Basically a commercial for Onstar

So, as I discovered when I called JP and texted my family, there's no good way to ease into this: I was in a car accident today. A pretty bad one. I'm home and I'm fine, so I'll just jump in. 

I was supposed to meet my barre-teacher friend for lunch at her fancy country club at 11:00. I was super excited and dressed up in my finest country club couture: a clingy navy blue wrap dress with white stripes, pearls, and pumps. I'd even blown out my hair, a sign of honor for a club with an entry fee more costly than my first year of law school. I left perfectly on time and had just merged onto the highway that runs by my office, the one I take home every day, and was cruising down the right-hand lane, looking to get off at the next exit, just like I take home every day, when I noticed a semi-truck barreling down the highway just behind me. Then he appeared to be getting oddly close to my lane. Then I realized he was IN my lane. I don't really remember what happened next, but the police officer later told me that I first hit the cement wall that runs along the highway. Then I hit the semi. Then I hit the wall again. I'm not sure when I realized I was crashing, but I know I screamed. The scream is what I remember most, actually. The airbags all deployed. They were loud and they smelled.

My car stopped, facing sideways across two lanes of traffic and I realized several things at once: My door was missing. My front tires appeared to be punctured, lying flat on their sides, and looking up at me from underneath my car. The truck had kept on driving. No one was stopping. I was blocking traffic. My car was still in drive, though it was not moving. My windshield wipers were on. My seat belt was really tight. My purse had spilled out all over the front seat. I didn't know where my phone was. My directions and upbeat barre music were still being pumped cheerfully through my sound system, which confused me because I thought my car was off.

I didn't know what I was supposed to do. My leg was bleeding. My little dash computer told me to "shift to P," so I did. I tried to find my phone, but didn't know where it was. I realized if the music was still playing, it must still be connected to the audio input cable, so I pulled on that. My hands were shaking really hard. I finally got the phone, only to drop it, find it again, and drop it. I couldn't get it to unlock because I couldn't type in my passcode because of my shaking. I belatedly remembered you can press "emergency call" from the locked screen. I finally got it unlocked, but then I couldn't get it off the maps. Then I finally got to the phone app and called JP. Then I realized that was not the correct first call and hung up to dial 911. I misdialed twice and finally managed the 9-1-1 and started talking to an operator. It was MANY minutes before I managed to do this, so I was a walking (sitting?) commercial for Onstar.

Sometime in the middle of the phone drops I climbed over into the passenger seat and turned off the car. I tried to stand up and decided that was a bad idea and then just prayed none of the other cars zooming past me hit me as they swerved around. A policeman pulled on while I was still talking to 911. More people came. I hung up. An ambulance arrived. Someone helped me walk over to it and I got some bandaids and blood pressure readings. I explained that super low blood pressure was my norm and once my pulse stabilized they asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. I thought that was more of a "them" question, so I asked if there was anything the hospital could do for me that I couldn't do at home. They said no, as long as my neck and back weren't hurting (they were not), so I asked to please just go home.

I finally called JP and sort of explained the situation. By now I had traffic backed up to Dallas, so he couldn't come get me, so a very nice paramedic said he'd drop me at home. I asked the police officer to get my yoga mat from my wrecked car and watched rather detached while he walked across the highway, periwinkle yoga mat in hand, while the tow truck driver picked up pieces of my car from all over the place to throw in the back of his truck. I called the insurance company, after I got some other cop-type-person to get my insurance card out of the glove box when I realized I didn't even know which insurance company I used.

The insurance call finally ended when the paramedic pulled up in my driveway. I walked inside, hugged JP, and fell to pieces.

Then I felt better. Then I took a lavender epsom salt balt and felt even MORE better (as Claire would say).

So I'm fine. Honestly pretty fantastic given the state of my ruined Highlander. My leg scrapes have healed up some already, the burns on my forearms (from the airbags? I guess?) and across my chest (seat belt) are lighter, and my right hip is swollen (again, from what, I have no idea) but not yet bruised. I think this is my golden in-between period. The scrapes are better but the bruising hasn't yet appeared. Tomorrow, according to my new paramedic friend, is probably going to be a bitch.

I still can't quite believed it happened. I've never been in a serious accident before. My friends have been amazing. One picked up the girls from school for me (JP was at the pool), many offered dinners (I decided to cook, because I knew getting off the couch would be good for me, and it was), and one ordered me two dozen tiff's treats cookies. I'd already planned a date with one of my besties to watch Pitch Perfect 2 at 8:30 tonight, so I'm still on for that. I'm looking forward to sitting in a cozy chair, drinking a glass of wine, and losing myself in the musical stylings of the Barden Bellas.

I assume my car is beyond repair, but will know when the adjuster goes out to the tow lot tomorrow. I'm not sure what we'd get if we need a new one- I loved the highlander and it pretty much saved my life, so we may just get another one of those, but I'm open to other options. We just need 3 seats to fit across the back. After realizing how powerless you can be in a situation like that, my kids aren't graduating from their car seats until they're 15.

Right now I'm going to enjoy this window before the bruises set in, and be tremendously grateful for seat belts, air bags, first responders, and the fact that the kids weren't in the car. Oh good god am I glad the kids weren't in the car.

Off to enjoy my girl crush on Anna Kendrick and my love for all movies involving singing and/or dancing!