A Case of the Mondays
The past two weekends have been busy and exciting for me. On Friday, June 6, I saw Stone Temple Pilots in concert at Roy Wilkins Auditorium. It was an awesome show, and the crowd loved the band. For most of the show, I could hear the audience singing along with the songs. This past weekend, Mom and Dad drove down to the Cities and stayed with me Saturday and Sunday. We went to the Stone Arch Festival of the Arts, and I took them out to eat at Kikugawa. They really liked the food they ordered (shrimp tempura for Mom, chicken teriyaki for Dad), and Mom even tried my sushi (but she didn’t like it nearly as much as she liked her own order). Mom and Dad stuck around to watch me bartend, too. On Father’s Day, we went to church at St. Joan of Arc, and though I was worried they’d find SJA too liberal for their liking, they liked how refreshing and encouraging Mass was. As they put it, “As long as it has the Eucharist, we really don’t care what the rest of it is like.” Kevin joined us for Father’s Day brunch at my house, and the four of us had a pleasant afternoon together.

Unfortunately, this week did not start out well. I was in a car accident yesterday (Monday) on my way to work, my second one in two years’ time. I wasn’t hurt, but my car sustained damages. I was driving along 66th Street in Richfield, not even five to six blocks from my house, heading east where I would eventually pick up Hwy. 77 to head to Burnsville. Annoying construction projects in the area reduced the normal two lanes of traffic in each direction down to one lane, so there were plenty of cars on the road. As I approached an intersection, a tan van suddenly pulled out right in front of me, turning left onto 66th St. so she could head in the same direction I was going. I swerved to avoid hitting her, and plowed into the 66th St./Columbus Ave. sign, knocking it right over. I don’t know if the driver of the van saw what happened; she just kept on driving.

After 15-30 seconds of sitting, completely stunned, in my car, I got out to assess the damage. My right front headlight was knocked completely out of its “socket,” but at least the glass didn’t shatter. The right front bumper bent downwards, nearly touching the ground, and the front side panel, located above the tire and ending at the headlight, was bent like asphalt heaving upward. At least my car was still drivable.

A witness gave me the number for the Richfield Police Department, who sent out an officer once I called and explained what happened, stating that I wanted to file a report. Two more witnesses, bless their hearts, confirmed that a tan van hit me and that a woman was driving it, and the older gentleman of the duo wrote down the van’s license plate number and gave it to me, along with his business card if the police needed to contact him for further information. The accident was not my fault, although the police officer told me that it would have been better if I had actually hit the van because the driver of that vehicle could contest my statement as it currently stands, stating that “Oh, she had plenty of room” or something like that. The whole thing happened so fast, and I didn’t want to hit the other vehicle because I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I had hurt someone else. So, I swerved to avoid her and took out a street sign instead.

Later on, once the officer left and I had called my insurance company, I drove my car over to La Mettry’s Collision so they could do the necessary repairs. An employee estimated that my car sustained around $1,700 worth of damages. At least my car wasn’t totaled. Progressive will take care of all expenses except for the $500 deductible. They also arranged for a car rental for me, and an Enterprise representative picked me up, taking me over to their Bloomington location to fill out paperwork for the rental. So, I’m driving a brand new 2008 Chevy Cobalt, black in color, until tomorrow morning when I head up to Alaska for six days.

I arrived at work about 10:30, two-and-a-half hours later than I wanted to, and I forced myself to focus on the day’s tasks, but I kept thinking about the accident, and was still on edge because of it. I’m thankful that I wasn’t hurt, that no one else was, that my car wasn’t totaled, that some good Samaritans helped me out and kept me in good spirits despite the terrifying nature of the ordeal, and that I get to drive a new car for a couple days. The accident could have been much worse. But I don’t like the fear of driving that has taken hold of me, the nervousness I feel whenever I get behind the wheel of a car. I feel 10 years older, and less confident than I used to be. Plus, the accident happened two days before I head up to Alaska, but of course, accidents never happen at opportune times. I know it will take some time to get my courage back, to feel less vulnerable after having had a brush with mortality, but I hope the fear won’t take too strong of a hold on me, grabbing on with all it’s got and never letting go. I just want to be okay.

I’m definitely looking forward to my much-needed vacation even more now.