Bruised but unbroken
Well, it seems I totaled my car yesterday. A guy in a pickup truck ran a red light (he didn't see it because of glare) right in front of me in downtown Ann Arbor. I think I was doing about 25, maybe a little less, but there was barely time to slam on the brakes before I hit him. I don't think there are even skidmarks on the road -- there wasn't enough time to get any traction. The car's a wreck -- smashed all the way back to the windshield, and the driver's door barely opens because the frame has been bent so badly. I'm in much better shape than the car, thank God. But my neck is killing me, of course, and I have bruises on my hips from the seatbelt and on my knees from the dashboard. Still, I'm lucky. (And I did go to a hospital to get x-rayed for broken bones and internal injuries; they said I'm OK.) The other guy is fine, as far as I know -- it was a huge truck, and I hit it more or less in the middle, not right at his door. Knocked the camper shell into the street and broke his back windshield, but he's OK. The next problem I'll have to deal with is that I had paid the car off and was counting on keeping it running for a few years, and I'm in no shape financially to take on car payments; I think I'll worry about that more when my neck hurts less.
My friends are so good to me, though. Everyone's been worried about me and checking on me, and Leora spent a lot of the day helping me. She talked me into going to get x-rayed, when I was too shaken up to think about it. And she took me to where my car is stored and helped me to clean everything out of it, and then took me to the grocery store so I could stock up, since I don't have a car now.
The funny thing is, the thing happened so fast, I barely had time to get scared -- it was over almost as soon as it started. But when I was trying to go to sleep last night, I kept imagining seeing that truck barreling into the intersection, and *then* I felt scared. Right after the accident, I was kind of a mess too. The first thing I did was force open my door and get out and start yelling, "Are there any witnesses? Who saw it?!" because I was sure I had the green light. About 4 people stayed and told the cops that that guy ran the red. Then I went over to the sidewalk and burst into tears, just from the stress, and one of the witnesses hugged me and I pulled myself together. After that I was just kind of in a daze, but I got my information for the cops and all that. It took a while before I went over to talk to the other driver -- I could see he was in a huge truck and seemed OK, so I wasn't worried about him, and it was almost as if I felt a tiny bit afraid of him, on some irrational level -- not that he would do anything, but I just didn't know what to say to the person who was in that truck. He said to me, "I don't know why, but God wanted us to have this encounter." He added that he's not a very religious man; I said I am religious, and that I had been planning to go to church later in the day, and he asked me to pray for him too. So I have been, when I think about it.
My friends are so good to me, though. Everyone's been worried about me and checking on me, and Leora spent a lot of the day helping me. She talked me into going to get x-rayed, when I was too shaken up to think about it. And she took me to where my car is stored and helped me to clean everything out of it, and then took me to the grocery store so I could stock up, since I don't have a car now.
The funny thing is, the thing happened so fast, I barely had time to get scared -- it was over almost as soon as it started. But when I was trying to go to sleep last night, I kept imagining seeing that truck barreling into the intersection, and *then* I felt scared. Right after the accident, I was kind of a mess too. The first thing I did was force open my door and get out and start yelling, "Are there any witnesses? Who saw it?!" because I was sure I had the green light. About 4 people stayed and told the cops that that guy ran the red. Then I went over to the sidewalk and burst into tears, just from the stress, and one of the witnesses hugged me and I pulled myself together. After that I was just kind of in a daze, but I got my information for the cops and all that. It took a while before I went over to talk to the other driver -- I could see he was in a huge truck and seemed OK, so I wasn't worried about him, and it was almost as if I felt a tiny bit afraid of him, on some irrational level -- not that he would do anything, but I just didn't know what to say to the person who was in that truck. He said to me, "I don't know why, but God wanted us to have this encounter." He added that he's not a very religious man; I said I am religious, and that I had been planning to go to church later in the day, and he asked me to pray for him too. So I have been, when I think about it.