I was on my way home from school on May 6th, minding my own business, paying attention to the heavy, rush-hour traffic when I heard a SQUEAL! CRASH! At the exact same time I looked in my rear view mirror, I heard another CRASH! as my body pitched forward against my seat belt and my head was whipped so hard and fast into space that the force dislodged my sunglasses from my face. (Later, I found my sunglasses and stuffed Scuba Duck up near/under my brake pedal.) In that same instant I realized I was being shoved forward -- headed for the vehicle in front of me -- and slammed on my brakes in an effort to avoid hitting her. No luck.
When my Jeep came to a stop I jumped out of it, and into the center turn lane, and started walking toward the instigator of the whole darn mess waving my arms and shouting "BRAVO! BRAVO!" For extra effect, I started clapping. The driver, clearly NOT amused at my sarcastic theatrics lowered her head and leaned against her steering wheel.
Finally I threw my arms open and up and screamed "WHAT THE F*&^?!?!?!?!?", turned on my heel, started walking back toward my Jeep and encountered the woman who had been driving the vehicle I hit. She was about as happy as I was and was blaming ME for the accident!
I started apologizing profusely, wrapped my arms around her and told her it really wasn't my fault. My hug disarmed her a little and I stepped back to point to the two damaged vehicles sitting behind my damaged Jeep. Her teenage son walked up just as she was explaining he was just recovering from a broken nose and didn't need to break it again. I started apologizing profusely AGAIN and wrapped my arms around HIM, disarming him, too.
I told her we needed to get our vehicles off the road, since they were drivable) and gestured to a party store about 100 feet from where we were standing and told her I was headed there and would call 911. After I called 911 I called Henry.
The car that initiated the chain reaction crash was in bad shape -- the front bumper and hood were crushed back to the windshield. I didn't have an opportunity to see how much damage was done to the rear of the minivan that hit me, but the front bumper and hood were pretty messed up.
Three of the four drivers (including me) were taken via ambulance to the same hospital emergency room. When Henry showed up I told him about my dancing in the middle of the street and he thought I was joking. When I told him I was serious it suddenly occurred to me that that my public display of displeasure was just plain wrong. On so many levels.
Thank you, God, for another day....
When my Jeep came to a stop I jumped out of it, and into the center turn lane, and started walking toward the instigator of the whole darn mess waving my arms and shouting "BRAVO! BRAVO!" For extra effect, I started clapping. The driver, clearly NOT amused at my sarcastic theatrics lowered her head and leaned against her steering wheel.
Finally I threw my arms open and up and screamed "WHAT THE F*&^?!?!?!?!?", turned on my heel, started walking back toward my Jeep and encountered the woman who had been driving the vehicle I hit. She was about as happy as I was and was blaming ME for the accident!
I started apologizing profusely, wrapped my arms around her and told her it really wasn't my fault. My hug disarmed her a little and I stepped back to point to the two damaged vehicles sitting behind my damaged Jeep. Her teenage son walked up just as she was explaining he was just recovering from a broken nose and didn't need to break it again. I started apologizing profusely AGAIN and wrapped my arms around HIM, disarming him, too.
I told her we needed to get our vehicles off the road, since they were drivable) and gestured to a party store about 100 feet from where we were standing and told her I was headed there and would call 911. After I called 911 I called Henry.
The car that initiated the chain reaction crash was in bad shape -- the front bumper and hood were crushed back to the windshield. I didn't have an opportunity to see how much damage was done to the rear of the minivan that hit me, but the front bumper and hood were pretty messed up.
Three of the four drivers (including me) were taken via ambulance to the same hospital emergency room. When Henry showed up I told him about my dancing in the middle of the street and he thought I was joking. When I told him I was serious it suddenly occurred to me that that my public display of displeasure was just plain wrong. On so many levels.
Thank you, God, for another day....
No comments:
Post a Comment