Thursday, April 16, 2009

The Kirby Curse?

This morning, I got up, got dressed, dropped the boy off at school and went to the drugstore to pick up some prescriptions. Then I headed for work.
I turned right onto Pensacola Street and headed towards the University when I saw a little white truck come rushing up to the intersection. That happens a lot around here... people speed right up to the stop sign and slam on their brakes. Like that makes them cool or something. Mostly, it makes me wonder if they're gonna stop. I just had time to think, "I hate it when they do that," when she did something I hate even more. She slammed into my car.
At that last split second, I realized that she WASN'T going to stop, put on the brakes and tried to veer away from her. She also realized she was about to hit, stomped her own brakes and tried to turn away from me. The result was a rather violent crash, but not as bad as it could have been. We landed side by side on the lawn of the Civic Center.

I even managed to avoid hitting the bench there on the sidewalk.

We sat there a moment, shaking. I turned off the car but couldn't get out. She rolled down her window and asked if I was okay.

After a moment, I nodded. Shaken but not stirred. I opened my door and got out. She opened her door and got out. The cars were definitely much worse off than we were.

We shook our heads in amazement. Not a scratch on us. Her ankle hurt a little but she was walking on it. My elbow hit the door, but didn't seem to be injured. We called the police and our insurance companies. I called Darling Man and my brother Jerry.
The police came, took down information and cited the other driver with failure to yield. Jerry hooked my poor little car to his tow truck after Darling Man emptied my car. I sat on a curb in the shade and talked to more insurance people and began stiffening up. After major effort to get up off the curb, I told the police I was going to go get checked out because everything was starting to ache. But not emergency achiness, just the kind that comes from having your whole body violently jostled. I called my own doctor and I made an appointment to come in at 3pm.
The accident happened at 9:20am. We finally left the scene at nearly 11. Lunchtime! Jerry said to follow him - he knew just the right place for lunch. So we did.
The right place turned out to be a little trailer sitting in the parking lot of "Dream Puppies" that served gigantic hamburgers, marvelous pulled pork, and various barbecue items. As I looked at the poster-board menu, my eyes landed on Frito Pie. Holy moley... I couldn't even remember the last time I had Frito Pie. No one does it anymore. But this guy did! That's what I had.

Jerry had the Giant Hamburger and Darling Man had a pulled pork sandwich and they threw in a rib. In fact, Dave kept coming out with little cups of samples of things like smoked vegetables and chicken and dumplings. It was all delicious! We bought Jerry lunch - a little thank you for being there to rescue me yet again. It doesn't happen often, but when he comes riding in, I really need the rescue.

Thanks, Jerry. Sorry about the closed eyes. I couldn't really see when I took this picture.
After lunch, we headed for the body shop. And on the way, Darling Man asked if I thought the Kirby was cursed.
What????
Well... We got this vaccum cleaner just before ZBoy was born. After Z was a few months old, I started cleaning houses, using my marvelous Kirby vaccum. When Z was nine months old, I was on my way to pick him up after spending the day cleaning someone's house when a teenager ploughed into the back of my car doing about 40. He'd been playing with his stereo. The Kirby went flying out the back window. Bits and attachments scattered over the road and into the grass.
The Kirby was a bit wonky after that. It was banished to the shed in favor of a more lightweight machine that I could push around (I was hurt pretty badly in that wreck). When we moved, it lived in the carport. Untouched. Unloved. But I couldn't just get rid of it - the darned thing was too expensive to just chuck out.
It moved again and lived in the garage until last week, when I pulled it out, cleaned it up and used it to get ready for Easter dinner because I didn't have any bags for the other vaccum.
And then this accident. Sigh.

The guilty party
I went to the doctor who checked me out, found no serious damage, but did admit that I was in for a lot of muscle pain in the next few days. He prescribed ice, stretching exercises, and vicodin. I love my doctor.
The rest of the day was spent chasing down insurance agents, meeting with the adjuster and picking up the rental car.

It's a Chevy Cobalt. I never even heard of them. I'll probably be driving this thing until May - when I finally get my baby back. It's not a virgin car anymore.... she's been had. But I love her and I want her back. It looks bad, but apparently is fixable. Thank goodness.
Oh, and to add insult to injury? WHen I was sitting on the curb talking to the insurance guys? Ants invaded my pants. And proceeded to bite my ass.
Sheesh.












19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good old Jerry... where would any of us be without him? :)

Dammit on the car, Sayre... just dammit, dammit, dammit! When I totaled my Highlander I was lucky enough to fall into a Mercury Mountaineer with almost the same package, but I still miss that Highlander. I am glad yours will be OK.

