Three years ago today meant it was time to shop for a new car. That should be an exciting time, right! Not when you look at the pic below to see WHY we were going to be car shopping.
Lots of people have car accidents everyday. But I don’t. This was just my second. And my first totaled vehicle. I must say it was a learning experience I would never wish on my worst enemy. Well ~ okay ~ maybe on them . 😉
What did I Learn??? This is only a portion:
- That someone screaming, when your car is spinning round and round, is more than likely “you”.
- Strangers become new friends when they call 911 and talk to you through the window, reassuring you that help is on the way. (AND stay as a witness for a police report.)
- When you’ve just left Sonic before your accident and you have two cherry cokes with extra cherry syrup in the cupholders….and they FLY everywhere on impact…EMT’s might just think that is blood. And so might the wrecker service. And that’s kinda funny ~
- The panic in your hubby’s face when he first sees you & your car (that you haven’t yet seen from the outside) means it must look pretty bad.
- First rides in the ambulance are not as exciting as on Grey’s Anatomy. Especially when you are riding with the person who ran the red light and hit you~
- The first thing ER wants to do is give you a tetanus shot. But they didn’t. Cause I hate shots.
- You never want to be hit by anyone with Farmer’s Insurance. ‘Nuff said ~
- No one wants to accept third-party insurance. But then they do.
- Sometimes you have no choice but to get an attorney. Choose carefully. I got a good one!
- Sometimes you have no choice but to have knee surgery.
- Sleepless nights are inevitable.
- When the surgeon says, “No more running”, you’ll still try. And it will hurt. And his point is then understood.
- The entire process takes forever and a day.
- You will never want to drive again.
- You are blessed if you have a patient spouse, that makes you get in the car and takes you for drives on country roads so that you can get used to being in the car again. He understands the tears of fear.
- You will not want to shop for a new car. You’ll tell him to just pick one out. You don’t care. You’ll care later and blame him for not getting the heated leather seats. lol!
- You may think that you are having a nervous breakdown. There are very kind doctors that will talk you through it.
- Not very many people will “get” what you are going through.
- You will preach to everyone about the hazards of texting and driving, even though it was never proved that was the other driver’s reason for running the red light. Your gut says otherwise.
- You will be the most cautious driver ever now. No one will want to ride with you. No one will want you to ride with them.
- You look at everything differently. You never attempt a left turn at that protected light again. Your heart races without warning just driving through the intersection, even three years later.
- You will never get an explanation or an apology from the person that not only disrupted your life, but changed it forever. It’s left for to you to deal with and figure it all out….
- You can’t help but wonder, did it change her life, too?
stuff i tell my sister 
I’m so sorry, friend, but glad you’re here to tell this in such a poignant way. Love you!
As I recall, Laur ~ I bent your ear a bit when this happened. Thanks for the love ♥
wow . some of these same feelings are in me now ..not due to a wreck but the violation of the theft of my locked vehicle from my private driveway..I just told my husband last night ..maybe it’s just time for me to stay home!!!!
I am so sorry for what happened to you this week ~ you feel violated and with good reason! I keep praying they will find your vehicle and the ones who took it from you…you do so much to help others….you will come out on top of this! Much love ~ ♥
(for those not familiar with Carolyn’s story, you can read the post/see the clip on my fb page @ http://www.facebook.com/sisterstuff .)
I am so sorry for your experience 3 years ago and so thankful for your ability to take it now and make it a humorous and poignant post of the feelings one who goes through during and from this kind of experience feels…I know at the time it probably wasn’t funny at all, but the Sonic story made me laugh… those poor EMT’s.. and what a wonderful and loving husband you have.. what a blessing. Such a blessing that you came through that at all.
There was a angel watching over you
Carri
simplydonewright.blogspot.com
Firm believer in finding the humor in everything, Carri…eventually! I do believe my angels work overtime for me…..and for that I am much obliged! Have a great weekend! I’m “driving” to Tulsa today! 😉
Yet another story that proves there is a God and he is watching over us constantly, whether we are aware of it or not. And which also proves, there is NO reason to be texting and driving at the same time. Know it can’t be proven, but chances are pretty good in this day and age we live in. Our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson were rear-ended a few years back (thank God no injuries) and we’ve always wondered if a cell phone wasn’t at least part of the blame. Hopefully your story will wake up some people! Love you; very thankful you were able to make it through this and share!
