The Beginning?!?
October 1991. My husband and I were excited. We'd just returned from a trip to NY for a job interview for him, and we knew that Monday he'd get a call offering him the job. We needed the job too. C, where he'd worked since getting out of the Navy was closing.
That morning, we'd called my brother to wish him Happy Birthday and had fun joking with him about getting old, then decided to go get some breakfast. Bruger's Bagels was one of our favorite bagel spots, so that's where we ate, and then went next door to the coffee shop for a leisurely coffee.
As we sat sipping our drinks, we discussed our future. For the first time in a while, it seemed wonderfully bright. When K first got out of the Navy, we moved back to the town I'd gone to college in. It's a great town, but not for an engineer. There were just no good job openings, and the jobs that were there barely paid enough for one person to live on, much less a small family. Finally, we started looking out of the town and found the job with C. It was perfect for K and he really enjoyed the company. But they'd made a few bad business decisions and were going to have to close very soon, so we'd been unsure about what to do next. But now all the uncertainity seemed to be gone, and we were both excited about the future. We thought that maybe now we'd found the right place to settle down in, to find a nice community for our son to grow up in.
W, our son, had been staying with his grandparents while we went to the job interview. He adored them, so didn't mind staying there, and it was a good chance for K and I to enjoy being together. All in all, it felt a little like a second honeymoon.
Gradually our talk turned to what we wanted to do for the day. I had a favorite bookstore that I enjoyed visiting, and after that, there was a wonderfully big mall nearby. While K was at work, I'd often take W and we'd go walk around the mall until he got tired, and then I'd walk some more and push him around in his stroller while he slept. I could easily walk for 4 or 5 miles without getting tired, and then often in the evenings after K was home for work, I'd go run a mile or so around our neighborhood. I still had some baby weight to lose, but it was nice to know that underneath the baby fat I had some pretty good muscles.
Once we'd finally decided on our plans for the day, we headed out. It was beautiful outside, a perfect early fall day. The bookstore was a straight shot down the road, maybe 5 miles from where we were, with just a few stop lights between us and our destination. Life felt good and more than that, I felt good. At the hotel in NY, K and I had enjoyed ourselves swimming laps in the indoor swimming pool. We'd had fun racing to each end, and then afterwards we tried to race each other on the treadmills. He was faster than I was, but I had more stamina, which put a smile on my face as I sat in the car remembering. As we stopped at a red light, I sat my coffee down into the cup holder and turned around to talk some more to the man I loved. I had just opened my mouth to say something to him when I heard a loud noise and suddenly my mouth was flung shut, and my head slammed down to hit the dashboard, then back to hit the back of the car seat, forward to the dashboard, back to the car seat, the dashboard and car seat once again before finally stopping and dropping to rest against the door window. My brain raced, trying to figure out what I'd heard. Had there been a bomb? No, when I looked beside me, the other two lanes of cars to my right all looked fine. To my left there was still a car sitting there waiting to turn when the light changed. In front of me cars still went back and forth. It felt like the earth had suddenly stopped...and no one else had noticed.
K got out of the car and I heard him talking to someone outside. I pulled down my makeup mirror so I could try to see what was going on. I could see a huge semi-truck behind us and I could see K talking to someone, but still wasn't sure what had happened. Then K came back to the car and started it and told me that the semi hit us. The other cars let us over and we pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store/gas station. An old man came out to see if I was okay, and I can't remember what I said, but I must have told him I was okay. He told me he saw what happened and then went back to the store. K told me to call the insurance company, so I called and told them that we'd been in an accident. And then we waited. And waited. It turned out that the policeman they'd called to take care of us had been offduty and away from home when he was reached, so he'd had to go home first, get into his uniform and then come take care of our accident. I still hadn't gotten out of the car. My whole body felt shocked and I really didn't feel like moving. We didn't call for an ambulance though because with the company closing, we had no insurance and neither one of us had ever been in an real accident so we didn't know what to do and what not to do. We didn't know that if you need an ambulance, insurance will pay for it without it ever coming out of your pocket. We didn't know that usually your insurance will also pay for you to rent a car if your's is messed up in an accident. We didn't know that it's a good idea to take pictures of both vehicles. Basically, we had no idea what to do when you're in an accident.
The policeman finally arrived but I never spoke to him. He talked to Ken for a bit, talked to the people in the store and then talked to the driver of the semi. I was still sitting in the car, holding my head. Everything felt like it was in a fog, and I was trying hard to get through the fog to help K if he needed it, but I couldn't seem to press through it.
Finally it was over. K got back in the car and we drove home. When I got home, we walked around to the back of the car. It was the first time I'd stood since the accident, and my first time to see the car. I was shocked! The car we were in was an older, luxury car that my Mom had given to me just a few months before. We'd even discussed that morning whether we should drive my big car or K's much smaller Mustang, but decided on mine because it was more comfortable. Looking at the back of the car, I remember thinking that that decision probably saved our lives. The whole back of the car was pushed in a good 6 inches. On the right side, the car's name stuck out a couple inches past the end of the car. The glue had ripped off the words, leaving them sticking out into space. The trunk, which had held my video camera, a gift from K for my birthday that year, looked like it would never be gotten into again, although K had already opened it and extracted the camera earlier, when I was worried over it. But even while holding a camera, we never once thought to take pictures.
