Bitter....Sweet...Homecoming

Well, grab a blanket and settle in, this is going to be a long one :)

Bitter

September 19, Provo High School Homecoming.
The day started normal enough, the group, consisting of Diego and Dalice, Cody and Krystina, Fano and Mallory, Kyle and McKenna, and Caleb and Cassie, decided that for their 'day date' they would go boating at Utah Lake with one of the young men's leaders from Cody's ward. Car arrangements: Diego and Kyle and their dates in our Trailblazer, Cody and Krystina in his truck and I believe Caleb and Fano in a car with thier dates. Off they went.
They were supposed to be done around 2 pm so that the girls would have plenty of time to get ready for dinner and the dance. Dinner was being done at Cody's house by the parents. The boys' parents were planning on meeting at Cody's house at 4 to get everything ready for pictures and dinner around 6:30 that night.

A little after 2, I get a text: 'I can't find the keys'. !Are you kidding me!!!

(On the phone)Me: "What do you mean you can't find the keys"?(Keep in mind, the TB is the only car we have an extra set of keys to :( )
Diego: "I don't know what I did with them".
Me: "What did you do with them?"
Diego: "I don't know, I have been trying to back track to remember what I did with them."
Me: "So who all is still there?"
Diego: "Just Kyle and me, and Matt (the guy with the boat)."
Me: "Where are the girls?"
Diego: "Cody took them home becuase some had hair appointments."
Me: "How do I get to the dock, I will come with the other set of keys."

He then gives me directions, it was at the Lindon Boat dock, which I had never been to before, I didn't even know it existed. I arrived at the parking lot and looked around some more, fuming mad. No luck. I told Diego to take the truck and get home because Dad was mad, and that I would take Kyle home.
I left the parking lot, checking my rear view mirror often to make sure he was coming along and not prolonging the inevitable. I kept driving along, he was a ways behind me but I could always see him coming around a corner or in the distance. No worries. So Kyle and I get out of Vineyard to Geneva road and I look back and I don't see the truck.

Me: "Okay, really, I know I want him to go the speed limit, but this is ridiculous, where is he?????" I tried to call him, but, then realized that he wouldn't, no shouldn't answer his phone because we have told him over and over, "you are not allowed to answer or talk on the phone while you are driving."
I turned onto Geneva and pulled over to wait. Nothing, nothing, nothing. I probably waited for 2-3 minutes, still no sign of Diego. We turned around to go see what was taking him so long. As I drove and didn't see him, I kept asking Kyle if there was another way out of the parking, could he have gone a different way. He wasn't aware of another way, so we kept going. Nothing, nothing, nothing. I had the same feeling you have right now reading this!
I came around a corner and there off to the side of the road was a bigger white truck with the passenger door opened and a guy standing there talking on the phone. I raced up behind it, rammed my car into park and got out. I could see Diego leaning against the passenger seat of the truck and as I ran over to him I looked to my right and saw this:



"What happened???" Diego was covered in some tiny little green leaf things, filthy dirty and one shoe missing. I dialed my husbands number, and as soon as he answered I lost it. I couldn't even talk. I handed the phone to Kyle, who relayed this message to my husband:
Kyle: "Um, the truck is in a ditch and your wife is crying."
Diego(husband): "WHAT, can I talk her please."
Me: "THE TRUCK IS TURNED OVER IN THE DITCH AND DIEGO CLIMBED OUT."
Diego: "What happened, is Diego okay?" "Calm down."

