"You're so lucky," Shawn said.
I looked at my car, crumpled on one side and sitting in my neighbors lawn. I looked up at Shawn and replied in a sarcastic manner, "Yeah. I'm the luckiest girl int he world."
Six and a half years ago, I had been at my job a five full days when I landed myself downtown. A Dodge RAM pickup ran a stop sign. I pressed my foot to the brake as hard as I could, the tires squealed on the pavement. Oh, God. I'm not gonna stop, I thought.
Impact. My seat belt pulled taught and my body went forward. The front of my Geo Metro crumpled like a wad of discarded paper. The truck pulled forward and a lady came out of house, running toward me, screaming, "ARE YOU OK?!"
The driver of the truck never budged. I could not open my driver door so I crawled out through the window which was previously rolled down. Fluids ran all over the street from under my car as I lit a cigarette.
The driver was a young restricted one who was no supposed to drive without an adult yet. The passenger was another girl in a white button shirt and too-short plaid skirt. High-schoolers, in other words. The girl never got out of the truck to check on me, or asked if I was OK. She never apologized and in fact, told the police officer (who was on his period that day; he was a real dick to me) that I was driving too fast! Me! I was not, but even if I was, it would not matter because she drove through the stop sign like it never existed.
Regardless, the cop didn't even ticket the girl. I suppose her skirt was just the right length.
The insurance gave us $2000 for the car which was fine because we only paid $2200 for the plastic car. Shawn really wanted to see me in something new, to paranoid to have me breaking down without a big strong man to care for me. God bless that man, he really does look out for me, no matter how cynical I become.
Time was almost up on my two week car rental the insurance had provided when late one night, someone lost control on a raining road and took out all the shiny new Mazda Tributes lined up in front of the dealership. Those vehicles would be repaired and made into loaners as the current loaners were being sold. We snatched one up for a fair price with only 8,000 miles.
My very first newish car! I was so proud of it and washed it every single week. A month after signing our names tot he loan papers, my neighbor backed into the driver's side door, with Shawn in it. The insurance company were real jerks, the body work people were real jerks. They painted the used door on my newish car the wrong color. We argued (again) to get it right. A few years later the seal on the door broke down, whistled in the wind and let rain water seep in. Sigh.
Present Day.
Shawn and I are working like hell to get the new business going. This is not merely another eBay venture. We have a rented space, equipment, machinery, and huge mortgage payment after refinancing to obtain the cash. We've both been scrambling like mad to get things done and everything has been a total nightmare. Nothing has been easy. Even something as routine as getting the water turned on has been a complete hassle. We've had trials and tribulations regarding every step and turn thus far.
Thursday, Shawn was home. He'd been vomiting all morning. Oh, God! He doesn't have time to be sick. I don't have time to get sick! On the way home I filled my nearly empty gas tank and was thankful I had gotten off work early. I had so much to do!
I was head south on 1st street with no stop sign for my side. I had just turned so I wasn't driving very fast at all. A black car approached from my left. The blue car had a stop sign and I took it for granted she would stop. I saw something large in my peripheral vision and turned. The front of the black car was inches away from me.
Within a one or two second time frame, my mind raced. I never realized my mind could work so ridiculously fast. Hit the car horn. Too late. She's gonna hit you. Speed up? Brake? Too late. You're gonna get hit. There's nothing you can do.
The car was sent forward. My body was sent forward and my head went down. The noise from my mouth surprised me. It was a sharp, "OH!" I looked up. I was facing the wrong direction. And sitting in someone's front lawn.
Now, I would like to say that my first thought was, "Thank you God that I am alright." But I ashamed to admit that it was not. I have a fight or flight response to most situations and that's exactly what came out of me. The black Honda Civic had parked a few feet away. I flung open my driver door and jumped out the car hollering, "WHERE WERE YOU LOOKING??!!!!!!"
It's a natural response for someone hard wired not to walked on like a door mat. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" A young lady was running up to me as I sat in the car muttering over and over, "I don't have time for this!" She had a lit cigarette in her hand.
"You need to step back with cigarette!" I snapped harshly. "I recently quit!" She immediately took three gigantic steps back saying, "I'm sorry!" She was crying.
I could have easily snatched that smoke from her hand and taken a long, deep, soothing, delicious drag. I knew this would pass. It always did. I popped two fresh pieces of nicotine gum and was fine within a minuet. Well, "fine" would not describe what I was feeling.
Britanny and I made sure we were both alright, I ended up consoling her, believe it or not. "I'm OK, and you're OK. This stuff is just stuff and it can fixed or replaced. It's no big deal." This was her first accident and I told her there was a first time for everything. I explained to her I would call the police, we'd file a report and that wouldn't be a big deal either.
I called Shawn and asked for the number of the police. He later told me I loved how nonchalant I was about it all over the phone. A few minuets later he pulled up and surveyed the situation. The brunt of the force was taken in the backseat. My rear end spun and popped up on the curb. The tire dug into the dirt and slid, creating a nice skid mark in the lawn. The other tire bent inward as it was dragged upward onto the curb.
Shawn said, "That's how they flip in NASCAR. You're so lucky you weren't going faster; you would've flipped." He also noted the stop sign in the other side of the intersection. If my car hadn't dug into the dirt that was the lawn (it hasn't rained in months) I might've slid right into the stop sign pole, creating a hit from the other side.
The police and a tow came. The chick did not make excuses with the cop; told him she just blew right threw the stop sign. She apologized to me a few thousand times and was pretty freaked out about it. Once my hands stopped shaking and the adrenaline had began to subside, I was OK, but still pretty irked this had happened, now, today.
It they totalled the car, we'd have to go car shopping with half the amount the car had cost. We drained our savings sending Shawn to school and with the refinance, the option of a car loan is nonexistent. If they fixed the car, it would never drive the same.
It's funny the things that go through your mind while waiting on the police and the tow truck. The day before I was telling Patti about how wrong everything was going with the business. Between having to deal with all that, work, and my every day things, I was on the verge of losing it. "There is a light at the end of your tunnel, Misty," she said. "I think there's a BIG light at the end!"
"I think someone's turned off the electricity to the tunnel," I replied. Each night that week, I felt SO guilty for not spending time with my newish puppy. We had a night time routine and we played and she'd sit on my lap and lick hand and nibble my fingers. Teething is a bitch! Each night as I put her in the bathroom for bed, I say to her, "Tomorrow will be better."
Indeed.
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