Thanks, Christi ~ Life presents many challenges ~ God puts folks there to get us thru them! (glad your kids were okay!) ♥
Oh Paula…what a terrible experience for you. It’s so hard to get back into the car and drive again. I’m glad your husband was so understanding. Our oldest daughter was in an horrible car accident which caused her to fly out of the car (before seatbelts) down the side of a hill, and she heard the EMT guys saying “don’t bother with the girl, she’s already gone!” Well here it is about 45 years later and she still suffers with her bad back injuries. She still has a fear of riding with someone else driving. Now this is a funny thing (in a way) that happened to me. I decided to drive, by myself for the first time, about 3 hours away to visit my sister who lived in the Los Angeles area (at that time we lived up the coast from Santa Barbara). I had a “panic attack” and I totally freaked out, just as I got on the busiest of freeways. Well I rolled all 4 windows down and sang (loudly enough to cause other drivers to stare at me) “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, I’ll Be There”. I sang myself off the freeway to my sister’s front door! Then I dreaded driving myself back home a few days later. It took a long time before I could drive more than just a few blocks from home. Panic attacks are real and if you’ve never had one, Thank God! Yep, your Guardian Angel was riding with you that day, 3 years ago.
Wow….so glad your daughter proved them wrong…how awful! I felt like a ragdoll in that car….so it was good I was wearing a seat belt. I LOVE your singing story! Yes…panic attacks are real and horrific. I have done a lot of singing to get on down the road….I may try this at my next dentist appointment, too!? ♥
Paula, a very scary time in your life….thanks for sharing!! Brings back so many memories about the wreck Melinda, Holly and Emily were in.
Wrecks are NO fun…..I didn’t know about Melinda and the girls accident? Sorry to bring up icky memories ~♥
Classified Ad- Am looking for heated leather seats. Must fit Chevy Malibu. Price no object. (prefer stain resistant leather). 😉
cute….lol!
I so totally know where you are coming from. Mine was a head-on collision and two of my girls were in the back seat. Thank you Father that I was in a Volvo – tough as nails and even in the 80s had shoulder restraints for back seat. Here is my list.
* Horse feed will explode on impact and resembles brain matter (to someone who has never seen it) when it is covering your children.
* Very thankful that my youngest who was very small for a 5 year old, was still in a full car seat.
* Even if you are hurt, adrenaline keeps you going when you have babies to worry about
* When you are panicked, you can’t always remember where your third child is at – thank goodness to a diligent EMT who tracked her down.
* I had farmers as did the guy who hit me – we were both canceled.
* Never settle too early
* My doc said I would never ride horses again 😦
* I was scared to drive again, go over turnpike bridges and of cars to close to the center of the road.
* The older I get, the more effects I discover from that day.
* I am thankful that I and my children (and the other driver) all walked away from this wreck even if both cars were totaled.
So sorry Paula, I so totally know where you are coming from. Mine was a head-on collision and two of my girls were in the back seat. Thank you Father that I was in a Volvo – tough as nails and even in the 80s had shoulder restraints for back seat. Here is my list, which I could add to your list because I experienced most of the same feelings.
* Horse feed will explode on impact and resembles brain matter (to someone who has never seen it) when it is covering your children.
* Very thankful that my youngest who was very small for a 5 year old, was still in a full car seat.
* Even if you are hurt, adrenaline keeps you going when you have babies to worry about
* When you are panicked, you can’t always remember where your third child is at – thank goodness to a diligent EMT who tracked her down.
* I had farmers as did the guy who hit me – we were both canceled.
* Never settle too early
* My doc said I would never ride horses again 😦
* I was scared to drive again, go over turnpike bridges and of cars to close to the center of the road.
* The older I get, the more effects I discover from that day.
