrible she looked when we brought her to the hospital. I just keep wondering what's next.