Me: "Diego, why didn't you call me!!!"
Diego: "My phone got wet and won't work."
The paramedics had been called and another lady had stopped to help, she had some kind of medical training and was great to check Diego over. There was no blood and no bones sticking out anywhere, which was good to see. I was a complete and utter basketcase! When Diego (son) and I both calmed down enough to actually have a conversation, I asked him what happened. There were no skid marks or anything so it was really weird. He said that he heard a thump, the windshield starting cracking, and evidently swerved, over-corrected and ended up in the ditch. Now my first reaction was that the truck had literally rolled into to the ditch, but in talking to Diego a few days later I found out that it actually kind of drove down and then tipped over partly on the side and partly on the top. Diego finally got there with Miguel and Antonio (barefoot), and called Cody for him to come pick up Kyle since we weren't going anywhere for awhile.
A few minutes later Cody, Fano and Caleb all showed up to give their support and they stayed to make sure everything was okay. They ended up staying until all of us left. It was awesome of them to come back show the support that they did.
Finally, the parademics and EMT's from the firestation finished asking questions and checking him out and gave me these choices: 1) They could take him to the hospital to be checked out, even though he looks okay; 2) They could release him to us and we could take him to the hospital to be checked out, even though he looks okay; or 3) they could release him to us, we would watch him, and if needed take him to the hospital. We decided to just have him released to us and we would watch him and take him in if needed. They were fine with that and had specifically said to watch him throughout the rest of the day, because right now he was most likely in an adrenaline rush and once that wore off he might feel more, to watch for numbness, tingling or anything internal that hurt or didn't seem right. I asked them if they felt okay about him going to the dance that night, and they said he should be fine to go.
Me: "Well, your worst nightmare has come true, I am driving you, Kyle and your dates to the dance."
Fano, Cody, Kyle, Caleb: "No, no, we'll work it out."

I don't know if that was because they were looking out for me or because they really didn't want to be seen with me driving some of them, but either way I chuckled.
While the tow truck was trying to figure out how to get the truck out of the ditch, there was a car of some young adults that had to stop because the tow truck was totally blocking the road. They all got out and came to see what was going on and asked if everyone was okay. As they were walking back to the car this is what I heard:
(Talking to each other)" We stopped to see if everything was okay, AKA we just really wanted to be nosy and see what was going on." It made me laugh, again, and that felt good, considering.

Sweet
By this time, Diego is walking around, seemingly normal. If he wasn't so filthy you most likely wouldn't know that he had just been through what he had. The tow truck finally got the truck out a little before 4. All of the boys jumped right up on the bed of the tow truck to get stuff out of the cab of our truck for us. (I love these boys) They then left to go finish cleaning out the boat and get Cody's deck set up for dinner. I told him to apologize to his mom that we wouldn't be able to come help, and of course he had already talked to her and she didn't expect us there at all. As the boys were getting into their car to leave, Fano said,
"Hey, we should say a prayer." Now why didn't I think of that!!!!! The boys hummed and hawed about who should say it, and finally we decided that Fano would say it. It was a simple, yet strong prayer, and I can't thank him enough for it.

Homecoming
So they all rearranged car assignments and Cody had planned on coming to pick Diego up and then go to get their dates and take pictures at the girls' homes. He came over at about 6 and they left. Diego(husband) and I and the boys then left to go up to Cody's to take food and help out for the evening. While we were waiting for dinner to be done, everyone went to the next door neighbors house for pictures.

Diego and Dalice
From Left to Right: Caleb, Diego, Fano, Cody, and Kyle in front

From Left to Right: Cassie, Mallory, McKenna, Dalice, Krystina



They finished dinner, which by the way was Chicken Cordon Bleu, Salad (the boys each served their dates), fruit salad, white rice and yellow rice that my mother-in-law was so kind to make, and visited outside on the deck for awhile. They headed out to the dance sometime between 8:30 and 9:00 with these specific instructions from me: "You guys watch him, and if there is anything, anything at all, you call me!". They all agreed.
Diego, the boys and I stayed at Cody's and visited for the evening with Cody's mom. (His dad went hunting). At about 10:45, we went back out to the deck to straighten up the table because they were coming back for dessert. Half jokingly I said, "Oh, we should take all these beads and spell out everyone's names."
Cody's and Fano's younger brothers:" Yeah, that would be cool." But once we got started we realized that there wasn't enough for there names, but we were able to do this:


We put each of their initials in matching color beads across from their dates. Yes, it was corny, but it was also almost 11:30 at night! We finished about 2 minutes before they came home.

It will definitely be a day to remember in everyone's book. I couldn't ask for a better group of friends for my son. These boys care about one another and have each other's backs. Some of them have gone to school together since kindergarten, others have just joined the group in the last few years, but in the end it doesn't matter how long you have been friends, just that you are friends.