As the title of this particular entry suggests, I did on the date of today I got into a (minor) almost-accident. I call it an almost accident, because well, I really didn't hit anything, and no one was hurt. (Yay!)
The story:
Today we had late starts due to AIMS (which I have already exceeded) so I didn't need to be at school until around 11:00 a.m. Being the slight coffee addict that I am I decided that I would leave a grand total of thirty minutes before my designated arrival time (aka 10:30) to stop at a Starbucks along the way. I decided on going to the drive-through Starbucks located conveniently near my house (seeing as the one by my school would take forever).
The Problem:
It's a hard turn to get out onto the main road to get to said Starbucks. And as I pulled up and positioned myself to make said right hand turn it came to my attention that the two gentlemen making a left were in a GIANT truck. A truck I could not see around, or over...like, AT ALL. Seeing my distress the two gentlemen (actually being gentlemen; Surprise, surprise) tried to assist me in making my right hand turn, by signaling me when it would be safe to go.
The Almost-Accident:
The signaled me that I was clear to proceed into the middle lane. I started rolling forward, seeing no reason why I shouldn't trust them, while still trying to look over the large truck to make sure that everything would be all right. My car has a wider wheel base than most cars (or something like that) which makes it very hard to make tight turns (hence my inability to execute a proper U-turn a majority of the time). This is important, because I couldn't turn only into the 1st lane. Actually, I started going a little into the 2nd lane, in which another car was approaching me rapidly. Panicking, I swerved to the right in order to avoid the car. This led me onto a very steep curb. (I later found out that I went onto the curb much more than I thought.) There was a post there, and as I noticed myself approaching it I rapidly got back onto the road careful to stay in my own lane.
Overall everything was fine in the end. My car is a little roughed up from the ordeal. I'm more likely than not down $100 (the cost of a new front tire). And, the poor gentlemen in the truck are probably never going to help another distressed teenage female make a right turn again. To be honest, that all really sucks don't get me wrong. But I can't help but to sit back and think about how much worse it could have been.
If I hadn't reacted quick enough I might have potentially hit the oncoming car in the 2nd lane, though I definitely overcompensated to avoid that car. And, seeing as I drive a '92 Taurus and only have a front airbag, I would probably have gotten seriously injured. Then, if I had been too freaked out by that -as in no longer capable of paying attention to what else was going on around me- I could have definitely crashed into that pole. Which, again, would have deployed the one airbag and could have caused some serious damage. Or, possibly the worst outcome, if someone had been standing/walking there, there is always the possibility that I could have hit them. And something like that is just so much more haunting than the thought that I may have been hurt. So all in all, I feel really...lucky.
Thinking about it, one of the first things that comes to mind is my late grandfather. When I first got my car my family did a little research, and it turned up that my late grandfather had actually BUILT part of my car. Now, I'm not suggesting that the two are cosmically connected, and that that's why I didn't die or get seriously injured today...But, it is just one of those things I will always think about. If I have learned anything in my -albeit brief- lifetime, it's that the universe works in very interesting ways.
Now I would like to take this time to say a few words:
Papa, if you really did have something to do with my sheer luck today, thank you.
And how does this relate to my Bucket List? Or the fact that I'm blogging about Life? Well i would just like to say this: Amber-1 Life-0. Take that!
