“It’s a good day,” a friend told me, “when nobody dies.”
Monday was a good day.
My father-in-law underwent surgery to remove a tumor from his vertebrae. However, there was no tumor. Biopsy results won’t be back for another week, but it was still a good day.
I got hit by a flatbed semi loaded with steel on my way home from work. As I pulled up behind the truck at the exit intersection of my workplace, the truck began to back up. Somewhere in the next few slow-motion moments I braked, shifted, and reversed, but not before the truck had hit my Honda Accord at least twice.
The truck finally stopped, and after backing up a safe distance, so did I. I got out to look at what I supposed to be a ruined fender, just as the truck driver yelled, “Did I hit you?”
As we examined the bumper of my car he apologized profusely. There was no visible damage to my car, and I physically felt fine, but I reported it to our transportation department anyway.
By the time I got home several hours later, my neck felt sore, and a closer examination of my bumper revealed a clear impression of one end of a rear override guard. Underride guards may be controversial, but without it there would have been nothing to stop the trailer from rolling right over my car.
Monday was the second time in three weeks that I knowingly escaped serious injury or death. Three weeks ago, as I was crossing the street at night to get the mail, a car came barreling around the corner. I leapt (yes, leapt) out of the way. The car slowed to a stop by the side of the road, and I expected the driver to get out to find out if I was all right. Instead, he continued down the street, but not far. Once he pulled into his driveway, I knew both who he was and where he was from, and I had half a mind to walk to his house and ask him to please drive carefully.
In Korean.
Regrettably, the other half of my mind didn’t want to make waves (old habits die hard). Still, I will always miss not seeing the look on his face.
Posted by on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 at 3:03 PM
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too bad that you got into that accident and your car got hit by a truck. ford explorer i was driving on the freeway got hit by a 2 ton truck from the side but there was only $800 worth of damage
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