* I am thankful that I and my children (and the other driver) all walked away from this wreck even if both cars were totaled.
One thing that I will always remember is when the dust cleared, my car engine had stopped but my tape player was still playing. When I could hear again, the chorus to Petra’s “I Have a Thankful Heart” started playing. That pretty much sums it up;
Thanks, Darla, for sharing your list. The horsefeed made me laugh…the fact that you couldn’t ride anymore, well that made me sad. I was so glad that no one was in the vehicle with me. Of course, I kept thinking, if my pups had been in the car…..
Awesome song to continue clinging to today! ♥
I’m so sorry to hear all this. I know all too much about knee surgery- I’ve had four. I’m stopping by your blog after seeing you stop by my facebook. I don’t have a retail outlet but do have an online shop:: http://www.thetrunkshop.etsy.com
Oh my…four….your poor thing! I will check out your on-line shop! Appreciate the visit!
Paula, I sooooo can relate. I rolled my S-10 Blazer when I was in grad school, and it took months to not have moments of panic when I was behind the wheel. The sound of brakes squealing would cause me to have to pull over and gather myself for a few minutes.
I’ve also been on the other side of the equation. Right before I moved back to Oklahoma from Denver, I was accelerating to get onto a turnpike, and a gal in a small truck pulled right out in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and swerved as sharply as I could, but I still slammed into her right where her front door meets the front quarter panel. She seemed kind of out of it, so I called 911 to have them send an ambulance. I was so mad (adrenaline rush!) at her for pulling out in front of me, even though I was worried she was hurt. All I got was a bump on the knee, while she got a ride to the hospital. I never called to find out how she was–I didn’t know her name or any information. The highway patrol and the insurance company took over the scene, and I called friends to come take me home while they towed my totaled 325ix (my classic old baby) away. Now I wish I’d called to check on her 😦 Thanks for sharing this story.
When we lived in Joplin, I had a guy turn in front of me and I didn’t see him because of the car to the left of me. I smacked his new car a good one. (I was in a truck) An older gentleman….I felt bad. I made sure he was okay, then the officer suggested that I leave because he was going to write him a ticket. Thanks for telling BOTH sides of the story, Nancy ~ glad you are okay and sorry about your “baby”.
OK…my story…hit from behind on elevated exit ramp…pushed over onto freeway upside down at 5:00 rush hour…what did I learn?
*I had a great manicurist…had just had a mani/pedi…didn’t even chip a nail…would have thanked her but she didn’t speak English….
*Looking up to see 80 year old church friend sliding down embankment with panic-stricken face made me feel very loved…accident site happened to be same as where he had lost his wife in accident 20 years previous..
*A friendship that had been broken and battered and bruised and irreparably scarred was somewhat healed when friend witnessed crash and came running to help pull me out of car…
*The 2 cars that almost crashed into me after landing on freeway were being driven by an ER nurse on way to work and an off-duty traffic policeman…conincidence? I think not…
*Having strangers chase down the person who hit me and left the scene makes one proud that there are good people in the world, especially my world at that particular time…
*Getting hit by someone with no insurance driving a car that wasn’t his and belonging to someone with no insurance is probably better than being hit by someone with Farmers…State Farm took good care of us…
*If I hadn’t known this before that day, which I did…God is good…
Blessed that we are all here to tell our stories…
I thought about you while I was writing this….you hanging upside down on one of the busiest freeways in TX. As frightening as it all was….God had all your “people” lined up to take care of you.
You are right about the insurance. I was told by someone in my law office I’d have been much better off had my person had no insurance. No that is sad.
Glad you are okay, my friend ♥
Pingback: My Witness ~ A Note From Ginifer Ree & “Three Years Ago Today” follow-up ~ | stuff i tell my sister
Pingback: And Now FOUR Years Ago Today…. | stuff i tell my sister
Bless you a powerful post. So glad you are back in one piece, love the knee surgery joke on 4 years ago 🙂
Thanks a bunch…..if not for laughter…we would be in trouble! Have a great weekend ~ 🙂