Accident

Yesterday I got into a minor accident while en route to picking up one of my kids. My car was hit from behind while the child's sibling and I were stopped in traffic. We were talking about the price of McLaren's when we got the jolt from behind. Thankfully, the girl who hit us quickly followed my car to a side road and was very apologetic.

As I went to inspect the damage, which of course my brain imagines to be severe, I was relieved to see hardly any--just a license plate frame impression on the back bumper; another dent to add to the collection on my poor car. It felt worse than it was. The impact was enough to open the sun roof door of my car, but not enough to bother us in any way. We were perfectly fine physically, just a little shaky.

The girl was outwardly worried because it was her fault and she had never been in an accident before. I was inwardly worried about the child in my back seat. That's something I have never experienced before and hope I never have to go through again. It's a huge responsibility, especially when it's someone else's child. The possibility of a car accident has always worried me since I started driving other people's children around for my job. I hoped it would never happen. Now I will never drive that same route again without getting a bit anxious.

But there was nothing I could have done. I have to keep telling myself that. Accident's happen and they are nothing but accidents. You can't change them or prevent them. You can't think, If I would have done this, or If only I had gone the other way--who's to predict what could have happened in the other direction?

Happily, the process of exchanging information went smoothly, and the child in the backseat of my car was very cool, calm, and logical about the situation. I will still worry, of course, but I can be relieved that it wasn't a traumatizing experience and that no real harm was done.