I'm reminded of this story because Katie's Dad at Unabashedly Unhyphenated (http://www.americankernel.com/) just got into a car accident (best wishes for a speedy recovery, Katie's Dad).
Ten years ago I was getting ready for my wedding in early May, and decided I'd make a lunchtime trip to the mall for something for my bride-to-be. It wasn't a big deal, nothing special (not wedding-related), but I wanted to get her a little something she'd find funny (I'm pretty sure it was a t-shirt).
I'm doing forty mph on a four lane road, with no dedicated turn lanes (left lane is for left turn, or straight through the light). I was in the right lane, and there was traffic backed up (3-4 cars and a large cargo van) waiting to turn left at the intersection I was approaching. There's a slight bend in the road, which obviously obscured me from the vision of someone who intended to turn left in front of me. He was obscured from my vision too, and only too late to see each other did we hit, almost head on (I hit the front right of his car, he the front-left to center of my front bumper).
We ended up on the far curb, out of the intersection. Luckily, I was wearing my seatbelt (I'm almost religious in my insistence that people in my car wear them) and doubly lucky, the airbag went off. After I pushed the thing out of my face and reached for my phone in the glovebox (there was a time when cell phones were too big to carry around and they were solely for emergency), I staggered out of my car to check on the other guy.
He's staggering out of his car when I see him and ask: are you OK? Which he answers in the affirmative when he takes off running down the middle of the street in the direction from which I just came. Not a good sign, so I elected to stay with my car and not give chase.
Later, the cops would pick him up. No license, no insurance, not his car, not even in the country legally. Lucky me.
What's my point? Not much, except I think it's a good story. Plus it was my first run-in (pun intended) with the costs of illegal immigration. The friction burn from the airbag was gone from my neck by the time of the wedding a couple weeks later - a small price to pay for getting to tell the story every now and then.
Hey, this blog can't be all political, can it? Check out my disclaimer above before you contact the complaint department.
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1 comment:
Hey, our blogs can't always be serious and political. Every now and then you need fudge topping on the bowl of vanilla ice cream! And sprinkles, my duaghter would remind me.
Thanks for sharing a great story.
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