on car accidents and hugs

 I was going to share a PT update today, but my yesterday was so strange that I feel compelled to document it here.

Let me start off by saying both Lil Momma and I are fine. My car needs a new bumper, but I’m not stressing about it. 

A silly reminder from LM’s Christmas haul 

On Fridays, I pick up LM after she walks back from school and we go to our local supermarket to pick up her dessert first Friday treat. I had had one of those work from home days where everything feels like a lot after having PT before work which also felt like a lot, so I was excited to grab my girl and go get a treat.

I live in a university town. The parking lot at this plaza is notoriously a bit wild - we always approach it with caution. I turned off the main road and took a couple turns to go down one of the center aisles when I saw a car cutting across aisles and not slowing down. Luckily, it was on my side and not  LM’s passenger side. I started honking my horn and tried to stop with the hope that they would either stop, too, or be able to cut in front of me. Instead, they just kept going and hit us. My slowing down made it so that they didn’t hit my door, at least, and they hit my bumper on the driver side front of my car.

LM has never been in an accident and was quite shook up. I pulled into a spot to try and calm her down and the woman pulled in next to me and ran out at us. I gave LM my phone to call her dad annd rolled the window down so she and I could hear each other. Then, I got out to speak to the woman. She immediately hugged me and started apologizing for “t-boning” us, frantic with concern about my “baby”. Then she reached in the car towards LM and I put myself in between her and my car and asked for her information, regretting that I didn’t have my phone to call the police.  

Strangely, she just kept hugging me and saying the sun had been in her eyes (even though it was facing the other way). She just kept reaching towards the car at LM - who was getting more and more frantic by the minute. All I could do I was repeatedly tell her to step back and give me her information. Meanwhile, two teen girls came up from the plaza and got her car and glared at us.

It got even stranger. Instead of bringing me her license and registration, she called her husband on her  phone to give me their insurance information and then kept offering LM donuts while I talked to him. I had my license out and tried to give him my name, but he did not want it. At that point, I got my phone back so I could text my Mr. their insurance information. After I got off the phone with the husband, I turned to ask again for her license and to take a picture of their license plate and car (because I’m so bad at models) and the woman jumped in her car and drove away. I tried to grab a picture, but the sun was coming in and we can’t make out the plate # on it.

This is where I made some anxious mistakes. LM was so upset that I tried to make things normal and, instead of calling the police or telling my Mr. to come down, we just went and got our cupcakes and drove home. All I have is a husband‘s name and their insurance company and policy number - and then I left the scene of the accident. Sigh. Hopefully there isn’t a next time, but I know more what to do next time (or what not to do).

I was able to file a claim through their insurance with the information I have but my Mr. and I are wondering if she either does not have a license or is not covered on their policy and this is all going to be on me because the police can’t do anything because they didn’t come to the scene.

Now, I can cover the cost of a new bumper and I’m really just grateful that LM and I are OK and nothing worse happened. It was pretty disturbing. It’s like my brain only focused on keeping the woman away from LM and I just didn’t care about anything else.

My biggest lesson from all of this is that I need to get a better handle on my anxiety. I’ve always depended on exercise to help keep me in a steadier place with it and that lack in my life was super apparent both in how my brain reacted and in how weak I felt trying to block her from my car. I first started strength training (and exercising consistently, to be honest) in my early 30s after an unfortunate situation made me realize how feeling strong in my body can help me feel strong in my mind and I think this was a message from the universe to remember that and refocus my energy there in this new season of my life. 

Have you ever had a weird accident interaction? Are you the type of person these things that just happen to happen to?