It Was an... Accident

Otherwise known as... Sisterly Love

So... Monday didn't exactly start out as a day like any other. 

1.  I woke up in Atlanta.
2.  I woke up in my cousin's house, after attending another cousin's wedding, which is definitely out of the ordinary,
3.  The night before, I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning, which I might do twice this year.

Monday morning was a peculiar morning, indeed.  I showered, organized a family luncheon, and attended said luncheon.  (A little family drama in between, but what is life without family drama?)

After the gathering, Sis and I drove to Auntie J.'s house to visit with yet another cousin and his lovely wife and two young sons. My mother is one of seven... I have a lot of aunts and uncles and even more cousins.  After gorging onhomemade deep dish apple pie a la mode, we left Auntie J.'s with plenty of time to reach the airport.  We were in a rented silver Mazda 3 that handled fantastically.  As we approached downtown, I made my way into the HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane, and we relished the ability of driving at speed while the rest of the lanes slowed down.  Life was good.  Too good.

When we entered a tunnel, while in the wonderful HOV lane, we observed two vehicles nearly colliding with each other as one attempted to move into the other's well-occupied lane.  I applied the brake to give them room to figure things out.  The roads were wet after a particularly rainy Monday... the car behind me tried like the dickens to stop and we heard squealing tires behind us without making a connection before.... BUMP.  Sis and I looked at each other.  We were hit!

I pulled over and looked in vain for the hazard lights.  We were in a tunnel, and we'd just been rear-ended while driving to catch our flight back to Orlando. 

Crum. 

I called the police, then got out of the car.  The other driver approached and asked, Are you okay?

Yeah, we're okay.  Are y'all okay?

We're fine.  My cousins are going to the airport; my uncle is on his way to pick them up.  Your car is damaged way less then mine.  I tried to stop.  The roads are wet.

Yeah... I'm just glad I didn't see them coming.  I think my body would be much worse off.  His tire was flat and his the front end of his older model Accord was pretty beat up.

A few minutes later, the police came and set up a road block so that we could get out of the HOV lane and onto the right shoulder of the highway.  Once we were safely parked, Sis reached for her phone.  Who are you calling?

I'm just gonna call Mom.  I want to let her know what happened.

DON'T... CALL...  MOM!!!!

Nothing good could have come from calling our mother at that point.  We didn't know what the police would determine, even though I did everything right and there was no way I could get a ticket.  We didn't know if we would make our flight, even though we would try.  Informing Mom of the accident would have had one result and one result only at that point:  She would have fretted.  There was nothing to fret about.  Sooner or later we'd be on our way to the airport, the police would have their say, and I would have to face the music with the rental car agency.  There was nothing Mom could do about it.  I was in crisis mode, and I am great in crisis mode... except that I hate crisis mode.

While we were waiting, Sis put on her music.  We're talking relaxation, frogs croaking, crickets chirping...  music.  She was in heaven, and I knew that it helped her.  Still... Sis, I can't listen to that now.  That music put my ears in their own private hell.  Except everything else I was experiencing at that moment was hell as well.  No bueno.

Sis turned off her music.  I was immensely thankful.  I think I still am.  Those frogs would have pushed me over the edge. 

Eventually, the cop sent us on our way (without a ticket, of course!), we returned the rental, reserved seats on the very next flight, and came home ninety minutes after our original arrival time.  I was already planning to take Tuesday off, but had not anticipated the time I spent on the phone the insurance companies working everything out.  I was very glad to have the day to sort everything out.

We were in an accident that could have been so much worse, and I am thankful it wasn't.  I daresay I never want to rent a car in Atlanta again, but you know... never say never.  Later that evening, as we relaxed on the half-empty airplane, Sis said to me... You know, at least the other driver wasn't a jerk. Even though it was his fault, he could have been a jerk to you.

I don't know what I would have done if he had been a jerk.  I didn't.  I don't know how to be assertive with a perfect stranger, even if they ran into me and were most likely causing me to miss my flight home.

Jen, you would have gone into kick-butt mode and told him where to go.

It's funny Sis would say that... because she is my sister I have no problem saying exactly what I think to her.  Even then I hold back a little.  Because even though we are terrifically different, I am trying.   We flew to and from Atlanta together, and got into an accident together, and what happened in between, well... is what happens when two people who have almost nothing in common, except parents, and love, happen to be sisters.