Yesterday was an interesting day. My day at work was normal. I was thankful to not have an early morning meeting like Wednesday...so bad that even my Pumpkin Pie latte didn't make things better. I actually arrived late to work (7 minutes late to be exact). I spent the day working on a parking ticket procedure that the coding elves didn't fix for me over night and I finally had to set that project aside so I could (start and) finish the prep for a meeting this morning. Even though I'm still very new to VB.NET web pages my boss & I decided it would be "fun" if I started using Visual Studio 2008 to develop instead of Visual Studio 2005. I spent the entire afternoon working on this project that should have taken maybe an hour but because of the change in software it was, well, interesting. And, of course, five minutes before I was supposed to leave for the day VS 2008 crashed. It is a Microsoft product so I probably shouldn't be too surprised but I lost work and got out of work late.
By the time I got home the sun had already fully set, which makes me sad that it was gone by 5:10. I figured I would have some time at home with Shane and the pups before taking off to knitting group. Well, we were almost out of dog food and the pet store can be on the way to knitting if I want it to be, so I changed and left to go to the pet store.
It was dark, the highway was a tad crowded. I've discovered that most people don't drive nicely. I certainly try and fail sometimes but most people want to get where they need to go as fast as they can with no concern for others. Can you see where this is going? I headed east on 235 and watched as a Chevy Malibu entered the highway from Valley West. The car shot over one lane immediately after getting on the highway. I stayed where I was because I needed to get off on the next exit. As the exit ramp fully separated from the highway I notice the same Chevy Malibu next to me and then it pulls off on to the exit ramp immediately behind me. By immediately I mean I couldn't even see the headlights in my rear view mirror. I remember saying out loud to myself "you'd better not hit me". Can you see what is coming?
We continued down the exit ramp toward the stop light and I still couldn't see the headlights in my rear view mirror which honestly made me very nervous. I don't like it when people tailgate me. I will take partial responsibility for the ensuing problems but it is not my fault, but I could have acted differently. I was far to concerned with the tailgater when I should have been paying closer attention to the cars in front of me. Needless to say I ended up having to stop short (but I did not hit the car in front of me - there was 4 feet of space when I stopped). But, because this Chevy was right on my tail, they had no where to go when I stopped. Well, the car had some where to go....right into my rear bumper. Thankfully I wasn't pushed into the car in front of me. I wonder now if I hadn't said "you'd better not hit me" out loud if it wouldn't have happened?
As accidents go it wasn't that bad. Neither of us were hurt at all, it was just a nudge really. We were both very polite and the first thing we did was to make sure we were both okay. There was no yelling, screaming, swearing not even any anger in our voices. We had a calm exchange of information and review of the damage while we waited for the police to arrive. The police were there within two minutes and there for maybe a total five minutes. The Officer didn't write an accident report or hand out tickets and was incredibly helpful and friendly which was nice as the other driver and I were a bit shaken over the whole accident. The damage didn't look bad on my car and the Malibu's hood was a bit bent but nothing looked serious enough to worry about or even submit to insurance. As we were getting ready to drive off we double checked to make sure we both were truly okay. The other driver apologized for the whole thing and we actually hugged and I could tell it was a genuine "I'm glad you are okay and thanks for being so cool about this" hug. I actually teared up because I never figured an accident would be "resolved" in such a civil manner.
I was able to still get the much needed dog food and walk into knitting only five minutes late. A grilled cheese sandwich, knitting, chatting with friends and then returning home to my dear husband pups and two hours of great TV made the evening just fine in the end.
I learned two important lessons last night:
1) Always give the driver in front of you PLENTY of space. Because, if you rear end them it truly is YOUR fault.
2) I've come to expect the worst from people in situations like this and I need to change that attitude.
This morning when I checked my car in daylight and cleaned off the dirt and scuff marks I discovered very very minimal damage to my car. There is a line of scratches where the Malibu hit me but you really have to look to see them. The bumper did not crack or tear it appears that the Malibu simply bounced off of my Escape. I'm okay with that and glad I don't have to have any thing fixed or involve insurance companies. I can simply put the whole experience behind me.
Now for the near miss. I woke up at 4:45AM this morning and I was wide awake. Not just awake, but WIDE awake. The thought that woke me up: "You never took your picture for the Year In Picture project yesterday." Yes, I woke myself up because I didn't take a picture yesterday. I started worrying and beating myself up for missing a single picture.
6 comments:
First of all, I'm glad you're OK! The same thing happened to me once with a rear-ender (like you, I didn't hit the car in front of me) but I was pretty shaken. I'm ALWAYS nervous when cars follow that closely!
Please cut yourself some slack. We're often so much harder on ourselves than we are on others. You deserve a break.
Same here... glad you are alright - that is the most important thing!! - those are always scary. However, you should get your car checked out & I hope you did exchange insurance info - cause you never know what damage may be there but not visible. :hugs:
I am glad to hear you (and probably the car!) are ok! That's most important! It does sound as though you're too hard on yourself, Sarah! I know you are not hard on others like that! I know it's hard to change things we're not aware of, and even as hard to change things we ARE aware of at times, but at least you are becoming more self-aware. That's an awesome thing!
Thanks for thee compliment on the little sketches. Honestly, if you follow the simple directions in the book, you could do it, too!
Sometimes it takes a silly moment to realize that the advise and clever words we hand off to others, also apply to ourselves... You definitely shouldn't beat yourself up!!!
And I'm glad the accident wasn't an awful experience for you!
I am so glad you are OK!
I had a similar accident a while back. The driver who rear-ended me was about 17 years old, and she was absolutely TERRIFIED by the whole incident. So I had to be the adult and say, "I'm ok, you're ok, it doesn't look like much damage, let's just exchange insurance info and phone numbers so that we can both be on our way." Luckily mine turned out similar to yours (minus the hug). No big deal, no insurance, no worries.
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