And I am glad you are OK. :)

John

margaret (the misanthrope) said...

OMG!! Sayre, I am so glad you are OK (well, physically at least). I am SO glad you called the police and got checked out by the doc immediately. And hooray for DM and Jerry. Weird about the Kirby Curse...I actually sorta-kinda believe in stuff like that, so maybe there's something to it.

I couldn't help but giggle at the ants in your pants. I know it wasn't funny at the time but I loved your description. My mom used to say, at random times, "I've got ants in my pants and I wanna dance! Ooooh!" I have no idea why she would say that; I don't believe she was ever accosted by ants. But she was, and is, a sweet and funny lady with a goofy sense of humor and "ants in your pants" was her way of describing any kind of hyperactive behavior, from herself or us kids.

Anyway, that's my story. I am so very glad you are OK. Please take it easy and let us know how you are doing?

Jodi said...

Wow! I am so glad you're okay. You have to promise to give Darling Man the power to post something on your blog should something REALLY bad ever happened to you!!!!

((((Big hug))))

J.

Sandcastle Momma said...

I'm so glad you're ok! What has turned into sore muscles and a pain in the ass (Sorry, I couldn't help myself LOL) could have been so much worse.
And this proves my point - vacumming is bad for your health LOL
Hope you aren't too sore today. Rest and take it easy this weekend.

Patience said...

OH NO!! Glad you're (basically!) okay!

Oh, and it's okay to get rid of the Kirby. Might not make a difference, but who knows!

JessicaFarm said...

Gosh that must have been a real pain. At least we can all learn from your experience! Good luck with your Cobalt ^^

Mama Drama Margaert said...

xoxo

Glad youa re OK.

Karmyn R said...

I'm glad you were okay - despite some soreness. How scary!!!

Shame on you Kirby.

Janis said...

That God you both were ok. It could have been a bad scene. I think you can deal with a little soreness for a few days. Get rid of Kirby, he does sound like he is cursed.

Mom said...

How spooky--I had a Kirby salesman come to the door late this afternoon, brandishing a free bottle of stain remover. (I didn't know they did door-to-door any more. I was glad I had Deacon by the collar.) I told him I had been hating Kirbys since before he was born, and I didn't need any stain remover. He left quickly.
Mom

karisma said...

Oh my goodness! Im so glad you are unharmed. I must admit when I saw the pictures on facebook this morning I nearly died, had to come and see what happened. I certainly hope thats it for now as far as car crashes go, this is the sixth one in two weeks I have heard of or seen. They say things come in three's lets hope this is it!

3 have had no injuries, the other 3 were not so lucky. Im so happy you rate in the first 3, take care.

Island Rider said...

So sorry! Hope you are feeling better and your car will be okay soon.

Pamela said...

you nearly had me fall out of my chair with the ants.

Were they fire ants? I hear all about them but never have experienced them.

I hope you aren't in too much pain.
I admire you for not screaming your head off at the person who hit you.

I'm afraid that I would have done that -- then made HER sit in the ants.

nikki said...

Oh my gosh! I avoid blogs for awhile and you get in an accident! I'mn so glad to hear you weren't terribley hurt. I hope you feel better soon. Whip lash can be a bitch.

Anonymous said...

Thank God for Jerry and his wonderful tow truck!

I have been lucky enough to not have an accident since high school, but I work them all the time. Could have been a lot worse.

A few ant bites on your butt is a small price for walking away!

Andy

min said...

Damn vacuum. Those things are no good.

Anonymous said...

Geez woman. I leave you alone for a few days and look what happens. Wreck your car and get ants in your pants. :)

Sorry about the car. That REALLY sucks. But hey, now you don't have to worry about that first *ding* on the paint job anymore.

Glad you are okay!! Now, the important question.. how's your butt? hee..hee...hee...

Wendster said...

First off: NOOOO! So sorry to hear about the car accident but so glad that you are "OK" and that your car is fixable.

Secondly: The ant thing got me too. I didn't see that one coming. Dang it! Not what we need when we are sitting there wanting empathy ... not bites!

Third: The Kirby thing reminds me of an old joke where the dude tells his girl he's gonna leave her and she lists all of the catastrophes she's stood by him through EX: When your mother died, I was there, when your dog was run over, I was there ... etc.

The dude says: I know! You're bad luck!

Maybe the Kirby IS bad luck?

Feel better!

I'll send some of that vampire cocoa over straight away.

annie w. said...

Man..that stinks. And my kids would laugh at me if i slowed down at a 4/2 way stop in case the other driver didn't stop..and see? I'm glad I do!
I'm sooo sorry this has happened.. hope the muscle aches don't last long and you get you awesome wheels back soon!
hugs