Then...We Hit a Bear.

Y’all. It is 2025. The last time I wrote on this site was in early 2024

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Early 2024! I had such big dreams when I started this website and blog—posts planned, ideas flowing, guest columnists lined up. And then… we hit a bear.

Yes, really.

It was May, Mother’s Day Weekend, to be exact. Dan and I had bought tickets to see our favorite comedian in Greensboro on Sunday (Mother’s Day, happy Mother’s Day to me!), but then our good friends Representative Brian and Hope Turner decided to get married on Saturday in Marion. Now, for those of you who might not be familiar with the geography of North Carolina (or how truly ridiculous our plans were), I’ve included a map below. The plan was simple: Drive to Marion, attend the wedding, drive to Statesville to sleep, and then head to Greensboro for the show on Sunday. And since we had a little extra time Sunday morning, we thought, why not catch a minor league baseball game in Winston-Salem, too?

All on the map. It was a great plan.

Then… the wife of a friend and colleague in the NC House unexpectedly passed away, and the funeral was set for Saturday morning in Winston-Salem.

Naturally, we adjusted our plans. Leave earlier, attend the funeral, then carry on with the wedding, the Statesville sleepover, and the baseball game. We even had time for a wardrobe change at the Burger King off I-40 in Marion, where, for the record, the bathrooms are spotless.

Oh, and we were leaving our teenage daughters home alone for the first time. It was only 36 hours.

Everything was going smoothly—until it wasn’t. We left the wedding around 9:45 PM, ready for our 90-minute drive to Statesville… then...we hit a bear.

Yep. A bear.

Dan was driving, I was in the passenger seat, and out of nowhere, Dan says, “Hold on!” Then, we were stopped like we hit a brick wall. The windshield was cracked and every airbag in our car had deployed. The car was filled with smoke from the airbags, and I seriously thought it might be on fire. Oh, and did I mention? I was sitting with my feet propped up on the dashboard. (I know… and no, I don’t do that anymore.)

Somehow, Dan managed to get the car off the road. Toyota's version of OnStar called 911 for us. Long story short, we were stranded in the middle of nowhere. No hotels. No rental cars. Nothing. But the State Highway Patrol came to the rescue, driving us to our hotel in Statesville.

Map showing approximate locations for all activities in the 36 hour period described.

Fun fact: The backseat of a patrol car is full of stuff. So much stuff. State Highway Patrol doesn't transport people and they keep their gear (all of it) in the back seat. Because of this, Dan and I had to split up into two cars, but could only be driven to the next county's jurisdiction - so we were transferred between jurisdictions like some sort of weird relay race. Eventually, after two patrol car rides, we got to our hotel, bruised, bleeding, and carrying our luggage (and anything we could salvage from the totaled car).

Pics from the car post-accident.

It seemed pretty likely at this point that we would probably throw in the towel on our Sunday activities and just get a car and drive home. I was in a lot of pain and really just wanted to be in my comfy PJs in my comfy bed, with my own pillow. Nonetheless, we spent the night because we had no way home and hoped of picking up a car in the morning.

Getting a rental car proved a lot more difficult than we planned. We had to wait about 30 minutes for an Uber, then ride about 20 minutes South to Mooresville to a strip mall Budget rental. Though we had reserved a car online the night before, the attendant informed us when we got to the counter that they had no cars. There was a golf tournament in Charlotte and a race the next eekend which meant nearly every car was rented. Wait...they did have one. A Ford Explorer, but it had not been cleaned. Our response, "Was the car in an accident with a bear last night?" "No?" "We'll take it."

With a car rented, some ibuprofen for the pain, we did the only next thing you can do in this circumstance. We headed to Bojangles for a bicsuit, some dirty rice, and fries with extra seasoning. Over our post-accident meal, we discussed whether we head home or whether we continue on with the baseball game and the comedy show.

You know what? I can either be in pain at home, or I can be at pain doing some fun activities. Activities it is!

In the accident, one of the airbags had burned a whole into Dan's pants (and into his leg - pic below). And because Dan is a pro packer and a good environmentalist, he had planned to recycle those pants for Sunday evening. Before we headed to the ball game and the comedy show, we had to make a stop at Belk's so Dan could buy new pants. And, I bought a dress. We had hit a bear after all.

Dan's leg injury from the airbag under the steering wheel.

So, what’s the moral of this long saga? Life, leadership, and running (you knew I would be bringing it back to running!) are all about how you respond when you hit a bear. In life, you could be cruising along, thinking everything is fine, when out of nowhere, something hits you like a ton of bricks—or a 200-pound bear. You have no choice but to adjust, adapt, and keep going.

Whether you're in leadership, training for a race, or just living your life, you have to learn how to recover after a stumble. (By the way, I once fell in slow motion on a bridge about 4 miles into a 14-mile run. There’s a post for that somewhere, I promise.) You can’t always predict what’s coming, but you can control how you respond. You improvise, adjust, and keep moving forward, even if it’s in pain.

And sometimes, after everything goes sideways, you head to Bojangles, make the best of it, and buy new pants and a dress in the process.

Sunday evening, at the comedy show, we took some selfies and tagged our favorite comedian in our tweet. As a result, our story was featured on his podcast (linked here - listen at the 39:10 mark).

It was a pretty wild 36 hours away from home, in nothing short of true Crawford fashion. We are so lucky to have both walked away from the accident—it could (and should) have been so much worse. But now, we’re basically walking commercials for the Toyota Grand Highlander. I recently started listening to Amy Poehler’s podcast "Good Hang", and there’s a Grand Highlander ad at the start of every episode. So, I’m officially in good company now.

Oh, and it turns out that when you survive a bear accident and you are a state legislator, you get handed the title of “Spokesperson for Wildlife Crossings.” I’ve learned more about vehicle collisions with animals than I ever imagined, and I might even write an entire post about the critically endangered red wolf (whose biggest predator are cars). Stay tuned!

Note from the girls.

After our wild adventure, we finally made it home around 11pm on Sunday night. We were beyond exhausted, but the girls had left us a sweet note on the counter, which was a nice touch after everything. I dragged myself upstairs, so happy to be home and ready to crash into my own bed. But as I turned the corner into our bedroom, what did I see? The entire side of our master closet had collapsed, leaving my clothes in a heap on the floor.

Yep, life’s like that—just when you think you’ve had enough, it throws one more curveball. So, what did I do? I stood there for a second, took in the chaos, and then laughed. Closed the door and decided I’d deal with it tomorrow. Because sometimes, just like pushing past exhaustion and continuing on, you have to know your limits. And my limit? Not dealing with a closet disaster at 11 PM. Tomorrow it is!

Picture of us once we made it to the Nate Bargatze show - still smiling!