Middle School Orientation (gasp!) and a Fender Bender (yipe!)

So, I am a little bit traumatized...but thankfully, only a little...

So, last Monday, (March 10th, 2008) was Middle School Orientation. Mike and I sat, crammed in the bleachers and heard all about the new life our 10 year old, Evan will be experiencing next year. I felt totally nauseated, and wanted to run screaming into the night. I can't believe my baby will be in middle school this coming year. Several of the speakers said things along the lines of, "If you are 'first time' middle school parents, you will survive! It isn't that traumatic...there are many that have lived through it...your child is ready...blah, blah, blah..." I suppressed the urge to stand up on those overcrowded bleachers and shriek like a harpy, "Don't you pooh-pooh me you vice principal lady, you! This is MY baby we are talking about! I remember the trauma of middle school..."



But, I digress...



On Tuesday, (March 11, 2008) Mike called to say that he would be home late so, he needed to just meet us at church. Mike had church meetings and Evan had Cub Scouts, so we headed out. Once we arrived at church, I noticed that I forgot my wallet and didn't grab the cell phone...I was busy concentrating on making sure that we had all of Adam's unfinished homework, stuff to occupy Brian and a change of clothes for Mike. When Cub Scouts was over I enjoyed the excitement of trying to round my brood up as they protested, "We want to go home with Daddy!!" I had to lovingly (and I use the term "lovingly", loosely) remind them that it was a school night and I didn't have any idea what time Daddy would be done with his meetings. So, after all manner of protesting, I finally shoved lovingly coaxed the boys into the van and headed home. We were less than an half of a mile away from our driveway when I noticed out of the corner of my eye a car pulling out of a parking lot and headed straight for us. I tried to swerve but the other car clipped the rear quarter panel and back bumper on the driver's side of our van. I pulled over and so did the other driver and I was met with a sobbing 17 year old girl that kept repeating with rising panic in her voice, "I didn't see you, I didn't see you!" I tried to calm her by speaking softly and assuring her that no one in my vehicle was even scratched, and it looked like minimal damage to both vehicles. I knew that we needed to call 911 to have the police arrive and fill out and accident report but, she was already so upset that I didn't mention 911 and just gently asked her if she had a cell phone, because as mentioned before, I had forgotten mine. With trembling fingers she handed me this little white rectangle that I had no idea how to use...I tried to flip it open but I couldn't figure out how...I studied the front of it, but it only had a few buttons that I didn't know how to use so I asked her if she wanted to call her parents and made a mental note to pay close attention to how she operated the little white rectangle. I was then distracted by the boys yelling from their seats, "MOM! Can we get out?!" I rushed back to the van and told the boys they had to stay in the van, but they could unbuckle if they wanted to. I opened up the back (is it called a hatch? It really isn't a trunk, is it?) door to the van so the boys could see out but not get into the street. This proved to be an unwise decision on my part, because the boys were excitedly calling out to me with things like, "When she hit us I was like, WHOOOOAAAAA!!!" as they rocked back and forth reenacting the impact of the crash on their little bodies. There were also exclamations like, "Look at how it smashed the front of her car!" I shot them warning glances but then, Adam asked in a disgruntled tone why the airbags didn't deploy, (he didn't actually say, "deploy" I think he said, "pop-out"). I suppressed the urge to yell at the boys, "SILENCE! Can you not see that you are fahhhh-reaking this poor girl out?" I decided to go back to the van and tell them calmly that she was VERY upset and could they please be very quiet for me. I went back and told my new 17 year old, still sobbing friend, "See, everything is okay...they aren't hurt at all...they even wished the accident was worse so they could get to see the airbags." She smiled weakly as she continued to weep. About that time, Mike, who had gotten to leave the church a little bit earlier than I thought he was going to get to, saw us and pulled over. He made sure everyone was okay, and I whispered to him that we still needed to call 911. When I told my new friend that we needed to call 911, she handed me her white rectangle again, and cried quietly, "Can someone else do it?" I then handed Mike the white rectangle and he looked at it strangely so, I turned to her and asked sheepishly, "How do you dial?" She then slid the white rectangle open with her thumb. I have seen slide phones before, but never like this one. Mike called 911 and once they connected him with the local sheriff's office he asked permission for everyone involved to be able to pull into the high school parking lot that we were right beside. The officer said that was okay, so we pulled in and the boys jumped out and were bouncing around with enormous amounts of energy. Adam and Evan told the mother (who had just arrived) of the 17 year old girl, all about the crash and were laughing about the fact that I had screamed right before impact, "WATCH OUT!!!!!!" at the approaching car. I have no recollection of screaming at the other car to, "watch out" but, the boys were openly making fun of the fact that it was kind of ridiculous of me to think that the other driver could hear me, and do my bidding. Luckily, there was a tree in the landscaping on the side of the parking lot so, I told the boys to go climb it. Moments later, they were in the branches enjoying themselves and thankfully, out of the way. (You know how ages ago, people used to say, when they basically were trying to say, "Get Lost" or, "Scram", things like, "Go, jump in a lake!" or, "Go, fly a kite! "...I kind of felt that was what I was saying to my kids but, my words would have been, "Go, climb a tree!" I meant it literally, though).

Well, as mentioned before I didn't have my wallet (*whoopsie-daisy*) but, the responding officer let Mike run home and get it for me. We were so close to our home, Mike could have practically walked home to get it. Once he returned, it didn't take long to wrap up all of the details, flush the boys out of the tree, and head home to put everyone to bed.

Later that night I burst into tears. When Mike asked what was wrong I explained that it had just hit me that another vehicle was only inches away from Evan when she hit us...that only the metal of our car stood between a moving vehicle and my child. I don't know why I was so emotionally overcome with this realization two and a half hours later. No one was hurt, Evan was asleep in his bed...I still just sort of broke down for a moment there. Mike, as always, was totally understanding and said calming things to me. You know how you always hear that car accidents typically happen within a 5 mile radius of your house. Well, last year Mike was driving some of the young men from church back home after a service project and another car, "T-boned" him and totaled our Jeep. The accident wasn't Mike's fault but the insurance only covered for us to get a car that was a lot less in value. He was about 2.5 miles away from home when that accident occurred. I am now a total believer that accidents typically happen within a 5 mile radius of your home. Sheesh. Most of all, I am grateful that no one was hurt in both accidents.

(Brian 4 years and 10 months old, Adam 7 years and 8 months old, Evan 10 years and 8 months old)