or alternately titled "Smoking Really Can Ruin Your Life"
I am so pissed off right now I am shaking as I type this. It is 8:00pm and what happened 45 minutes ago has just cancelled our road trip. Up until 7:15, today had been a really great day. Dixie and I went shopping in Saskatoon and we packed a lot in to the ten short hours. I bought some new bath stuff from Lush, two new shirts (for our road trip), perfume from the Gap, a baby journal from McNally's and some road trip treats from Costco. I dropped Dixie off at home and helped her unload her purchases. As I was my making my way home, I came to a corner where I had the choice to go left or go right. Both choices take my home - one is just a little longer. Since I was smoking (don't even go there right now - I know I'm supposed to have quit but just back off because I don't need to hear it), I decided to turn left and take the longer way.
As I was coming to a rounding curve on the street, I slowed down because the ruts became really deep. A mini-van coming towards me did not slow down and the van skipped over the ruts and slammed in to the front of my van. Three teenagers hopped out of the van and I could identify the driver - he was the one crying. That made me feel better. Until I tried to open the driver's side door and I couldn't. When I finally managed to survery the damage, the driver's side wheel well was pushed in and scraped up. Not a lot of damage perhaps in the monetary sense, but enough damage to force us to fix it which will inevitably cancel our trip. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. If I didn't smoke, I wouldn't have turned left and none of this would have happened.
On the bright side, when I relayed this to Mike, he made the decision that he is quitting scaffolding and coming home. In another five hours, I will have my husband back home for good. And just in time for our anniversary tomorrow. Now if you'll excuse me, there's some vodka punch in the freezer that has my name on it. I need a good. stiff. drink. And a whole schwack of cigarettes. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.
Update: When I reflect on the interaction that took place between myself and the other driver, I am really proud of the way I handled myself. This young driver was extremely shaken up and obviously terrified. As he was handing me his driver's license, he was shaking so bad it looked like he was drying a polaroid picture (hey ya! shake it!). He had no idea what we had to do or what would happen next. I asked him if he'd been drinking and he said no. I asked him to breath on me. He probably would have dropped his pants if I would have told him to. I pointed out to him that he was very lucky it was me driving and that he didn't have to deal with my husband. Given the frame of mind that Mike is currently in, he would have throttled the young lad. While violence is never the answer, it sure is a good way to vent built-up anger.
I asked the kid several times if he was okay. I reassured him that everyone was all right, no one was hurt and that it was just scraped up metal. I went over what we had to do with regards to exchanging licenses and so on. I told him that he needed to report the accident as soon as possible. And then I asked him if his parents were strict. He said "Yes". I said "Good!". I hope they tore a strip off him when he got home.
I am a believer in everything happens for a reason, even if we never find out exactly what those reasons are. Maybe something terrible was suppose to happen in California or maybe there was supposed to be an accident on the scaffolding job site next week. We may never know. What I do know is that I am so very thankful that Mike is on his way home. I'm looking forward to our lives returning back to normal, or as close to normal as possible (after all, this is Mike and I that I'm talking about).
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