The Universe is speaking...are you there????

So in my last post I regaled fond memories of an old friend who has recently passed away. A tragic car accident took his life this past week. I mourned him, honored him and for a day or two took the perils of driving quite seriously.

That is until today...it would seem. You see, today the universe has again reminded me that driving is indeed dangerous.
So there we are, minding our own business happily driving to the Family Pancake House. My Father-in-law ( or as I like to call him Daddy-O) is visiting us for the weekend and decided to take the fam to breakfast.

Chris was driving his tank of an SUV. Daddy-O in the passenger seat and Gracie and I in the back. Chris was slowing to turn into the parking lot when.....BAM!!!!!! rear ended.

Teeth shattering crunch, screeching metal and tires and then silence. It took about a millisecond for my brain to process the information and realize that we had indeed just been in a car accident.
I immediately turn to Gracie and start patting her down asking things like "are you ok" and "do you hurt" over and over again. Checking to make sure all her hair was still there and her fingernails were in place.

She, totally confused by this asks "what just happened" as I damn near scream out "we were just in a wreck...are you ok?"

In case you were wondering....that is exactly the wrong thing to tell an eight year old. Water works start flowing. She was scared of course..but for the most part unscathed.
Had I been thinking it could have come out more like "well honey, that bad man in the truck behind us just tapped Daddy's bumper" or something a little more sugar coated than that.

To give you an idea of the impact...I was wearing a headband on my head. After the wreck I put my hand on my head and realized it was missing....where did we find it? Against the back tailgate of the car. It went flying, off my head all the way back there. So now let's imagine what my head did during that time.

Anyway....during all of the patting down and checking for a pulse on my daughter, I hear my darling husband shout out "Like hell you are" only to realize we are driving away.

Why? Oh...see, the bad man in the truck...decided he didn't need to stop. In fact it seems he was in a rather big hurry to get wherever he was headed and now he was running late. He needed to speed, run red lights and drive like his bad man truck was going to explode if he stopped.

By this point I'm on my cell phone with 911. Giving the girl on the other end a play by play of the chase. Luckily we were able to get a license plate number and full detailed description of the truck. I'm sure the phone tape of that conversation is entertaining at the very least.

She kept telling me we needed to stop...break off pursuit. I told her I wasn't driving and it was illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving so she couldn't talk to Chris at the moment. At one point I even said "Ha! if we weren't chasing him you wouldn't know that he just turned right on Maple!" So, they have a zig-zag map of all the roads he took to escape.

Finally he lost us. Chris was angry...but not angry enough to kill us all or break any laws. So the bad man got away.
When the police finally did show up they already knew who he was and where he lived. So that's good news. He of course wasn't there. But eventually he will be and they will find him.

Everyone is doing alright. Gracie's back hurt for a bit. She was really scared and shaking, but she was dancing within the hour so I can only assume she is fine. Chris and Daddy-O are both fine.

I on the other hand have been dizzy ever since. Sore neck, back and hip. An hour or so later I was sick to my stomach, but I'm chalking that up to stress and nerves and you can't convince me otherwise.
And yes, IF the vertigo doesn't improve by the morning I will haul myself into the ER to get checked out.

I am so thankful that is all that happened. Chris' Explorer has a bent bumper and a dent in the back. Had it been any other car, the results could have been disgustingly different. Everyone walked away from it...shaken, but unscathed.

It could have been worse...I called my friend Stacy when I got home to tell her the story, only to have her say "I can top that. I killed my cat today"

Seems she started her truck and her cat had been sleeping in the engine. So RIP Stitch.

Once again the Universe has reminded me that it could be a lot worse....oh, and driving is dangerous to your health....or your cats health, as the case may be.

UPDATE: So the bad man in the truck reported his car stolen a mere 20 minutes after the accident and...miraculously, the vehicle was found by a "friend" not an hour later. But have no fear, the police aren't picking up what he's putting down and are going all CSI on the guy and the truck. They are well aware he was driving and they won't let him get away. I hope.