Before I even begin, there's irony to be noted. Just the day before I sat in traffic on Carolina Forest Blvd, attempting to make a left onto 501 towards the beach and I said aloud, "I need to blog about the honest idiots on this road!" Let me set the scene...
There are three lanes of traffic on Carolina Forest Blvd. The right lane is for right turns only. It's clearly marked as such. The center lane can either go straight through the light or make a left. The left lane is for left turning only. What folks will do, though, is turn right out of the Kroger parking lot with the full intention of blocking traffic in the right through lane because they're waiting for someone to let them into the stopped traffic which is waiting to make a left when the light turns green. People will sit precariously stuck in the way of oncoming traffic to make that light. That forces others to use their 4WD and off-road to get around them if they want to make a timely right. If they choose not too, they wait the length of the light. It's infuriating. The other little trick these people pull is driving out into that right lane just as the light has changed with the full expectation that you'll let them in. I, if I can safely avoid it, do not. Jerks.
Now here's where I eat crow. Evidently I am one of those crazy drivers, just of a different variety.
Three days before our trip, I was trying to make it through that light to make a left onto 501. As we were approaching, the light turned yellow, but still with plenty of time to get through. The gal in front of me aggressively whipped around the slow-moving car in front of her and sped off. I followed her, but at the last possible moment, she made a split second decision to stop and slammed on her brakes. I did the same but the road was wet, I skidded a bit and bump...metal touched.At this juncture I can say, with an honest heart, that I'm beyond thankful to God no one was hurt. But if you asked me on that day, I was drowning in "this sucks!" so much that I couldn't see that forest from the trees.
I, of course, got a ticket. I, of course, will now have two points on my license. My, of course, insurance premiums will go up. I, of course, sat there waiting for the police to arrive knowing for certain we would not be traveling to Disney World. Our other car is 11 year old and is driven approximately 6 miles a week since my hubby has a company vehicle.
Never in my life have I had such a visceral reaction to stress. The gal in the other car was very polite and even somewhat nice. Despite the fact that I still contend she contributed, she had every right to be quite mad at me. Instead she commiserated. I, for fear of vomiting on her, barely spoke.
When the police officer arrived, he, too, exceptionally nice. If I could remember his name without digging out the paperwork, I'd give him a personal momorable mention. Unfortunately, at the time, I barely answered his questions for fear I would puke.
I held it together until I got home from the whole thing and called my dad. Suddenly I turned into a 16 year old and burst into uncontrollable tears. What the heck had just happened? It felt surreal. Was it a bad dream? There is no way I had just, theoretically, caused an accident. I'm an excellent driver! I don't speed. I'm cautious. I was devastated.
When hubby came home from work that night, he quickly determined that the damages were worse than he originally thought. It was decided that we would drive our old clunker down to Disney World, which made me nervous. But that was if I could get ourselves together enough to even go. I was in a dark dark place those days.
The good news is that I received tons of support from friends and family. I worked through the process of calling my insurance company and submitting the necessary information. I still cried on and off.
Again, I'm so thankful no one got hurt. But car accidents super suck.
I'll write later about the trip. There are lots of high points in that tale.
