And Now This

I’m at my family’s house on Sammi’s laptop. It’s 11:30 at night.

I should be home by now, but about an hour and a half ago, I was on my way there, driving on a back country road, with my cat being all dramatic in the carrier next to me, when I saw a deer running parallel to the road. I kept my eye on it and slowed down, hoping it wouldn’t run out in front of me. Pretty soon I was past it, and breathed a sigh of relief.

And then it plowed into the driver’s side of my car.

There was a time when this would have reduced me to immediate hysterics, but I guess I’ve grown up some since my Immediate Hysterics (good name for a band) days. I pulled over as soon as I could, which happened to be almost exactly where a teacher had died in a wreck on this road a few weeks ago, so that was creepy. I saw that my driver’s side mirror was fucked but could not tell if the car had sustained any other damage. I took lots of deep breaths and called home and stayed really calm, because I knew that if I freaked out, my parents would freak out, and I didn’t want to do that. I assured them that I was fine, and although I was rattled, I was in fact fine. I was closer to their house than to mine, so I turned around and came back.

So, yeah. The driver’s side mirror is fucked, and both doors on that side are pretty dented. I called my insurance company right away and filed a claim, but it’ll be next Monday before they can assess the damage. They’re supposed to cut me a check that day, though, so that’s good, and apparently getting sideswiped by a deer falls under comprehensive coverage, so I don’t have a deductible to pay.

It’s inconvenient and it was scary, but it could have been worse. There were no other cars on the road, and the deer could have jumped into the driver’s side window or come in front of the car, where I would have instinctively swerved and maybe wrecked the car in the process. It was kind of better that I didn’t see it coming up on the side.

A couple of years ago, I was leaving my doctor’s office when I saw that someone had hit my old car and knocked off the side view mirror, and I seriously lost my shit. I called home and was reduced to Immediate Hysterics and was generally kind of ridiculous, considering the damage. But there was no losing of shit tonight, which really surprised my family, and I’m kind of proud of myself.

But now I just have to drive my ghettofied dented car around with its broken mirror for a week or two until I can get it fixed.