Sierra Summit/ Part 2

We finally made it up to Sierra Summit! Jason always takes such good care of me! I like to think of myself as a totally capable girl, but I always feel soft on Jason when he offers to help me get my boots on, carries my skis, or adjust my goggles for me. What a guy!

Since I had only been skiing once before, Jason took me over to the bunny hill before we went up the lift. He reminded me what I am supposed to do and then waited at the bottom. I'm not sure if is purpose was to be there in case I ended up in a pile at the bottom of the little hill or to embarrass me with a bunch of pictures where I look like a total goober! Here is one of them...
Can you see the "I have no idea what I am doing" look on my face? Haha! Patience has never been one of my strong characteristics, so after one time down the bunny hill, I was ready to go!

We were so glad we went up. It was so peaceful riding the chair lift up and was a beautiful day! We had fun skiing and seeing our friends!



We were pretty tired from the night before, so when we got a call from Riley saying she wasn't feeling well, we were okay cutting our short day even shorter. My mom took my kids so Riley could go.

We had spent the car ride up talking about what had happened the night before. I talked to Emily's mom who said she was doing much better and had been all stitched up. Emily called to say she was sorry again and thank us for helping her. The boys had come by the hospital with their parents to see how Emily was and to apologize to her mom.

When we got home, I sent Riley a text to see how she was doing. She said she was okay, but she hadn't been able to eat or sleep and she kept thinking about the accident. I figured that meant she hadn't told her parents. I asked her if she wanted to come over and talk about it and she said she didn't think she could.

Jason and I were finally taking down our Christmas tree, but I couldn't get Riley off my mind. All of the sudden I had this feeling that there was something that I didn't know about the night before. I sent her another text asking her if something else happened.

No response. I went back to the tree for a few minutes, but couldn't shake it. I sent another text. "You can trust me." (Yes, I asked her permission before I wrote this post.)

A minute later she text back. "Ya. I'm coming over. Is that ok?"

I was so glad she was coming, but I was really worried something bad had happened.

I'm sure most of you think I am crazy for not thinking that sneaking out and getting in a car accident is that bad. I am more about a persons intentions. If they were sneaking out to hook up with a boyfriend, or do something illegal, that is one thing, but that wasn't the case. They shouldn't have done it, but I wasn't worried about their salvation. Getting in a car accident for driving on campus is just plain stupid. I mean really. It is teenagers thinking they are invincible and funny. They thought it would be fun and daring. They weren't driving around on the grass or trying to be destructive. They just thought it would be fun to drive on the pathways...fast. Not so smart.

But now, I was worried. She came in and gave both of us a hug. She had tears in her eyes. We sat down to talk and she burst into tears. "I was driving the car!"

I was relieved that was all it was! I knew her parents needed to know. The best way to get a teenager to do something is not to tell them to do it, but to help them see that they want to. We talked for a long time about trust responsibility, honesty, how she felt then vs how she would feel when she told the truth, how she would feel letting the boys take the blame, getting in trouble now or carrying her guilt for the rest of her life.

We talked a little bit more about the seriousness of what they did. They are really lucky that nobody died! Every year, you read those stories in the newspaper about the good kids who had everything going for them, made a stupid mistake and one of them died. We had reminded the kids of this the night before, but we talked about it again. She finally decided to tell her parents. We talked a little bit more just to make sure she wasn't going to change her mind. She said she knew she would get in a lot of trouble, but it was the right thing to do.


When she left, Jason and hugged each other and felt a huge relief. We were proud of our little Riley. Okay, she is almost 17, but we were still proud of her. It is hard to own up to something, especially if you think you already got away with it. We could tell she felt so much better as she was leaving. She was going to do the right thing.

I couldn't believe that her friend was going to take the blame for it! He had a crush on one of the other girls, but I can't believe he was going to stick to his story so she wouldn't get in trouble. He didn't tell his mom until Riley called him when she was on her way to tell her parents!


So, the parents know, the kids all got in trouble and life goes on.