Friday, February 22, 2008

As the world turns...

I frequently feel like my life is either some great comedy where everyone is laughing at all the misfortune that happens to the unsuspecting characters (me!!) or that it is a soap opera. Seriously, there is always some kind of drama going on. What is up with that?? Anyway, today was no exception.

I left this morning, just like every day when I go to work. It was cold, I was running late, yada yada yada. I took my normal route. The roads were all perfectly fine. In fact, I had no problems at all. But...then I turned onto the side road I take to drop Rita off, and it all fell apart. Ok, I guess it probably wasn't that dramatic, but I can pretend, right? I commented, as I was turning, that I should probably have taken a different route, but I would have to get to a spot to turn around, since the road was pretty icy and I didn't want to block it. Too bad someone else was blocking it, huh? I came over a hill, going CONSIDERABLY slower than I usually do, and there was a utility truck (just a pickup) pulled off the side of the road to check something. There was a car coming up behind him...moving pretty fast. I tried to brake, since I could see the car in back was going to hit the utility truck, but of course, I just slid. The car hit the back of the truck and fishtailed into the middle of my lane...at which point I could either swerve off the road or hit him straight on his drivers' side door. Since I prefer not to collide with people (or anything for that matter), I chose to swerve. The whole thing was really surreal--I actually made a conscious decision NOT to hit him and to swerve, but he still caught the back driver's side of my (Krista's) car and we skidded (probably 15 feet) through grass and mud (and sharp incline) until the car was mostly on just two wheels--the passenger side ones. Then we kind of came to a stop with half the car pretty much suspended over a creek, sideways in a ditch. Rita and I both just kind of held our breath while the car decided if it was going to flip onto its side or fall back onto all four wheels. Fortunately for us, it fell back down, and did not slip onto its side in the FREEZING cold creek we were mostly in. We were able, although it was difficult since the car was still at about a 45 degree angle to the road, to climb out the driver's side door and get out. Then began the LONG wait for the police (seriously, this happened at 7:40ish this morning, and the police didn't arrive until like 9.). It was really cold, and I was wearing heels and my NOT super warm coat. We got one of the other guys involved to let us sit in his car, which of course, was not in a creek. I also borrowed a phone and called Cameron and had someone call work for me.

It was an enormous pain in the rear dealing with all this. The worst thing is that I was driving Krista's car. Her baby is now damaged. (Not her real baby--her car!) It has quite a bit of damage. There was literally a piece of the car that hit us embedded in the back tire. It is quite nice. Then, there was all the damage from landing in a creek. Then there was the damage from getting it pulled out of the creek. They actually had to have TWO tow trucks pull it out...one chained to the front and one chained to the back. Then, they pretty much just pulled it sideways to prevent it from tipping over onto its side. It was only resting on two wheels--the other two were kind of just suspended in mid-air. One over water, and the other just in the air. Argh! I ended up missing the whole day of work--by the time we got home it was almost noon, and they had already decided to just call a sub to come in. Cameron took a half day off, because he was rescuing me.

In other words, it was a long day. I am really grateful that things didn't go worse than they did--no one was hurt, and the other cars didn't have a ton of damage. And we were able to stay warm and dry and get home.

Tomorrow is my book club meeting. I actually read the book and I do not love it. We'll see what everyone else thinks. I don't know if it is that I have just been so stressed that I want my books lately to be more fluff than deep thinking, or if I truly just didn't get much from the writer's style, but I didn't love the book. Anyway...I guess that is part of why there are so many books to choose from--we all can find something we love.

I think I need a milkshake. And a book. And a bed. Any chances of that happening?

3 comments:

Nicole said...

Wow, I'm glad you didn't end up in the creek!! Is the other person going to have to pay to fix the car or are you stuck with the bill?? Were you hurt at all??

I hope today is less eventful! :)

GregR said...

Hey, A you're writing is great.
I'm hoping you have a Maaco special in MO. We do in Utah during Feb.
Love those boys,
Janet

free_by_grace said...

Wow! We seem to have the worst luck driving! I'm really glad you didn't get hurt. I hope all goes well with the insurance. I know that can be a pain in the rear. E-mail me when you get a chance.