Laughter and Pain

In the fall of junior year, I made a mistake. The bell had just rung at 1:57 pm and I walked out of school and got in my car. I decided I had time so I went to Dunkin’ before heading to work because it wasn’t that far out of the way. Once I got there I walked inside to get my food and drink. I hate the drive-thru so I always go inside no matter what. Well once I got inside I waited for 15 minutes just for a medium iced coffee that usually only takes 3 minutes to make. Once I finally got going around 2:20 I was rushing to leave the parking lot and head to work saying “hopefully once I hit Gardiner traffic will be okay so I can make it to work in enough time to change.” (which I might add starts at 3).

I had just passed the town office in Sabattus and saw a car stopped (turns out it was Angela) and waiting to turn onto Furbush road, so I thought “I don’t have time to wait for this car to turn, there’s too much traffic coming the other way” so going 45 mph I passed her on the right (and yes I know that is way too fast to be passing someone and yes I know it is also illegal to pass on the right) but what I didn’t see as I was getting ready to pass is that there was a break in the road with about a foot and a half drop. Once I hit that break my car service lights came on it started beeping immediately and my tire light came on. Automatically I started saying “shoot shoot shoot I’m sorry I’m sorry” I was in no position to stop right away so I drove it to a driveway about 500 feet from where it all happened and parked partly on the side of the road. Once I put my car in park I said to myself “well dang there’s no way I’m making it to work anymore”.

The first thing I did was call my boss and said, “I’m sorry but there’s no way I could make it to work today my car is all sorts of messed up and it won’t be moving for a while”. After that, I broke down crying because I knew this one was going to be an expensive fix and I didn’t have the money to fix it right now. Once I semi gathered myself I called my dad and the first thing I said was “My car is done for”. Once I got done explaining the situation, the first thing my dad says to me once I finish talking is “well way to go dummy” after he hung up I tried to get someone to pick me up but no one would be able to pick me up for at least another 40 minutes, so, naturally I got comfortable in my damaged car and got out the Netflix. I said to myself “welp at least I have some sunflower seeds and plenty of water in the car. Now I just need to find a way to pass the time”. This is the day I discovered my steering wheel had a perfect slot at the bottom where my phone can sit. While I was waiting for someone to come and get me I was laid back watching “The 100” and eating pickle flavored sunflower seeds.

About 20 minutes into all of this happening my adrenaline started to fade then all of a sudden I started getting laughing fits because I was realizing how ridiculous this was and how if I didn’t do one stupid thing I wouldn’t even be in this situation right now. About 45 minutes later my mom arrived with my whole family in the car like this is a side attraction and so I got in her truck and then we sat a the shed company on the other side of the road waiting for AAA. Once we got it towed and back home I was exhausted. To this day I still find it funny. Obviously, at the time it definitely wasn’t but now that I look back at the whole thing I find it pretty funny. To this day my car is still pretty traumatized driving by that spot. Also, I no longer pass on the right so I have definitely learned my lesson.

Photo by Timothy Valentine on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA