Do you have a family memory that stands out?  That one memory that represents all the good things about your family?  I do.  I have a memory of an incident where my family was at its best.  Each person had their own role, and did what needed to be done.  The result of all of that combined effort was that my family saved three lives.

Although we are not on the coast, during hurricane season we often experience the hurricane weather.  It consists of very strong winds and extremely heavy rain.  Many trees fall and there is a great deal of flooding when these weather fronts move through.   It is the type of weather, where the best thing to do is to stay home.

It was during one of these hurricane weather weather fronts that we received a phone call that changed all our plans for the evening.  Some friends of ours had called and asked us if we could bring their shop vacuum, that we had borrowed, back to them.  They needed it because their basement was flooding from all the rain that had already fallen. I do not think any of us were thinking properly, because without hesitation we agreed.

As we were getting ready to go, my son, who liked to be prepared for everything, had packed a bag with glow sticks and a strong but light weight rope.  I hate to admit it, but we gave him a hard time about him packing the bag.  However, my husband and I decided to let him take the bag, because we thought he had packed it to give himself comfort while we were out in the bad weather.

We had two ways to get to our friend’s house, a dirt road and a paved road.  Although the paved road is a longer route to their house, my husband decided that would be the best way for us to go.  We had not gone very far down the paved road when we encountered a problem.  There were live electrical wires on the ground.  My husband turned around and we got on the dirt road. The dirt road really did not seem all that bad.  There were a few places where some small creeks had gone across the road, because of all the rain, however, they were easy to cross.  When we had almost reached the end of the dirt road, our progress was suddenly stopped.  What was in front of us, on the road, was a huge river of swift flowing water. It was not supposed to be there.

Suddenly, we saw headlights in the middle of this river, and a nineteen year old young man fighting the current heading toward us.  He told us his girlfriend and her young son were trapped in his truck that had been carried away by the water’s current and now his truck was resting against a tree.  He had waded out to try and find help, but he was afraid that since the water was still rising that very soon his loved ones would be carried away.

Without discussing it, my whole family decided that we needed to do what we could to help this family.  There was no cell reception in this area, and the houses were few and far between, and we all felt that something needed to be done quickly.  This scenario was a nightmare for my husband.  Not only could he not swim, he is terrified  of water.  Which meant, my son and I were going to have to be the ones to go in the water to get the people out of the truck and my husband was going to have to drive to the closest house for help.

I have to wonder, if my husband was afraid that as he left us there that he would not see us again. I was grateful that my daughter was in the truck with my husband, I knew that she would be able to provide him with enough distraction to keep him from worrying about us too much. My fear was not for myself, but for my son. I kept picturing in my head, him being swept away and getting caught on the barbed wire fence that enclosed the cow pasture near us. However, there was no way I could have gotten those people out of that truck without his help.  It was a time that represented a great deal of sacrifice for all of us, but we all felt that this was the right thing to do.

As we headed toward the river, my husband sped away in his truck to get help.  The glow sticks my son had packed came in handy.  He pulled out a couple and that is what we used to light our way through the water. Thank goodness he was prepared.  In just the short time that it took us to make the decision to help this family, the water had risen a great deal and its current had increased.  We locked arms as we entered the water, to make it more difficult someone to be swept off of their feet.  The water was very cold and so was the rain that fell on our heads.  It seemed like it took us a long time to reach the truck.  The young man was exhausted, this was his second trip through the current, but my son and I kept encouraging him to keep going.  When we finally reached the truck we saw a very hysterical young woman and a very quiet little boy.

The young lady did not want to get out of the truck and get into the water.  Every time I asked her to, she told me no, and she was becoming more hysterical as each second passed.  Finally, I had to raise my voice and ordered her out of the truck.  There was simply no more time to be nice.  It worked and she got out of the truck.  I think her son knew that the adults in his life were wrecks and would only let my son get him out of the truck.  Because the water was still rising and was quickly becoming very deep, the little boy could not walk in it, which meant my son would have to carry him to safety.  We all locked arms again.

Heading back to safety was much harder than it had been to get to the truck.  The water was still rising, and the rain was still pounding us.  We had more people to contend with.  I kept telling everyone to take small steps as we moved forward.  Small steps.  Small steps to help us keep our balance.  It seemed to take us so long to get to safety, but we finally did.  We had to keep moving though.  Our place of safety would not stay that way for very long.  As we got to the top of a small hill, a place that would keep us safe from the rising water, we looked back.  As we looked back, we saw the headlights of the young man’s truck go out, and watched as it came lose from the tree and the water carry it away.

We were all shivering from being so cold.  I do not think I had ever been that cold.  Maybe we were also shivering because of all the adrenalin we had expended getting out of the water. Almost as soon as we caught our breath, my husband came flying up in his truck, with a woman following him in her own car.  We wrapped the little boy up in warm jackets and stuck him in the truck with my daughter.  She was great at continuing to help him stay calm.  We got the young man and his girlfriend to sit in the woman’s car, so they could warm up.  Within five minutes, a fire truck and ambulance showed up.  They took over care of the young family and we quietly left.

I love this memory not because of the people we saved, but because of how as a family we all worked together to accomplish something wonderful.  My husband was in charge of getting help, my young daughter was in charge of keeping him calm.  My son and I did what needed to be done to get the family out of their truck.  No person had a role that was more important than another.  We all were vital keys in accomplishing the goal.

Do you have a family memory that stands out in your mind?  What is it? Why is it so significant to you?  Share it here or on your own blog.  I would love to see what memories people treasure.