Crash Into Me

The route between my apartment and Holly's house is a well-worn path. Her and I could probably both drive it with our eyes closed. We live approximately 4 or 5 miles apart, however, if you are traveling during rush hour, it could take up to 20 minutes. On Saturday afternoon, I was headed home from Holly's after having been downtown. It was a beautiful day, albeit, a very cold one (I had to stop in at one of the million Starbucks locations downtown to try the new Cinnamon Dolce Latte to keep me warm while walking outside). I drove the path home while catching up with my mom on the phone. I turned left from King St. to Callahan, passed the Masonic Temple, and was getting ready to turn right onto Duke. The stoplight was out, but because Callahan is a small two-lane connection street and Duke is a major road, the light is almost always red. I slowed to a stop, turned back left to see if I could join the traffic, and the next thing I knew, I was catapulted into 3 lanes of oncoming traffic. I hit my head (though I'm unsure if it was the door frame or the steering wheel) and I was completely dazed.

When I realized what had happened, I stopped screaming, made note of the 3 lanes of traffic honking at me and moved my car to the side of the road. It was such an unexpected thing and I was so confused by the hit on my head that I was still partly whimpering as I moved my car. I couldn't figure out why cars were still honking at me like crazy, couldn't they see that I had just been violently hit from behind? I was expecting the worst when I got out, I was still unsure of what had actually happened. I thought my car would be completely smashed in and all the audio books in my trunk from the drive to Florida would be scattered all over the road. I first looked at the lady that was out of the car and on the phone. She was saying something about how she was calling the police and asking me if I needed medical attention. All I could say through my pathetic whimpers was, "You hit me? You HIT me!" At that time, I looked at the back of my car and I thought for a split second that I had dreamed it all up, my car looked almost unharmed, as did the VW that was busy being pulled to the side of the road as well.

Just then, I remembered my mom. I climbed back in the car in pursuit of my cell phone. I finally found it on the floor in the back seat, still open. As I put it to my ear I could hear my mom crying and screaming, "KARYN! KARYN!" I told her I was okay but just kept saying over and over again, "My head. I hit my head. My head hurts." The ambulance was there and I had to get off the phone. I learned later that I did not do a very good job of convincing my mom that I was okay. It took several minutes of her talking to my sister, and my sister distracting her by telling her all about her first week of Field Work, to do that.

They kept asking me if I wanted to go to the hospital and I kept replying with, "Of course I don't WANT to go to the hospital." I called Holly as she only lives about a mile from the site of the incident and told her what had happened. However, since she was in an accident exactly one week prior, almost to the hour, she had no car. Her roommate dropped her off and as I saw her walking towards my car, I was relieved. I didn't have to talk to the policeman by myself. I gave her a hug and she looked at the bump on my head between my eye and eyebrow and she said, "It looks like you just got your eyebrows waxed." I remember thinking, "...except I know I need to pluck so it probably looks like the eyebrow waxer did not do a very good job."

Ultimately, the guy driving the car did not get a ticket. The cop said that he couldn't issue a citation because of the stoplight being out. However, the guy admitted it was his fault and I went yesterday to the claims adjuster of his insurance company. My car will have to be in the shop for three days, but hopefully I'll get a sweet rental car. I will also have to buy a new pair of sunglasses because my precious Ralph Lauren's were broken and lying on the floor of the passenger side of my car. I'm not sure what it is with car trouble this month. Brianna's poor little ghetto-clipse got backed into by the teenager across the street, Holly's car is most likely unfixable as a result of her accident, and my roommate broke down twice yesterday (once being last night in the middle of the street at a stoplight with me driving behind her...in my pajamas, a cop had to help her move it to the side of the road and we had to find a 24 hour towing company and wait for them to come to tow the car two-tenths of a mile to the gas station and charge her 70 bucks for doing so...all while trying to get home in time for the premier of The Bachelor in Paris).