Just Ridiculous

The most ridiculous things happen to me.

I know, I know, they happen to you too.  They happen to all of us.  But seriously...when I tell people the things that happen to me, they stare blankly.  Because they're ridiculous.  Utterly ridiculous.

I had a car accident about a week and a half ago, on 12/2.  The blame lies totally on me.  Bryson and I had ordered a pizza while the girls went to lunch with their youth pastor, and we went to pick it up.  I had lazily pulled into Mom and Dad's driveway the night before rather than spending the time backing it in so that I could quickly (and safely) pull out in the morning...mistake #1.  As I backed out of the driveway, I did my usual glance-over-my-shoulders-after-stopping-before-the-sidewalk-for-fear-of-backing-over-a-pedestrian-with-his-dog, then glanced over to make sure Bryson had his seatbelt on, and continued over that shoulder as well...and seeing nothing, backed into the eastbound lane...I heard something crash, looked in the rearview mirror, and all I could think was that I'd hit the garbage can at the end of the driveway, which made no sense...when I looked up, I realized we were no longer in the driveway, but were facing westbound in the eastbound lane, and I heard another crash.  Looking into my rearview mirror again, I noticed that my back window was gone, and there was an SUV on it's roof behind my van.  I jumped out of the car, absolutely shocked, and for a moment...stood there, with no understanding of what had actually happened.  Bryson jumped out of his seat, and ran into the house to get my dad to call 911--Dad had heard the crash and was already on the phone.  I couldn't make sense of the car on it's roof--which side was which--and could only see the deployed side air bags through the windows.  A passer-by with his wits about him helped the woman out of the vehicle, and she really seemed to be basically fine (though we wouldn't let her stand up until the ambulance got there)...you know, other than the fact that her vehicle had flipped from it's tires to it's top in a matter of 20 feet...

I never even saw her.  And I looked.  I hit her rear passenger side door--she drove a Nissan Pathfinder.  She didn't swerve, didn't slam on her brakes, didn't blow her horn...nothing.  I hit her, her car sort of swerved just barely over the double yellow, and it flipped over and slid on it's top.  When all was said and done, it smashed out my rear window, crushed the passenger side back corner, and crumpled my back bumper.  They life-flighted the other driver to Sayre, and she wound up with glass in her eyes and a headache.  I got a ticket for failure to yield in a roadway...the paper reported it as "unsafe driving" (of course, they also called me Melinda Frazer, and said I was driving a station wagon...but whatever...then they splashed a picture of it with the article on the front page of the Leader. Good grief.).  I stood watching everything get cleaned up and taken care of, talking to the policeman, watching them flip the car back over...in absolute disbelief.  I have no idea how it happened.  No idea what I could have done differently.  Looked longer?  Looked again?  Backed up more slowly to get across two lanes of road?  Left 2 minutes sooner?  Not ordered pizza?  The whole thing is surreal.  Crazy.  Ridiculous.

What I know isn't ridiculous?  That my girls were with Pastor Rachel, and not in the back seats.  That none of the airbags went off.  That the van wasn't totalled.  That I didn't pull out even 2 seconds sooner...when Bryson's side of the van would have received a direct hit...possibly killing him.  Those facts aren't ridiculous.  Our vehicles have high deductibles, but full coverage, which includes towing and rental cars. I hit her before I even really started moving, and she received minimal injuries, from what I understand.  It could have been so much worse.

Will I be so glad when 2010 ends, and this is all over?  Maybe.  Do I think it doesn't matter what year it is...ridiculous things just seem to happen to me?  *Snicker*  Yes.  But something else I know...I know that even amidst all of the crappiness of the past several months...I have so little about which to complain.  I am alive.  Loved.  Fortunate.  Blessed.  The ridiculous may surround me...but so does my Protector.  I may continually fall into places of despair...but not without the company of my Provider.  I might be confused and frustrated and beside myself...but not without the full knowledge and attention of the Peace-Giver.  More to come in 2011?  Bring it on.