Bumper Cars

My driving record is impeccable, if I do say so myself. However, after today, I will have to at least mention that I've been in an accident. Let's start from the beginning. I left my house around lunch time. I had just called Scott to ask if he could meet me at Target during his lunch break. I had a few things to get and didn't want to unload the whole gang just for those items. He is gracious about that and willingly helps out in that way, even though sitting in a hot parking lot during his lunch hour doesn't seem too exciting for him. Anyway, I had to quick run to the credit union and then I was going to make my way to Target.

As I was turning into the parking lot of Linn-Co, I felt a little bump. Here's me in my big old 15 passenger van and this little car hit the back of me. I hardly felt the nudge. It really did kind of feel like bumper cars. It took me a second to realize I had even been hit. I continued into the parking lot and called Scott for him to meet me there instead of Target. He didn't know why, but again, he's a good sport.

I looked in the street and there was broken glass and some missing pieces of someone's car (I was hoping not mine!) and there were some people standing around. I could tell one family was hesitant to keep walking, but they did, and that was fine. One man stayed around.

I kept the van running, and as I opened the door to see the damage, I saw the person walking up to me. He had passed me and pulled into the next parking lot down. I was glad he stopped, not that I even thought he wouldn't.

When I saw who it was, I about died. It was someone I know...should I mention any names? Oh, what the heck, it was Paul Snead! Poor guy, he seemed pretty distraught. He was driving a little Jetta and it was pretty messed up. I didn't see it actually, but from the glass and stuff on the street, I knew it wasn't in great shape. He said it was beat up quite a bit. I asked him what happened and he said he had a lot on his mind and just wasn't paying attention. (I was afraid maybe I hadn't used my blinker or something.) He admitted it was his fault. And here's the sad thing. I thought he was just upset about the car, but the reason he was so upset was because earlier in the week he and Katie broke up. The wedding's off and he was obviously discouraged. I felt so bad!

At this point, our witness noticed that he wasn't needed anymore and let us know he was leaving. It was nice of him to at least stay that long.

We looked at my van and the bumper was just a little pushed in, scratched and that's about it. Later, after Scott got there, he and I noticed a piece was missing...I found it on the side of the road. It's just a plastic thing that can be fixed easily. Paul said he had to be away tonight until Tuesday for the Army but I could just call him and let him know if there was any damage he needed to pay for. I do think we should get the bumper fixed, but hopefully it won't be too much. And hopefully his car isn't too bad afterall. We'll see.

So that's my exciting tale for today. I'm thankful for my BIG BIG van on days like today!