Someone's looking out!

I was born and raised Catholic. I went to Catholic school from Kindergarten all the way to 12th grade. When we were little and went to Church, our teachers would make us sit in the pews, reach our hands out and only let us sit as close to the next person as our finger tips would touch. This was to try and discourage talking, of course, but they told us it was to make sure our Guardian Angels had space to sit next to us.

While we never learned much about the patron saints in school beyond whomever we chose our Confirmation names after, my family was big on praying to whomever the appropriate saint was for a given situation. I spent a lot of time talking to St Anthony, since I misplace a lot of stuff! And while I never necessarily prayed to him, on my 16th Birthday along with my license I was given a St Christopher medallion for my car. I've had several vehicles and the same medallion has come with me in them all. I got in an accident 2 months after having my license - broadsided by a steel hauler going 45MPH. The driver was certain he killed us in the car, since he pushed us nearly 1/4 mile down the road before we twisted up an embankment. All 3 of us in the car walked away with no injuries. The police had sent a traffic fatality reconstruction team to the site when the trucker called in the accident, everyone was amazed that we were fine. In 2004, I hydroplaned on the 401 outside Toronto in a terrible rain storm. I ran into the cement embankment which spun me back into oncoming traffic, hit the embankment again spinning me back 180 degrees and leaving my car half in the left traffic lane with no real visibility. No one else hit my vehicle and it turned out to be drivable so I could get home to Michigan. I've been pretty lucky.

Yesterday, en route home during rush hour with my wedding dress in tow, I got in another accident. A driver cut across 2 lanes of traffic cutting into the exit lane, causing the line of cars to jam on the brakes. The result was a small Toyota rear ending me and my car hitting the car in front of me. I have no recollection of hitting the car in front of me, so I honestly don't know if that happened first or if the vehicle hitting me pushed me into that car. Nevertheless, it set off the airbags, which is quite shocking if you've never experienced it before. They smell really badly and your car fills with (what looks like) smoke, but apparently is some sort of powder. The good news is no one in any of the 3 vehicles was hurt. I have a small abrasion on my chin from the airbag, but that seems to be the worst of it. Hopefully it goes away or is light enough to be covered by makeup for the wedding. The bad news is that my car is 8 years old and airbags are expensive, so there is a very real possibility my Escape will be totaled, despite very little damage (basically just a new bumper and fender). I'm hoping not, since I'd really prefer not to have a car payment all of a sudden, but if so, there are worse things that could happen.

I'm not really a laid back person, so I have no idea why I'm so relaxed about the whole incident. I barely even cried after I was sure nothing happened to my wedding dress (I'm not going to lie, I was super upset at first!). It took the state troopers over an hour to get there to do an accident report, Jake came down to wait with me and we called AAA and had the tow truck there to move my car and then went out for a beer and pizza. I had dropped rental coverage from my insurance since I worked at home, but luckily we have two friends who offered use of their extra vehicles so I'm covered there. Maybe this is a new leaf for me to not get so stressed out and worked up over things, so I'm trying to stay positive. And I don't know if it was St Christopher or my Guardian Angel or something else that has made sure I've made it through these accidents unharmed, but THANKS to all of them for looking out for me :)