the call

saturday morning i slept in. j set the alarm and woke early to go watch some cars racing. i stayed in bed until 11 or so. finally got up and made myself pancakes. i had just finished when i got the call.

i hurried to put everything away - can't leave anything out with our cats - and rushed out the door. the short distance felt immeasurably long, especially when caught behind people driving the speed limit. i'm close, i come over a little uphill to see flashing lights from a cop car and an ambulance. i can't get there quickly enough.

i wait while a painfully slow van passes through the intersection so i can turn left into the gas station where i know i can park. i throw the car in park and don't even remember turning the engine off. i raced across the gas station and crossed half the road to j, who was being led by a paramedic and a cop to the ambulance. we hugged hard. he was okay.

thankfully i was allowed into the ambulance where the paramedic took j's pressure and asked him some questions. after declining a trip to the hospital, we left the ambulance.

then i saw our car. it was straddling the median with a light standard on the median beside it.



he's still not entirely sure what happened. he was turning right onto the street and the back end kicked out. he tried to correct it but the throttle stuck and he ended up careening up onto the curb and finally into the light standard. in slow motion, he looked over at the light standard. it started teetering and finally fell away from him, across three of the oncoming lanes.



he turned off the car, got out and called 911. a couple of cop cars and an ambulance showed up. a cop moved the light standard onto the median. i showed up soon after.

j was badly shaken but otherwise unhurt. no cars were hit by the light standard and no charges were laid. we were able to go home just as the tow truck was taking our car away. i drove nice and slow and didn't say much. you never know with boys how they're feeling and what will set them off.

the whole time i was thinking to myself that it could have been so much worse. he could have died. he could have killed someone else. he could have been charged with reckless driving. he could have wrecked our new car. the possibilities are endless.

once we were talking again and being somewhat normal, we laughed about just having to deal with the insurance company a couple days ago, at least that's how it feels. we got rear ended only two weeks ago and still haven't sorted that all out. and now this.

we should find out today or tomorrow about the car. our insurance will pay the city to replace the light standard but not to fix our car. that will be up to us and will depend on a bunch of things. but if j sticks to what he's thinking now, he won't ever drive that car again.

we shall see. we shall see.