3/9/15. The post where we continue to have bad "car"ma.

3/9/15: how was our day, you ask?  Well, it started out great.  We slept in, had a little breakfast with my mom, then packed up and headed home.  In the pouring rain.  On a freeway under construction.  The first two hours of the drive were fairly uneventful.

Then it happened.  We went through a section of the freeway that was surrounded by concrete barriers and drove through an area of standing water.  The cars in front of us came safely to a stop.  We came safely to a stop.  The woman in the SUV behind us, however, wasn't so fortunate.  She rear ended us, then slid across two lanes and down the embankment to the frontage road.  The good news?  We walked away, she walked away, and the people in the 6-8 cars caught in her wake walked away. 

The bad news?  Most of our cars were not so fortunate.  We spent about three hours sitting in our car on the frontage road in the pouring rain dealing with police, insurance agents, EMTs, and tow trucks.  My patient, long-suffering husband and I were both a little banged up and disoriented, but the impact was not severe enough for the air bags to deploy.  My head hit the headrest pretty hard and the EMTs checked me out thoroughly to ensure there were no obvious spinal issues and my spinal cord stimulator hadn't gone haywire.  I declined their offer to take me to the local hospital (which they assured me was "really nice") and promised to see my doctor tomorrow.  

The tow truck driver took us and the car all the way home to the repair shop, which would normally be an hour drive, but took about two and a half hours thanks to the rain and the construction work.  The repair shop greeted my patient, long-suffering husband like he was family, since he had just picked up his car about two weeks earlier from a one month stay to repair the ice storm damage.  They even had a rental car waiting for us.  We are beginning to think his car is cursed.  Fortunately, it does not appear to be totaled, although the rear passenger panel is toast.

One of the reasons we came out of this as well as we did is my patient, long-suffering husband's mad driving skillz.  We were the only car involved in the melee that did not have any damage on the front end.  He didn't hit the car ahead of us, he didn't hit the concrete barrier, and he didn't leave his lane.  I think he has a promising career as a stunt driver.  

We got home with just enough time to unload the rental car and head to handbell practice.  My patient, long-suffering husband had another rehearsal after our practice, but my BFFs took me for tacos and margaritas afterward and suddenly the day didn't seem quite so bad.  I will make an appointment with my doctor in the morning to make sure everything is still securely fastened, but all in all, we feel very fortunate.  My patient, long-suffering husband's car might beg to differ.