Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Starting the Christmas break off with a....

Crash. Of the car sort. I will start by saying, nobody was injured. However, today, on my way home from my very last class this semester, I was turning left onto my road....not a mile from home, when the girl behind me received some hairbrain idea to try to pass me. Now I am not sure from whence the grand idea came. Perhaps she was in a hurry to get nowhere. Maybe she was out in space, forgetting she was even on a road. Or it could be that she had had a horribly bad day and was trying to outrun her troubles. I haven't a clue. What I do know is that I turned my blinker on, as I always do, as I reached the house with the wrap-around porch. I begin to brake, signaling to all behind me that hey, fools, I plan to turn in the direction in which this blinker indicates. As I approach the intersection, I am going quite slow to make the turn. No oncoming traffic, so no need to reach a complete stop. And as I get about half way into my turn on my road, to my house, WHACK! BUMP! What was tha....I WAS JUST HIT! All this comes at me as I see the black car swerving out and around, not bothering to stop until she is back on her very own side of the road, where she belonged all along. I ever so slowly finished my turn and got my car off the road as I thought to myself, over and over, I was hit. That car just hit me. What do I do? My body began to tremble from head to toe. A scary, uncontrollable tremble. The tears begin to sting my eyes. I sit there for a moment trying to regain my composure and figure out just what it is I am supposed to do. I am now on my road, facing west; the other driver is on the intersecting road, facing north, where she had pulled off the side of the road. I look back over my shoulder to take in as much as I can about the car in case the driver gets the hunch to take off. But, as my body is trembling so bad, I knew I could not leave the what-i-no-longer-felt-safety of my car. I pick up my cell phone. I knew I only had a little bit of airtime left on the thing, but I call home. HOME. I should be pulling into driveway of home. I am stuck here, in a broken up car, with legs wobbling uncontrolably because some crazy driver paid me no mind. I was never so relieved to hear the voice of my husband on the other line. I cry as I tell him that I have been hit at the corner of home....i repeated several times that I was ok, but could he please come. He said he would be right there. I hung up and just sat there for a moment, still too stunned to make sense of it all. I decided i did need to call the police. That's when a gentleman pulls up and asks if i am ok and i tell him, I am not hurt, but i am shaking and upset and blubber blubber....to which he says, it's ok, hon, calm down. I told him i called my husband and he is on his way. He assured me it was the other driver's fault because she attmepted to pass me while I was turning left. But then, he drove off... I pick up my phone to call home again real quick, to read the warning on my screen-Emergency Calls Only! Well, how amazing that the only other call I really need to make is to 911. So, I dial. ANd it seems to take an eternity for someone to answer. I slightly recall, at one point I took the phone away from my ear and just kinda groaned out a frustrated mumble of why aren't they answering. As I brought the phone back up to my ear, I hear the faint, "Can you hear me?" BINGO someone on the line. I tell her I have been in an accident and give my location and details about our cars, and no i am not hurt, just shaken up and no i have no idea if hte other driver is ok, because i cannot get my legs to cooperate to go see and to be honest and GOD forgive me, right now, I am not all that concerned about her. I am quite angry with her right now, thankyouverymuch!!!! No, i did not say all those things to the dispatcher. They are dispatchers, not therapists. But, i thought those things, at one point or another during this fiasco. In no time at all, Jeremy and Ralph arrive to my rescue. They park on the side of the road and Jeremy jumps right up and comes up to the car. I still cannot trust my legs to hold me in an upright position and so I shall sit right here in this seat for now. He went over to make sure the other driver was ok, which was the right thing to do because, well, it is. I finally decide to try my legs out and open my car door and plant my feet on the ground. So far, so good. I stand and walk over to Ralph's truck. I am going to be just fine. I feel the effects of being hit, but nothing serious. Whew. I am alive. And hey, I am so damned lucky. This could have turned out much differently. I send up a thank you. I was spared. Then, my mom pulls up..with my uncle. She is frantic. She was just sure that I was telling JEremy on the phone I was ok when really I wasn't. She is the queen of what-ifs. And her mind was running wild with them, I am sure. She comes up and just gives me a huge hug and gets choked up. I told her, hey, I have some amazing guardian angels. There is reason why my car did not go into spins, with the location where the other driver struck me. She was probably doing a decent speed, to boot. Afterall, she sure must have been in a hurry to try to pass when someone was turning left. But, through it all, I maintained control of my vehicle at almost all times and never once did I spin, no other vehicles were involved and I was able to get out of the car on my own. That is wonderful! A blessing! Thank you Jesus! Now can I go puke somewhere, because really, this was too close for me. I hate cars. I refer to them as death machines. I have always fully recognized the potential for death where a vehicle is concerned. Don't get me wrong, I run the roads with the best of them. I don't have phobias of driving or quirks in regards to driving. I get in the car and do what needs to be done. But, in the back of mind, always, is a niggling fear of a car accident, something so totally out of my control. And today, there it was. Just in time for Christmas. I have to spend my "vacation" making arrangements for the start of next semester. I have to find rides anywhere I need to go from now until the car can get fixed. Of course I only had the min ins on it, I only paid around $900 for the car and well, why would I pay all that money to fully insure a car that is not worth it? Tomorrow will be spent on the phone making calls and deciding what needs to be done to get wheels back on the road for me. I had a fleeting moment where i felt pity and wanted to throw in the towel, but by God, he spared me today, and so I will count my blessings. I will stress and complain about the major inconvenience, for a moment at least...really, it's expected, right? But, seriously, I have NO money to my name, will get a meager $400 on the car through insurance....and that will no where near cover the expenses of the damage done. I feel slightly overwhelmed, but I know that everything will work out. It is my last semester before my associates, I am not giving up just yet.

Anyway, that's the most recent excitement in my life. Other than that, i feel I did well on my finals, and in my classes, overall. On monday, I stopped by the senior center. Ruben gave me a card with $10 worth of scratch off lottery tickets in it. I won $15. So, yeah, i guess I have that much to my name. LOL.

Makenneh was finally able to join girl scouts. She is selling cookies right now. So, if anyone would like to order some, email me and let me know. The order/money is due Jan. 20. The cookies will arrive Feb 17. THen the next order is due in March sometime. Not sure off the top of my head.

The kids are doing good. Seb still doesn't get too excited about having to school. He would just prefer to stay home. If only.....lol. Makenneh's teacher reported that she gets a little chatty at times and it interferes with her work. Grrrr! I so did not do that in school. I listed and paid attention.

WEll, i am literally falling asleep here at the desk. I just wanted to check in with everyone before heading to bed. I should be on a little more overthe break, but hard to say!

In case I do not get on here again before then, Merry Christmas!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i am glad you are okay!!Must have been à very scary situation for you.
it is not fair...it was not your fault and still you won't get enough money from that other driver's insurance to cover your car's damage!!you did not mention à conversation- did you talk to her?did she apologize or explain anything?-
all the best for you and your Family!!
Love from Germany,Nicki

Julie Q said...

Oh honey, I am so glad you are ok! That is very scary, I am so glad everyone was able to come be with you right away that day.

I am so sorry about the car. Oh we have been there before and it is hard.

Merry Christmas Christina. ((HUGS))