Long day.

Yesterday, I got in my first ever car accident. Not bad for a late twenties chick right? The day started off great. Slept in until 10:30 with the boys, took D to my mom's, went to a book signing with my bestie, and then got some awesome deals at Target. Not exactly eventful, but nice. Spent some snuggly quality time with K and my mom had fun with D while we were out. When K and I went to pick up D from mom's is when things got hairy. I got there late and D was already tired. As soon as I got there, T called and he was on his way to our house. So, I scarfed down some mac and cheese that mom had made for dinner, packed the boys up (sans shoes) and we piled in the van to head home.

Now, a little geography. My mom lives four miles from my house. In order to get to one from the other you have to get on the interstate for about, oh say, 20 feet. Seriously. Anyway, going back to my house, you pass over the northbound entrance ramp and go under the freeway to go south. In the van, I was in the drivers seat (duh), K was behind me in his infant seat, and D was behind him in the rear bench seat. They like to be able to see each other so they sit that way, facing each other. Cute really. Oh, and its raining.

So, we leave my mom's and head home. We get to the freeway ramps, my light is green, intersection clear, so I keep going. Right about the time my front wheels pass over the white line at the stop light, I glance up at the light and its turning yellow. Look back down at the road and she is there. Just THERE. We are talking split second here. There is a small blue car in front of me. I slammed on the brakes as hard as I could, knowing there was NO way I was going to stop but hoping she could get out of the way in time. She however, hits her brakes too and stops in front of me. Nice. So about five feet from her I put my hands up in surrender and think "well, shit". I heard the smack and blacked out.

I opened my eyes as the airbag deflated and smacked it off my face. The next second I heard the most welcome and terrifying sound I have ever heard. D screamed. Louder than I have ever heard him scream in his whole life. It was a lively, awake, uninjured scream. At the same time I started smelling smoke so I turned the ignition off and jumped out. I was to D before he caught his breath to scream again. He reached for me his eyes all wide and terrified and then pointed at the front of the van where the airbags laid against the dashboard. "Mama, oh no!" he yelled. I looked down at K and he just gave me his "WTH" look. He was ok too. I reached through and unbuckled D and pulled him out over his brother, then got K, seat and all, and walked around the end of the van to the sidewalk.

I realized I had not even looked at the other car yet and turned to see the young girl standing beside her car with a terrified look on her face, talking on her cell phone. I asked her if she was talking to 911 and she said "No, its my boyfriend". Helpful hon. So I dug out my cell phone from my back pocket without putting the boys down and dialed 911. They answered but my cell phone died right about the time we got to the part where you tell them where you are. About that time, a good samaritan walked up and asked if we were all okay. I told him yes but asked him to call 911 back and he said he would. Other car chicky is still on her cell phone but manages to squeak "Whose fault is this?" at me to which I reply with a short "YOURS." Its called failure to yield sweetie, look it up.

Anyway, we start to hear the fire engines alarms and D got SO excited. "Mama! A firetruck! A firetruck! Mama!". I think he may have stopped breathing from excitement when it pulled up to our van and stopped. He thought it was a show just for him. Gotta love toddlers. The firefighters got out and one took K and the other took D to look them over. That is when I realized my knee hurt. A LOT. So I rolled up my jeans and sure enough, it was swollen already. About the size of an orange. The firefighters offered me an ice pack but by that time the police had arrived and were asking questions and chaos was in full suit. The girl genius from the other car kept telling me how she never even saw me and she didn't look before she turned. I made sure the officer heard that too.

The good samaratain came over again to ask if he could do anything else and I realized I had not called my husband yet. He let me use his cell phone to call T. There is nothing weirder than uttering the phrase "the kids are ok but we were in an accident" to your husband. I think I even skipped the "don't worry" part because I knew he would freak anyway. So, I told him where we were and hung up. He was there quickly and took the boys to his car to get them warm. He also called my mother and she of course freaked out too so she came down to the "scene".

Shortly after T got there, the tow trucks arrived. We emptied as much as we could into the cars and took some pictures. The front of my van... is scary for me to look at. The front drivers side is the worst. Its smashed in over a foot. The hood bent, the frame bent, and the radiator smashed to pieces. The other headlight was popped out by the impact and we found it about 50 yards away in the bushes. None of the passenger side doors open. The other car was pretty bashed up as well. She said she was trying to sell it. Good luck.

All I can think is thank GOD the boys are okay. My neck hurts so bad I can't turn it and my knee looks bad but the boys are still perfect. Not a scratch on either of them. Everyone is okay but it scared the living shit out of me. Thats for sure. Now begins the waiting game. Waiting for the police report to be filed, then waiting for the claims to go through and waiting for checks and this and that. I am thinking that I will most likely try to go and see someone tomorrow about my neck. Something in there pops when I straighten up. That can't be right. For now though, I am just trying to relax before life happens again. Tomorrow it will be back to the same old grind. Only this time car-less.