It’s only a car…

Years ago, when Formula 1 drivers would crash into the backs of one another, run into the tire walls or flip uncontrollably…commentator Murray Walker would say they “drove to the scene of the accident”.

Yesterday…my kids drove to the scene of the accident.

I received the frantic phone call mere minutes after they’d left the house to visit their grandparents. The Tall Blond was driving, Spiderman in the passenger seat and Zucchini, our pup, along for the ride.

I called my parents, dropped the phone and began to run…banging on neighbours’ doors to see if anyone could drive me before a friend pulled onto the street, turned her car around and took me to my children standing on the side of the road…the color drained from their faces…surrounded by much debris.

The car…wrecked. The light pole…worse for wear. The fire hydrant…gone. My children… terrified but fine…stiff and sore as the night went on…but fine.

Firemen, Police, Paramedics, witnesses…all amazingly helpful and comforting.

I’m not sure what would have happened had she been inches from where she was…had she veered left rather than right after the airbags went off…had there been someone on the sidewalk when all control was lost. I’m trying hard to keep my head from going where it doesn’t belong. I do know that if the dog had been in the backseat, this may not have happened and as she jumped off my bed this morning, took her morning stretch and let out a whine…I’m pretty sure she realized it as well. Some lessons are harder to learn than others.

Zuke will have a car harness before the day is out.

As I was getting my car rental the agent asked if my daughter’d been on the phone or texting. Nope…she wasn’t. How can I be sure? Well…I’m a mom…and…well…I checked the phone! His response of “I text and drive all the time but I’m a really good multitasker and some people aren’t” surprised me not only for his lack of professionalism… but the stupidity of the conversation and his belief that “he’s making money from sales while texting so he’ll take the risk.”  My “Put Down Your Weapon” lecture about how he’s putting my children in jeopardy didn’t seem to phase him…he doesn’t see it as a problem but then again…I didn’t see the dog as a problem until yesterday.

Prada dropped by last evening in a whirlwind of “is everyone ok” and “Oh my God there’s always something going on over here” as she put my eldest at ease with her statement of “this here’s when I had my first car” while pointing to a scar on her nose I’d not noticed before. The thing is, while The Tall Blond’s “fairy godmothers”…Prada, Little-One and Crazy…sat around last night putting her mind at ease telling stories of accidents we’ve all been involved in due to distraction and driver error…the fact remains…changing the radio station, viewing a text, opening a CD, lighting a cigarette, putting on lipstick, eating a Big Mac, reaching to whack a kid in the backseat or a dog wanting to stick her head out the window…it can happen in an instant.  Be careful.

Yesterday my kids drove to the scene of the accident…and thankfully, they both walked away.