I went to the consignment shop to drop off some clothes. I was gonna stay and shop for some new clothes with my store credit, but the baby started fussing, so I decided to shop later. If only I had stayed a few minutes more to look around.
Because the baby was tired, I thought about going straight home. But instead, I headed to the Women's Center to drop off the clothes the consignment shop didn't want (for their clothes closet).
If only I had stayed at the apartment. Or stayed to shop. Or took my son home right away.
If only I had even sat at one more red light than I did. If I had let one more car go by before I turned.
If any of those things had happened, I wouldn't have been exactly in the wrong spot at the wrong time, driving down East 1st Ave. approaching Oleander, just the same moment that a woman in an SUV, sitting at a stop sign on Oleander, who happened to have alot on her mind and wasn't paying attention, pulled out right in front of me. I saw a golden streak of car headed straight for me. "Jesus!" I slammed on my breaks and swerved right to avoid her. And then there was that moment - I realized it was just too late. For a split second, I thought "Oh my gosh, I'm gonna hit her. This is really happening to me." But it was still somehow surreal.
BOOM. My body rocked with the jolting vehicle. I couldn't believe it was happening. The baby, in the back seat, started screaming. Oh man.
I was able to pull over out of the way of traffic. I got out of the car and rushed around to check on my son. He had huge tears in his eyes. His mouth was bleeding a little bit. Did he bite his lip? His finger was in his mouth. Did he bite that? Was it his tongue? He seemed OK though.
A man ran up to me. He handed me his card and said "I saw the whole thing. She ran into you. I'll be a witness if you need one." I took his card and thanked him much, then he quickly disappeared.
The lady who hit me approached and we made sure everyone was alright. We both called 911, to see if the police wanted to do a report. But since no one was seriously injured, they didn't come out.
The woman said something to the effect of "Boy, you sure hit me hard!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You had a stop sign. I didn't have a stop sign, so I had the right of way." She looked at the intersection again and realized I was correct about this. All of the sudden, it was Penitent City. Oh I'm so sorry. Don't worry, honey, I have good insurance, they'll take care of you, they can fix this. I'm in the middle of a lawsuit. I must've had my head up my a*?# thinking about the lawsuit and just not paying attention.
Yeeeah. I guess so. We exchanged information.We waited for our husbands to come. Joel took some photos. Her car got towed. I took the baby home to nurse him - he fell straight asleep.
The next day we find out she's contesting the claim and I'll have to give a statement. She obviously doesn't know what she's doing. She doesn't have a chance. Every insurance person we've talked to in the last two days says this is a "slam dunk." I am superfluously thankful for that. And that no one got hurt.
But what a drag.
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