'Two women received minor injuries'

It is a line that I have written and read literally thousands of times in the course of nearly four decades in the newspaper racket.

It accompanies almost every story we write about an accident.

"Two women suffered minor injuries."

It's very often the last line in a short story on an accident or other mishap.

We often slap that line on stories and never think twice about it.

I don't think I'll ever do that again.

That's because several hours before I read that line, I received a phone call from my wife.

Now, I would guess that over the years she and I have had thousands of phone conversations. When they invented the cell phone, they had this girl in mind.

But until Saturday night I have never answered the phone and heard her utter the following:

"Phil, I've been hit by a car."

The next few hours are kind of a blur, I am guessing a little like what she experienced, how your life can change literally in an instant, leaving you to wonder about fate, and what could have happened.

My wife and I traveled to Rockville, Md., this weekend to celebrate Easter with our daughter and her husband. We were going to ring in the holiday in the new home they recently bought, and be joined by our son and his wife, who also live in the greater D.C. area. We had made arrangements to go down Saturday morning and my daughter and her husband for dinner.

Unfortunately, I also was working Saturday. You're stunned, I know.

After we checked in at a local hotel and I set up shop, my wife and daughter had planned to do what they love to do almost as much as talking on the phone.

Shop!

We had a dinner reservation and planned to meet at a restaurant within walking distance of the hotel about 6:30.

Just before 6 I received that phone call from my wife.

Ironically, they were at Congressional Plaza, a favorite spot right across the street from my where my daughter and her husband had their first apartment.

It's the kind of strip center that dot so many suburbs.

They were walking on the sidewalk when fate intervened.

An out-of-control car barreled up onto the sidewalk, grazed my wife and then slammed through the window of a store. I'm not talking about coming to rest against the window. I'm talking about slamming completely through the plate glass window and coming to rest in the back of the store.

Here's something else I've read and heard a thousand times.

It's a miracle no one was killed.

My wife took something of a glancing blow, bouncing off the side of the car as it roared past, possibly running over her foot in the process. She fell backward amid a shower of glass after the car slammed through the window.

Luckily, my daughter was trailing a few steps behind and was not injured.

One other woman was injured in the crash.

No one inside the store was hurt.

The driver of the car and his wife apparently were not injured.

Really, a small miracle.

If my wife was perhaps two steps ahead of where she was, the result would have been much more serious, perhaps tragic. As it is, the next several hours are something of a blur, which would nicely match her aching foot.

We spent three hours in the emergency room of the local hospital, trying to get our heads around what had just transpired. When I rushed into the hospital emergency room, I don't think I'll ever quite forget that image of my wife, sitting up in a hospital bed, with her knee and foot showing any variety of cuts and scrapes. Her foot seemed to take the brunt of the damage. She had several nasty cuts and lacerations, some of them likely from the shower of glass that cascaded down after the car blasted through the store window. A series of X-rays showed she had suffered a broken big toe.

To say she is lucky is an understatement.

Take a look at the picture. That is the car sitting inside the back of the store after grazing my wife.

So what happened? Something else I have reported any number of times. Police believe an elderly driver apparently mistook the gas for the brake pedal and instead of slowing down as he approached the end of the lane, instead sped up, roaring right past the end of the end of the lane, up onto the sidewalk, through the window and into the store.

For her part, a single thought has preoccupied my wife, wondering what might have happened had she been just a few steps in front of where she was. Or perhaps, what might have happened if a young mother had been pushing a baby stroller, and been unable to instinctively lurch backward at the last second.

She has also focused on something else you don't always think about, especially when you live with someone who does what I do for a living. As you might expect, a huge crowd quickly gathered at the accident scene. My wife was struck with how nice everyone was. One woman went into the nearby Fresh Market and got her a bottled water. Many quickly dialed 911.

From the first responders who arrived and quickly got her prepared for the first ambulance ride of her life, to the police, to the hospital personnel on a busy Saturday night. All showed a quiet professionalism and clear care for their patient.

It also gave me a new reason to think about what I do for a living and the effect of these kinds of stories on people's lives. I could not help but notice that shortly after one of the fire and rescue officials posted the photo of the car on Twitter, he was contacted by several news outlets asking if they could use the image. I would be lying if I told you I have not done the same thing any number of times.

My wife is very sore, nursing a badly bruised knee and mangled foot.

She also is very lucky.

It could have been so much worse. Literally a matter of a few steps.

I thought about all those things as we sat in church Easter Sunday, listening to our daughter sing with the choir. "Two women received minor injuries."

I'm not sure I will ever read those words quite the same way again.