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Two years later, we were moving back to Sacramento to once again make it our home. On the return trip, we had a very bad car accident. It happened between Bakersfield and Sacramento. Our car rolled over repeatedly before finally coming to a stop. I lay there in a pool of gas. When the police arrived, they could not believe anyone had survived the crash. Thanks to God, my children, who were very young at the time, and my husband were not hurt in the accident. I was the only one hurt and I was hurt very, very badly. I could hear the policeman say, "I think she is dead."
I was in a coma for eight days. I could hear the nurses and doctors talking in one of my dreams. I saw people dancing ballroom style, hand-in-hand, wearing long gowns and tuxedos. They were far away so I walked toward them but it seems the closer I should have come to them, the farther away they became. I suddenly thought to myself, "How can I be walking?" "I can't walk if all the bones in my body are broken!" But in my mind I was walking fast. Finally I reached a huge light and I could hear music and the people were dancing ballroom-style dancing to arabic music just before I entered the light, the people began shouting at me, "go back! go back!"
The light became farther and farther away and I started crying and crying out loud. I wanted to go with them. I didn't see anyone that I knew, but I felt a hand touching me and a voice telling me to "wake up, wake up, you have slept too long." I opened my eyes and there was a man wearing white staning over me. I remember saying to him, "I want to dance with you." The man began laughing and said, "You can't dance my dear, you may never dance again."
I heard him say to the Nurses, "She is awake." Then my husband and my children came into the room. My children were jumping on the bed screaming, "Mama, Mama!" But I didn't even recognize them. In fact, I couldn't remember them for a few hours.
My husband sent the children out of the room and he began trying to explain something to me that he knew would break my spirit and make me want to stop living. He knew that my whole life I had been a dancer and to have to tell me that I would not be able to dance again would be the worst thing he would ever have to say to me. But he had to tell me. He had to tell me that eighty percent of the bones in my body were broken and that I may never walk or dance again. That news was very devastating to me. I began crying and turned my back to him. He tried to comfort me with a hug, but I just pushed him away so he finally just left the room.
That night I cried and prayed to God. I asked God to spare my life and make me walk again so that I might dance once again. I promised God that if I walked again, if I had a piece of bread, I would share it with someone who was hungry. By 1969, I was walking very well, teaching and dancing again. Since that moment, I have never quit feeding the Hungry. My life is a miracle. Thanks to God, he made me stronger than I was before. God Blesses us ALL. Love, Jodette
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