This morning was a massive steaming pile of suck. I posted on Facebook that I gave it a 10 out of 10 on the suckiness scale, but Michael said it should be 8 out of 10 because the suck was not my fault and there were no serious injuries.
I had promised Michael I’d drive to his parents’ house and collect a document for him which he needed urgently by 1:00 p.m. that day. I left to go get it at 9:30 a.m. and then like three minutes later, when I was less than a mile from Michael’s house, an SUV pulled out in front of me. I tried to stop and couldn’t, hit them, lost control of my own car and skidded sideways into a deep, rock-studded ravine. My head slammed into the driver’s side window from the impact.
Given the terrain, it’s amazing I didn’t roll the car. As it was I had to climb out the passenger side door because the driver’s side had a very steep drop. A married couple in the car behind the SUV had seen the whole thing and they stopped, and she called 911 while he helped me get my stuff out of the car. The other driver came over crying and hugged me. I’m not sure how bad the SUV was damaged, but my car is totaled. It looks fine on the passenger side, but the entire driver’s side is bashed in. The two witnesses waited until the police arrived, gave statements about what they had seen, and then left. It was pretty clear I was not at fault.
I texted Michael’s mom from the accident scene saying something had happened and I would be unable to get the document. A few minutes later she texted back asking what was going on, but I had other things on my mind at that particular moment and didn’t hear the beep. Not understanding the situation, she was angry about me bailing on my promise to run this urgent errand. She actually called my dad to ask if he knew what exactly I had to do that was more important than my obligation to Michael. Of course Dad knew nothing about it. I didn’t text him or Mom about the accident until things at the scene were sorted, and I didn’t call either of them until I got home.
I could have found a ride back to Michael’s house, or walked for that matter, but they had sent an ambulance to the scene already and I figured I might as well have it take me to the hospital to get my head injury checked out. On the way I told the paramedic about the Charley Project and he wrote down the URL to look at it later. (I’m out of business cards. I need to place a re-order and I keep forgetting to do it.)
While I was still at the ER, Michael’s mom called and asked, “Why can’t you come and pick this up?” And I answered, “Because an SUV pulled out in front of me and my car is trashed and I’ve got a head injury.” And she was like, “…..Oh. Um. Well, I’ll take care of it myself then.” (When Michael’s parents arrived at the house later to drop off what I had been supposed to pick up for him, they gave me a “get well” card. I think maybe his mom might have felt a bit guilty for getting mad and assuming I had no good reason for not picking up the papers he needed. Unfortunately his parents couldn’t get there until four o’clock, which kind of screwed things up a bit for him because he needed the document by one o’clock, but it couldn’t be helped.)
The hospital did a CAT scan. Fortunately I just have a mild concussion, nothing too bad. I was prescribed pain medicine and anti-inflammatories and discharged from the ER, and my friend L. picked me up. When we got back to the house she stuck around for a bit and made me some soup and stuff. She was very concerned about me being alone when I was concussed, but she had to get back to work and couldn’t stay long. I told her I’d be all right.
I sat around watching TV for the rest of the day. L. occasionally texted basic mathematical questions for me to answer so she could reassure herself that I was conscious and lucid. Michael got home from work at five. His mother had told him what I had told her, and he was happy to see for himself that I was all right.
The ER doctor said I should take it easy for a couple of days, and it’s not like I have any other choice — I’ve got no car, after all. I’m just really glad it didn’t turn out to be worse than it was.
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