Accidents Happen

As I said when I started this blog a few months ago, the purpose of this is to chronicle my son’s many little life moments and help me remember things that I will inevitably forget as he gets older. But once in awhile, something else compels me to write. This is one of those times.

As many of you may or may not know, I was in a car accident on October 25^th. It was scary, my car ended up being totaled, but I was lucky to be okay (relatively speaking). Since then I have been dealing with the hassles of insurance companies and finding a new (used) car. Unfortunately, this was not my first accident (or even my first totaled car), but it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. After our car accident last summer and then Kevin’s in February (none of which were our fault), I figured I have had more than my fair share.

Then last Saturday came. I was on my way to a baby shower with my mom, sister, sister-in-law and nieces when we were rear ended by a tractor trailer. Like I said, any car accident is a scary thing. Being hit on a highway by a tractor trailer is even scarier. But having my nieces in the car was, well, an entirely different situation.

I remember turning around to see their little faces, filled with fear, not fully grasping what just happened. The time after that went by as a blur as we waited 45 minutes (yes, 45) for the police to show up. When my brother came, we moved the kids to his car, wanting to get them away from the smashed up car, filled with glass. As I carried Marleigh, my 3 year old niece, to the other car, she said to me, “if that boy comes over here, I’m going to tell him to stop bumping cars.” I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry.

After what seemed like hours of waiting, we were back on the road, and Noli, my 4 year old niece, was seated in the back seat, with her head turned around. She told us all that she was going to watch to make sure that no one else hit us. That one definitely didn’t induce laughter.

For us as adults, we understand that as horrible as they are, accidents happen. No one wants to deal with them, but we do and we move on. For these kids, there is no explanation. How can they comprehend why someone would do something like that, hitting our car?

I don’t know how long they will remember this. Or how long they will talk about it. Or be scared to get into the car. I hope it’s not for long. And I don’t know if there is any lesson here. I wish there was. But sometimes it just helps to write about it.