Right then...
Jun. 16th, 2014 07:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anigoI live on a fairly busy road. Nice and suburban, but still a major thoroughfare for all of the other suburbanites.
This morning I was, as per usual, LOATHING getting ready for work. I was brushing my teeth when I heard this almighty BANG! I assumed it was a dog. It usually always is. Jumping on something. Jumping off of something. Knocking something over. You get the picture. I continued brushing my teeth. Then I noticed the traffic had slowed. And... ugh. An accident, quite literally, in front of my house. It happens enough that it doesn't usually pique my interest any more than a cursory glance to make sure there's no flames or dismemberment. People stop to turn into a driveway, somebody's not paying attention and WHAM! It happens enough that I look out my rear view mirror more than I look through my front windshield when I'm turning into my own home.
Anyway... Wham!
I do the cursory look for flames or body parts... and uhoh. No flames or body parts, but there are four young ladies huddled in a circle around a pretty much demolished car. And uhoh. I recognize one of them. Two of them... Ugh. Two of The Kid's good friends. The Kid (and to be clear, her friends) are all in that "I'm old enough to drive and I'm bulletproof!" stage. And here are four of her friends, clearly not bulletproof. (My child was safely on the school bus on her way to school at the time, thank god)
I dash outside to make sure they're ok and to give them some "mature" moral support until the authorities (and parents) come to get things in order. The police are on site first, and Mr. Man, I am a big fan of the police, and I am a big fan of teaching children lessons. Truly. Big Fan of both. But this police officer was on a mission to underscore what a significant lesson this car accident was. I have no doubt whatsoever from the look of the car that it's a write off. How the four of them walked away without so much as a scrape is beyond me. The driver was obviously not paying attention when she rear-ended the guy. (To be clear, I know the guy, if I had the opportunity I'd rear end him myself if I had the opportunity, but that's not appropriate in this situation, for what it's worth.) But at that moment what this child did NOT need, no let me rephrase that, what this young lady (she's not a child) did not need was a very big, very menacing police man grill her on what happened and make her feel even worse for what was obviously right in front of her. The car was a write off, she doesn't have insurance for her car (just for the car she hit) so she won't get another any time soon, and even if she could, her insurance will be so high she won't be able to afford to drive it. She did a bad, bad thing. I try to let her take as much as she can and help her with things I can help with - where's her insurance, where's her drivers licence, stuff like that. The ambulance comes (conveniently the mom of one of the girls) and takes all four of them off. I don't think they needed it but it didn't hurt my feelings they did. The tow truck comes, the fire trucks come to hose down the scene, I go back into the house and...
I bawl!
It took me a good half hour to get my shit together.
Maddison picks the Kid up on a regular basis. Hell, the Kid has her own car and is 17 and bullet proof.
Too many "what ifs" going through my head.
Anyway my shit is sufficiently "pulled together" now, but I have to say. I know there are at least 3 of you I have as friends on here who have lost daughters. You are WAY WAY WAY (And I'll use the word because its the only word that fits) fucking stronger than I could ever be. Because I know for a fact that I would quite simply cease to be. I would forget how to breathe. I know my circulatory system would simply refuse to work any more. I would be done.
My hat goes off to you, 100x more than yesterday, and god knows it was off yesterday.
This morning I was, as per usual, LOATHING getting ready for work. I was brushing my teeth when I heard this almighty BANG! I assumed it was a dog. It usually always is. Jumping on something. Jumping off of something. Knocking something over. You get the picture. I continued brushing my teeth. Then I noticed the traffic had slowed. And... ugh. An accident, quite literally, in front of my house. It happens enough that it doesn't usually pique my interest any more than a cursory glance to make sure there's no flames or dismemberment. People stop to turn into a driveway, somebody's not paying attention and WHAM! It happens enough that I look out my rear view mirror more than I look through my front windshield when I'm turning into my own home.
Anyway... Wham!
I do the cursory look for flames or body parts... and uhoh. No flames or body parts, but there are four young ladies huddled in a circle around a pretty much demolished car. And uhoh. I recognize one of them. Two of them... Ugh. Two of The Kid's good friends. The Kid (and to be clear, her friends) are all in that "I'm old enough to drive and I'm bulletproof!" stage. And here are four of her friends, clearly not bulletproof. (My child was safely on the school bus on her way to school at the time, thank god)
I dash outside to make sure they're ok and to give them some "mature" moral support until the authorities (and parents) come to get things in order. The police are on site first, and Mr. Man, I am a big fan of the police, and I am a big fan of teaching children lessons. Truly. Big Fan of both. But this police officer was on a mission to underscore what a significant lesson this car accident was. I have no doubt whatsoever from the look of the car that it's a write off. How the four of them walked away without so much as a scrape is beyond me. The driver was obviously not paying attention when she rear-ended the guy. (To be clear, I know the guy, if I had the opportunity I'd rear end him myself if I had the opportunity, but that's not appropriate in this situation, for what it's worth.) But at that moment what this child did NOT need, no let me rephrase that, what this young lady (she's not a child) did not need was a very big, very menacing police man grill her on what happened and make her feel even worse for what was obviously right in front of her. The car was a write off, she doesn't have insurance for her car (just for the car she hit) so she won't get another any time soon, and even if she could, her insurance will be so high she won't be able to afford to drive it. She did a bad, bad thing. I try to let her take as much as she can and help her with things I can help with - where's her insurance, where's her drivers licence, stuff like that. The ambulance comes (conveniently the mom of one of the girls) and takes all four of them off. I don't think they needed it but it didn't hurt my feelings they did. The tow truck comes, the fire trucks come to hose down the scene, I go back into the house and...
I bawl!
It took me a good half hour to get my shit together.
Maddison picks the Kid up on a regular basis. Hell, the Kid has her own car and is 17 and bullet proof.
Too many "what ifs" going through my head.
Anyway my shit is sufficiently "pulled together" now, but I have to say. I know there are at least 3 of you I have as friends on here who have lost daughters. You are WAY WAY WAY (And I'll use the word because its the only word that fits) fucking stronger than I could ever be. Because I know for a fact that I would quite simply cease to be. I would forget how to breathe. I know my circulatory system would simply refuse to work any more. I would be done.
My hat goes off to you, 100x more than yesterday, and god knows it was off yesterday.