The Wreck

Three years ago this past February I had an accident
in my car. It’s a funny story in a way if a car accident
can be funny.

I worked with two photographers for the State of
Tennessee at the time. Our director and a good
friend of mine had lost her husband to cancer.
The three of us were heading out after work to
go to the funeral home for visitation that evening.
We were taking our own cars since we all lived in
different areas and that way we could all head to
the house afterwards.

Jed decided to hit the interstate, where Phil and I
decided to head down a four lane highway. I was
following behind Phil. We had just came out from
stopping at a red light, had gotten our speed up to
about 15 or 20 miles per hour when a woman in
front of Phil hit her brakes. Phil in turn put his brakes
on, I at that time had glanced in my rear view mirror.
As I looked back at Phil’s car, I hit my brakes, pulled
to the left to try to avoid hitting him, with no such
luck. Yikes…yes, I ran up the rear of his car. I was
amazed at the amount of damage at such a low
rate of speed.

I had a Saturn, he has a Pacifica. His car sits up
high in the rear, where mine sat down low in the
front. That really does not make for a good combo.
I did a little of three thousand dollars worth of damage
to his car and I totaled mine. Oh, I hear you asking
about the woman in front of Phil, the one that started
all this, as Phil hit his brakes, she took her foot off hers
and applied the gas. I am sure she was not even aware
of the accident.

The fun does not stop here. Phil, bless his heart (yes
Phil, I know you love that saying), he gets out of his
car, runs back to check on me, and I might add, without
looking back to check on his car. His concern was that
I was okay. While I am at it, let me throw in here that
Phil is one of those good guys you hear tell about, he
has been a really good friend to have around.

Anyway, he runs back to check on me. We pull the
cars off the road into a parking lot and Phil calls
the police. I use his phone to call my Mom and a
wrecker service. If you are asking why I used his
phone then that will prove to me that you did not
read my post on July 25, about cell phones! Anyway,
calls made, we waited. I kept making comments
about his car and Phil kept telling me to stop worrying
about it, it was an accident and it would be okay,
accidents happen. If he was upset with me, he
never showed it.

While we waited, Phil asked me what I was going
to do for a car. I told him that I figured that would
not be a problem, my brothers had plenty of cars
so I felt like they would let me borrow one. He said,
we can have this one fixed, I can drive my mustang
and you can drive this one. I looked at him, eyes
watering a bit and said something like, “Phil honey,
I just wrecked your car and you are offering to let
me drive it after it is fixed until I get one”? Even
with the sweetness of it all he would look at me
and smile, telling me that I knew this one was
not going to die in the office anytime soon!

Okay, all said and done, Police arrives, not a very
friendly one at that and dummy me had locked
the car with my purse in it. But he was able to
look me up on the computer. He wanted to know
if Phil wanted to have him write me a ticket for
hitting him.

When I get nervous, I joke around even more then
usual, so of course I was joking around a lot. When
the cop looked at Phil and I and asked did we know
each other and I said that I tell Phil what to do
everyday the cop wanted to know if I was his boss.
When I replied “No, better then that, I am his
secretary”, I don’t think the cop was any to happy!
Oh well.

With all this said and done, Phil’s car was okay to
drive, mine was not. Had to have mine hauled to
the wrecker service, family friends. Later to learn
that I had cracked the housing that the motor sat
in. My car was a goner.

I drove one or the other of my youngest brother’s
cars. Either the old AMC Spirit (my Dad’s old car),
Mark’s BMW, or his truck) for a couple of weeks
until I found a car I wanted. Thanks bud.

Although the reason I was following Phil was not a
good one, the accident was not good, the fact that I
ran into the guy I worked with was kind of funny.
We seem to find humor in the oddest of things at
times. As funny as that could have gotten, it really
did not live long in the office. Phil was not one to
let it ride. But it is good for a laugh here and there
when it is brought up between us.

It was also the reason I finally broke down and got
a cell phone. Phil reminded me at the time of the
accident when I had to use his that I needed one,
that if I had hit anyone else I would have had to
walk to find a phone. He was right….yes Phil, I
said it, you were RIGHT!

Thanks for stopping in,
Pam