Oscar Wilde said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However, I think Chris McGeown may not agree, so check out his most recent post where he mentions his car accident involving a moose. When I read that post, I remembered my crazy deer story. So I’m for real not plagiarizing. I’m showing that linking to a blog is the sincerest form of flattery.
One day when my kids were young I was on my way to the local mall. Thank God they were at school or with their dad, because this funny story would not have been funny if they were there.
The route to the mall was all back roads. Curvy roads through woods. I had a small, red Hyundai Excel and was driving happily along. Luckily, because of the curves, I was going fairly slowly.
Then, at the edge of the woods to the right, I saw a deer starting to run across the road. I was the only car on the road so I slowed way down and pulled to the left, more to the left, even more to the left until I was off the road on the left hand side.
BOOM. He hit me. But we had both slowed down so much that he didn’t hit me hard. Hard enough to basically destroy my car, but not to make the deer change his mind. With horror, I saw him regroup, and run into my car. Again.
While regrouping, he moved slightly, which helped him smash the part of the car that he hadn’t smashed before. He then ran into the woods.
Slooooowly, I got out of the car. The engine was still running. My car door opened and I walked to the right side of my car and couldn’t believe the damage. If my kids were in the car they would have been hurt. The front was smushed in and the back was smashed in. The passenger door looked okay, but the back door on the passenger side was not salvageable.
Deer: Whaaaaaaa??????
Barb: Calm down, Barb. It will be okay.
I decided to drive to a mechanic I knew who wasn’t too far away. Then I could call the insurance company, get a ride and have my emotional breakdown.
As I was driving to the mechanic, and going about 10 mph, the light came on showing that the passenger door wasn’t closed all the way. I reached over to grab the handle, thinking that I would pull it tighter and the light would go off.
Wait for it………the door came off. Completely off the hinges. While I was driving. While I was holding the handle. Could this day get worse? I continued to drive to the mechanic, holding onto the door for dear life. At this point, I was on a busier road without much room to pull over, so I just kept going.
I’m short. I like to say that I’m 5’2″ but that’s if I stand as straight as I can and tippy-toe a little bit. And my height is in my legs. My mom was 5’7″ and we had the same length legs (I’m not as disproportionate as that description makes me out to be, but it’s accurate).
Can you imagine? I must have seemed like the headless driver to anyone else on the road. Driving a totaled car, leaning all the way over the passenger side, holding the door as tightly as I could.
The day I hit the same deer twice.
SDogbon 