Goodbye old friend

Friday was a busy day. A VERY busy day. As I mentioned in my previous post, Julia had field day. Afterward, we went to get Lili and Simon from our friends' house, dropped by a fellow Kindergarten mom's house to give her pictures from field day, then went home to get Julia ready for her second performance of "Here Comes the Sun" (a musical theater production). I also needed to go by the bank to have her "medical release form" notorized for her soccer tournament the next day. I was doing awesome! We were running on time and everything. I got to the bank, but didn't have my license (oops!) and had to run home to get it. I did (Lili had fallen asleep and we still had plenty of time) and then we were on our way again. I had just turned on to the second street away from our house when it happened.

I went to set the form (yes, the same one that needed to be notorized) down in the seat next to me, and looked down as I did so. I drifted a bit wide and jumped the curb a little bit (with my front passenger tire). The problem was that there was a big, solid brick mailbox there. I hit it with my car (I did not even have time to hit the brakes or anything).

Well, as we know, with every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

The reaction was for my car to roll...

all the way to its roof.

It was terrifying. Thankfully we were all okay, just a bit shaken (no pun intended).

I climbed out of my shattered window, through the broken glass, but stopped, crawled back in, turned off the car, crawled back out, then went to Julia's door. I opened the door, she unbuckled herself and fell to the floor, er, roof. All the kids were crying. It was NOT comfortable to be upside down.

When it happened, Liliana screamed and then started crying saying, "We're upside down! We're upside down!" (what a horrible way to get woken up!)
Simon was just crying (a fussy cry mostly).
Julia was just upset, saying things like, "Oh no Mommy! We're upside down! Our car! Our car flipped! Are you okay Mommy?" She was so worried about me the whole time.

Anyway, after I got Julia away from the car, I got Simon out. I unbuckled his bottom buckle and he still didn't come out (the top buckle was not yet undone). Once I realized that was keeping him in, I pulled on it from the side (it was weird with it upside down), he came undone and I pulled him to me. He stopped crying once I was holding him. I got a little blood on him (my hand was bleeding from the glass - nothing serious), which the paramedics had to make sure was mine and not his when they got there. Then, when I ran around to Liliana's side, a neighbor was already there helping her. By then, we were quite surrounded by all the neighbors. Thank goodness everyone was okay!

The police, paramedics and fire department all came. So did several neighbors and close friends (thank you all so much)! Eventually, so did the wrecker service. They turned the car (it sounded awful - like fingernails on a chalkboard), then flipped it right side up...and then hauled it away. But, not before I filled four or five Target bags with the junk I had inside it (yes, another embarrassment). All my neighbors were so helpful. They brought water, juice, and gummy bears for the kids. The police officers gave them stuffed animals and everything too.

During the ordeal, I felt like I had mulitple personality disorder. One minute I'm calmly talking to the kids, hugging them, telling them things like, "Wow, look at our car, it's upside down." To which Julia replied, "It's not funny Mommy." I said, "I know it's not funny sweetheart, I'm just so glad we all got out of there okay."

I'm sure it helped a lot that I was going maybe 20 mph! My airbags didn't even deploy!

Anyway, as I was saying...the next minute a neighbor or friend would come over to me and I'd start crying while I hugged them. Then, I'd see that it was starting to upset the girls, so I'd switch back to "calm Mommy." Whew!

I declined the ambulance and sat there and waited 'til Nate arrived (surrounded by loving friends and concerned neighbors). Several friends offered to take the girls, but Julia DID NOT want to leave my side. She was so sweet. Lili had been so quiet, but finally started talking when people she knew were there. She ended up going to the neighborhood pool with some friends for a little while.

I had a really bad headache and started to feel nauseated. So, by the time Nate got there (and ironed out the details of where the car was going, what would be done about the mailbox, etc.), we decided I should go get checked at the hospital (the kids too, just to be sure).

We went to our friend's hospital and got in really quickly (and were treated very nicely I might add). The doctor thought I might have a slight concussion (he had me stand with my feet together and close my eyes - I was all over the place! I thought I might fall!) They gave me a CT scan and it came back normal, so that was good. I was glad I got checked. They gave me a couple shots to help with my headache and the muscle soreness to come. Let's just say I was quite loopy after that! And, within ten minutes of the shots I was ready to sleep!

I keep finding new bruises and bumps! When I took a shower I realized I'd bumped my head in more than one place. Nothing like shampooing your hair to find that out!

Sorry to ramble on, but I wanted to get "the whole story" out, complete with all the details. If I forgot anything, I'm sure I'll add it!

There you have it...the very long-winded story to explain these pictures...

{thank you for the pictures Xela!}

My poor, poor Outback! You were a good car! But, now I guess we'll have to get a minivan! Nate jokingly told me that I didn't have to go to such elaborate measures to get the minivan (hahaha). He's such a crack-up!

Okay, I admit...it was funny.

Anyway, the moral of the story?

NO MULTI-TASKING IN THE CAR!

Enough said.