> How do you tell you parents thank you for something like that.

As a parent, I can say that you don't need to thank your parents for that. Just being there is thanks enough. My son hit a truck head-on while riding a motorcycle. The motorcycle was smashed and then burned to a crisp, but he sailed over the truck and landed on grass. When I got to the hospital he had three stitches in his knee and some grass stains on his shirt. I was never so glad to see anybody in my life.

A few years later, he bought his wife an old Volvo which she slammed into the back of a parked LTD. She walked away. Tough car.
Howard