Life

Life has gotten out of hand today.  I have been doing so good.  The last several weeks since Max started school have been pretty good.  I have been getting up each morning, feeding my kids, getting myself dressed, putting on make-up and getting everyone out of the house early everyday.  Early to the point that I have had to wait to even let Max go onto the playground.

Today I was not feeling well this morning.  So, while I still managed to do all of the things above, except get out of the house too early.  I planned it so that I could get there just in time for first bell and the kids could play.  Unfortunately, life did not go as planned today.

I pulled up to the side of the street on the other side of the elementary school, as I always do.  I got out, opened Max's door enough for him to get out and went around to the other side and get Ben.  Max was on the road side of the car.  Just as I went to get Ben and was undoing his seatbelt, I looked up and saw the car coming.  I yelled Max and he turned to look at me....still in the car.  THANK GOD!  Just as I got his attention this "domestic Danica Patrick" (thanks Jon for the reference) drove by and clipped my car door.  It was very unnerving to see pieces of my car flying from the door where my son was suppose to be getting out. Max is fine, a little worry about the car.

Standing there a bit stunned, I realized that everyone was fine and it was just the car.  The women who hit me, almost did not stop.  I got both of the kids out of the car and put them on the sidewalk.  The woman did stop and the first thing I did was write down her license plate.  I was trying to think through what was going on....I decided that since I had her plates, I would make sure Max got to school and then deal with the rest.  The teacher at the cross walk told me she would keep an eye on the other lady.  I thought that was odd, but was thankful.  I took Max to the front door of his school where his teacher was on duty.  He was upset about the car...it was so sad to see.  Ms. Marsh is awesome!!! She took him and got him calmed down so I could deal with the accident.  (Ben stayed calm through the whole thing.)

I got back to the car, swapped insurance information and called the police.  It took forever for the state trooper to show up.  I was able to call USAA, file the claim, and set up the body work before the cop showed up.  I really should not complain about him being late, he was super nice.  I have disabled vet plates on my car and I think that made things a bit easier on me.  I found out in the course of things that he was retired army.  Anyway, I had forgotten to print out the new insurance card (I have never had a reason to use it), but he did not write me a ticket for that.....Yeah.  I did over hear him writing the other woman a court summons for the same thing.  He did have to write me a ticket for opening my door into traffic.  Yep, you read it right.  This woman, who is not paying attention, hits my car, could have easily hit my kids and I got the ticket.  There was no loading zone there, so it was my fault.

When the cop started to write me that ticket, the woman decided that she did have damage to her (after insisting there was none).  She told the cop that there was something wrong with the gas tank.  She stated that when she went to look at her car that after she opened the gas door, the cap was loose and there was gas coming out.  The cop nearly laughed at her.  He told her that there was no way that could have happened from the damage done to my car.  But, he did tell her that her ex-boyfriend could have done something to her car.

We all know way too much about this woman.  She was parked, half in the road, when I pulled up.  She admitted she was not looking at the road, but was looking in her rear view mirror to make sure her kids were crossing the street safely (can you say irony?).  She decided that she needed to share with me that she is 24, just moved back in with her parents, has two kids (8 and 5) and she was not sure the insurance was good.  I was totally amazed by this woman....standing there in front of me, admitting she was not watching where she was going in a school zone, sharing all of her issues with me.  As I stared at the "thing" in sweats, no shoes, and a bathrobe, I just wanted to tear her hair out.  She could have easily killed my kid if I had not been paying attention and she is telling me all this crap about her sorry life.

Okay, maybe I am a little mad about it. At least I have got all the logistics figured out to get the car fixed.  I went by the body shop today and found out it will be almost $2000 to fix my car.  They are not going to get the part until later this week, so I am going to take it in next Tuesday.  The insurance company is going to pay for a rental while my car is getting fixed.

All in all, it has been a long day and I am thanking God that I still have my son and he is healthy and happy.

All of this and I am sick and Matt is out of town.  I am pretty happy with myself for how well I handled all of this.  Keeping it together has not been my forte lately, but I did it.