That morning, we'd called my brother to wish him Happy Birthday and had fun joking with him about getting old, then decided to go get some breakfast. Bruger's Bagels was one of our favorite bagel spots, so that's where we ate, and then went next door to the coffee shop for a leisurely coffee.
As we sat sipping our drinks, we discussed our future. For the first time in a while, it seemed wonderfully bright. When K first got out of the Navy, we moved back to the town I'd gone to college in. It's a great town, but not for an engineer. There were just no good job openings, and the jobs that were there barely paid enough for one person to live on, much less a small family. Finally, we started looking out of the town and found the job with C. It was perfect for K and he really enjoyed the company. But they'd made a few bad business decisions and were going to have to close very soon, so we'd been unsure about what to do next. But now all the uncertainity seemed to be gone, and we were both excited about the future. We thought that maybe now we'd found the right place to settle down in, to find a nice community for our son to grow up in.
W, our son, had been staying with his grandparents while we went to the job interview. He adored them, so didn't mind staying there, and it was a good chance for K and I to enjoy being together. All in all, it felt a little like a second honeymoon.
Gradually our talk turned to what we wanted to do for the day. I had a favorite bookstore that I enjoyed visiting, and after that, there was a wonderfully big mall nearby. While K was at work, I'd often take W and we'd go walk around the mall until he got tired, and then I'd walk some more and push him around in his stroller while he slept. I could easily walk for 4 or 5 miles without getting tired, and then often in the evenings after K was home for work, I'd go run a mile or so around our neighborhood. I still had some baby weight to lose, but it was nice to know that underneath the baby fat I had some pretty good muscles.
Once we'd finally decided on our plans for the day, we headed out. It was beautiful outside, a perfect early fall day. The bookstore was a straight shot down the road, maybe 5 miles from where we were, with just a few stop lights between us and our destination. Life felt good and more than that, I felt good. At the hotel in NY, K and I had enjoyed ourselves swimming laps in the indoor swimming pool. We'd had fun racing to each end, and then afterwards we tried to race each other on the treadmills. He was faster than I was, but I had more stamina, which put a smile on my face as I sat in the car remembering. As we stopped at a red light, I sat my coffee down into the cup holder and turned around to talk some more to the man I loved. I had just opened my mouth to say something to him when I heard a loud noise and suddenly my mouth was flung shut, and my head slammed down to hit the dashboard, then back to hit the back of the car seat, forward to the dashboard, back to the car seat, the dashboard and car seat once again before finally stopping and dropping to rest against the door window. My brain raced, trying to figure out what I'd heard. Had there been a bomb? No, when I looked beside me, the other two lanes of cars to my right all looked fine. To my left there was still a car sitting there waiting to turn when the light changed. In front of me cars still went back and forth. It felt like the earth had suddenly stopped...and no one else had noticed.
K got out of the car and I heard him talking to someone outside. I pulled down my makeup mirror so I could try to see what was going on. I could see a huge semi-truck behind us and I could see K talking to someone, but still wasn't sure what had happened. Then K came back to the car and started it and told me that the semi hit us. The other cars let us over and we pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store/gas station. An old man came out to see if I was okay, and I can't remember what I said, but I must have told him I was okay. He told me he saw what happened and then went back to the store. K told me to call the insurance company, so I called and told them that we'd been in an accident. And then we waited. And waited. It turned out that the policeman they'd called to take care of us had been offduty and away from home when he was reached, so he'd had to go home first, get into his uniform and then come take care of our accident. I still hadn't gotten out of the car. My whole body felt shocked and I really didn't feel like moving. We didn't call for an ambulance though because with the company closing, we had no insurance and neither one of us had ever been in an real accident so we didn't know what to do and what not to do. We didn't know that if you need an ambulance, insurance will pay for it without it ever coming out of your pocket. We didn't know that usually your insurance will also pay for you to rent a car if your's is messed up in an accident. We didn't know that it's a good idea to take pictures of both vehicles. Basically, we had no idea what to do when you're in an accident.
The policeman finally arrived but I never spoke to him. He talked to Ken for a bit, talked to the people in the store and then talked to the driver of the semi. I was still sitting in the car, holding my head. Everything felt like it was in a fog, and I was trying hard to get through the fog to help K if he needed it, but I couldn't seem to press through it.
Finally it was over. K got back in the car and we drove home. When I got home, we walked around to the back of the car. It was the first time I'd stood since the accident, and my first time to see the car. I was shocked! The car we were in was an older, luxury car that my Mom had given to me just a few months before. We'd even discussed that morning whether we should drive my big car or K's much smaller Mustang, but decided on mine because it was more comfortable. Looking at the back of the car, I remember thinking that that decision probably saved our lives. The whole back of the car was pushed in a good 6 inches. On the right side, the car's name stuck out a couple inches past the end of the car. The glue had ripped off the words, leaving them sticking out into space. The trunk, which had held my video camera, a gift from K for my birthday that year, looked like it would never be gotten into again, although K had already opened it and extracted the camera earlier, when I was worried over it. But even while holding a camera, we never once thought to take pictures.
posted by Teeg | 2:27 PM
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