There, But For The Grace Of God

So, my day was progressing pretty normally... and then a tree fell on my car while I was driving to work.

Having a tree fall on you while driving is, I now realize, an event with no context: you can't say you're prepared for it, or relate it to something like, well, a tree falling on you. You're just going along and then... bam. Literally.

It was one of those moments of bad weather where one realizes, too late, that this trip, at this time, was a bad idea. When I saw the leaves blowing ahead and above me in circles, I realized the potential for a tornado was far more immediate than I'd ever anticipated; but even then, it took a moment to realize that the tree was toppling and coming right down on me.

All those things people say about events like this going in slow motion... I have to say, that's just how it feels. You see the tree, you see where it's headed, you realize the crash is unavoidable... and then it happens. And, if you're lucky, you're still there afterwards.

The windshield is smashed. The tree sort of hit the hood and I think it rolled, or I was still moving forward; I can't exactly say. The driver side rearview mirror was knocked out of it's frame. When I went into the passenger side to retrieve the insurance card, I realized that the right side door frame had been bent and mangled, in such a way that the door now will not close. That's when I realized there were shards of windshield glass all over the passenger side dash and seat, and that there was glass laying, more or less, on my right cheek.

The police came, and there was a report, and the car was towed, and we had to get a rental... and I was an hour late for work. And yes, all of that made serving coffee and supervising a store staff kind of surreal. It's hard to explain an accident where so much potential for injury existed... but nothing that bad happened. I know I am lucky. It's not hard to see, not hard to imagine, how much worse things could have been (or even how easily this could have been avoided, if I'd left at a different time, or gone another way). I'd like to think, I tend to think, that this is, actually, an example of a car doing for it's driver what it was intended to do: absorb the impact of an object hitting it, while protecting those inside. I can't say I'm unhappy, just now, with Ford. Indeed, I think I'll stay pretty loyal, given that I got out, and walked away.

It's easy, of course, to overplay the "you could have died" element. As much as I'm carrying on, trying to go about things normally... the sense that "this was not my time" does kind of hang over the proceedings, and I'm not unaware, and even grateful that it wasn't that much worse. There, but for the grace of God. In this moment, it's a little more apparent than the others. It's nice to be home. I'm glad I survived. And though I may seem calm, deliberative, rational about the experience... don't let the ease of this telling fool ya.

Comments

[Leigh]

So relieved you're ok! What a terrifying experience, and walking away from it doesn't mean you are not going to be reliving the experience for awhile to come! Hang in there!!!! xoxoxo

[jinb]

yeah, the slo-mo thing is killer, cause you think you should be able to change the course of events as they unfold, but then, of course, you can't

...no more drama from you for a while though!

: )