Saturday Night

Rumbles of thunder outside seem to add to the overall forboding feelings of the night. The house is deathly quite. As I reach back to rub my aching neck, and adjust the pillows for my back, scenes from last night flash through my mind again for what seems the hundredth time…

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It was about 6:30 p.m. Darkness had settled over about 45 minutes previously. The on and off rain of the day had settled into a light drizzle. I had been running around all day, and still had several things left to do before I could call it a day.

Early that morning, I went to hand out Christmas greetings with others from my church at the big, downtown Columbia parade. I then had to replace a taillight in my car, and set up a time to get my front brake pads replaced. Next, I went to visit and spend time with my Sunday School kids, and make sure they were going to get up the next morning and ride the bus. I was late to go vacuum the church sanctuary, and then went directly to another parade to hand out more Christmas greetings. I was leaving the church to go meet my friend Dahlia and get a bite to eat before I met this guy to fix my breaks.

“What is all this traffic from?” I wondered. “Oh, yeah, that living Christmas story at the Methodist Church….I wish they would think of a way to avoid all this congestion of cars. I’ve got places to go. I need to get down to the light so I don’t have to turn left at that dangerous intersection without a light…. Oh, good, I can cross here and go down to the light.”

Meanwhile, there was a driver behind me going through the same predicament. However, she did not see the opening to get down to the light, so she continued straight and would chance the dangerous intersection.

“Okay, great, green light, I’m good to go.”

“CRASH!!!” ‘AAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” “I’m spinning in a circle. I have no control. My eyes are burning. It stinks in here. Oh, no, somebody’s gonna hit me from behind, and it’s over. I’m so dead.” I braced myself, waiting for the impact from behind, but thank the Lord, it never came.

“Okay, Kristi, pull it together. Where’s your phone? Call somebody. Can you get out of your car? Why won’t the horn quit honking? Where did that car come from? I’m SSOOOO MAD! I don’t want to go through this again. Not another car totaled!! Calm down. Get out of the car. Good. Okay, see if the other girl is okay. See if the police are on their way. Call Dahlia. Guess I won’t be needing that brake job!!”

Everyone was okay. We filled out the police report. The other driver was at fault. It was the driver that had been following me previously, but didn’t see how to get down to the traffic light. She never saw me coming.

I shed a few tears as my car was being towed away.

The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and I was really starting to hurt, but insisted I was fine and did not need to go to the hospital. I’m finally getting something to eat. My phone rings again. My head is starting to feel a little groggy…
“Hey, Kristi. Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“When did the accident happen?”

“Sometime last year…” What did I just say?

“Kristi, it couldn’t have happened last year… Are you SURE you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking, hon.” Wait a minute. Hon??? What AM I thinking. I don’t ever call people hon. Especially a man from my church…

“Kristi, I think you should go to the doctor.”

“Yeah, okay. I’m fine really. I gotta go.”

Dahlia takes me home, insisting the whole time I should go get checked out. But I’m pretty stubborn. “What’s the doctor gonna do, Say, “yeah, you’re hurting. It’ll be that way for a few days, then you’ll be better’?”

I’m at home, trying to explain what happened when I start talking about the airbag…or tried to, at least. Instead of saying “my airbag”, I say “my facemask”. What? Where did that come from? I think my mind is just in shock or something. Things are just not coming out right. And what is that awful pain in my mouth and that burning feeling on my leg?

Well, my mom gives me no choice but to go to the doctor, so I’m back out the door.

The doc takes some x-rays, says I have bruised muscles in my back and a slight head injury. He gave me a pain pill prescription, and general instructions that I’d be feeling bad for a few days.

After I got home again, I realized that the burning feeling on my leg was an actual burn from the friction created by the airbag.

I woke up this morning feeling like a train wreck, (well, at least a car wreck! Ha ha). My neck was sore from whiplash, and my back just plain hurt. I also discovered what the pain was in my mouth as I went to brush my teeth. During the impact, I had apparently taken a chunk out of my tongue. No lie. You can see clearly where it’s missing, and there’s a little piece hanging down. GROSS! Yeah, I know. No wonder it hurts so bad!

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I stayed home all day from church wondering if my Sunday School kids missed me. I hope so. I missed them.

When I go to get all of my “stuff” out of my car, I’ll try to take a few pictures for you all. It’s pretty banged up.

Count your blessings this season. We are truly blessed just to have each other around!