And Nothing Says Happy Birthday Like A Car Accident

Yes you heard me. Yesterday as we were out running to get Issac's birthday present from Toys 'R Us we found ourselves being rear ended by a brand new Ford Expedition. Of the four of us, the women who was driving, her mother, Travis, and I, none had ever been in an accident. She was obviously distressed and crying. She kept apologizing. I told her no one intends to get into an accident. It's okay. Regardless we were in line of traffic that goes both left and straight. We had a green arrow and as I was approaching the intersection to turn left the green arrow disappeared to a stale green. I yielded to the oncoming traffic, it felt like a decent amount of time, before I heard squeeling and felt the impact. I guess she thought I was going to go and she started to swerve around me because her drivers side front was mangled and just my passenger back was damaged. I think my shock kept me calm. We called our insurance company, the police to write up an incident report - orders from the insurance company. And after waiting over an hour for the police to get there the whole affair from the time of the accident to us pulling away was a about two and a half hours. The kids were pretty good waiting in the car, but I felt horrible that Issac's precious birthday time was being spent so frivilously.

In the end and in the spirit of Thanksgiving I realized all the many blessings from this little incident:

1. Travis was with me making my first accident much more bareable.

2. No one was hurt. Thank you annoying car seats.

3. Our car had relatively little damage, especially considering what hers looked like and that her driver's side door wouldn't open.

4. She had insurance to handle little mishaps such as these.

5. It really did help me to slow down on my crazy Christmas planning crap and appreciate the stuff we have and my amazing kids.