Well, it's been an exciting 24 hours, and typing is a bear: I and my family were in a car accident on Sunday afternoon in which the only injury was a dislocated left index finger, mine.
To sum up, it was raining, the car in front of the car in front of me spun out. I thought the car in front of me was slowing down. I was wrong, it had stopped, and by the time I tried to stop it was too late. My mother-in-law's car, which I was driving, locked it's breaks and we slid into the back of the car in front of us. The only had a slightly bent bumper, but our hood looked like it tried to wrap itself around it. My husaband was in the passanger's seat, my mother-in-law behind him, and my 11-month-old son was in his car seat behind me; all of us were wearing our seat belts. The dislocated finger happened when the air bag deployed, I think. I remember how horrible it looked, bent in the wrong direction, and how I couldn't bend it. Something in the back of my mind told me to straighten it out (probably the shock) and since I didn't feel any pain, I just gave it a tug and popped it back into place. The arriving police officer didn't have any ice packs, so I wrapped my finger in one of Liam's (my son) little was cloths and dowsed it in Sprite Zero, the only thing I had that was cold.
No less than five other accidents were on that stretch of highway, so it wasn't surprizing to see an ambulance drive past us and not stop. There was one accident far ahead we couldn't see, and two within a mile or two behind us that we could, or at least we could see the flashing lights.
The Black Jack fire department showed up and checked on everyone. I told them about my finger, and asked if they had an ice pack (I had some from my surgery last Monday, but they were at home). Indeed they had one, and I was asked if I needed an ambulance or if I wanted to make my way to an emergency room on my own. I said no, I didn't need an ambulance for a finger, especially since other folks might need it who are worse than me. In fact, an amulance did come, but it was for the two folks that were in the car that spun out; both of them looked okay, but one was feeling ill, and I think the other was badly rattled.
Liam was wondful though all of this. He howled when the accident happened, but very quickly calmed down, and he didn't shed a tear. He seemed to enjoy just watching, and even chatted at a distance with one of the firemen who was directing traffic over. My son spoils me, he really does. He was in great spirits, and was calm, thought it may be a reflection on all of us; we're not the sort that really freaks out, though I did have a bout of crying because it was my mother-in-law's car, and we're all already in a financial pinch, so the loss of a car doesn't help.
So, the car is in the shop, and the insurance folks have been contacted, we're just waiting to hear if the adjuster wants to have the car fixed, or "total" it and write it off.
