I got a phone call about 1pm Houston time that no parent ever wants to get. It was Utah Valley Hospital telling me that two of my children had been involved in a motorcycle accident. Hunter's injuries were addressed first in great detail and as I gathered that he was hurt, but he would be ok, I interrupted the woman to ask, "What about Holland?"
My heart sank even further as the voice on the other end of the call told me that these calls are never easy to make. She then told me that Holland had a head injury and that they didn't know more yet, they were doing scans, and she was unconscious.
She had a collapsed lung and was on a ventilator. I learned about an hour later that those scans revealed multiple fractures to her skull, she would be in ICU. At that point, I had already booked my flight to be in Utah as soon as I could. The older kids were coming to the house to help the younger kids and Whitney helped me pack while we were scrambling trying to figure out how to do this. We asked if she could have a blessing - the chaplain at the hospital was able to do that. Thankfully, we found a flight that would get us there by 9pm to Salt Lake. We got to the hospital about 10:00 that night; even though I knew what had happened and I knew roughly what to expect, it was a lot harder to actually see her and reality began to set in. I felt faint, I knew the faintness would pass, but I knew I had to be stronger.