When November started here in Washington, so did the rain. It has been the hard, windy, hailing, torrential rains that make it hard to drive in. My sweet daughter finally consented to get her license back in august. This was not without a lot of pushing and shoving from her parents. She only wants to drive an automatic, and we are a family of manual cars, with one Excpetion our truck we use for hauling things. It is automatic and equipped with 4 wheel drive, but is huge and a bugger to drive especially if you are short and petite as she is. G-pa gave her his favorite car a saturn coupe that was a classic at 15 years old and perfect condition. He had purchased a new car, and was helping her out. Well as the story here started the weather turned nasty. We live about 30 miles from everything she does- school, dance, boyfriend, going to performances in town etc. She was heading home from class, entering the freeway from on ramp, there was standing water and hail, along with heavy rain, when she hit the standing water, she lost traction and control, spun out, across the freeway lanes and hit the median. We got that awful phone call that we worry about every night, when she's out, that she was in a wreck. She had the airbag go off in her face, bloody nose, some whiplash, scared. Fortunately there were some good samartins, a car full of guys, who stopped, called 911 sending police and paramedics. They helped her until the official help came. As she & they, talk to my husband on the phone, i get in the car to drive 30 miles quickly to get to her. Its hard to know what to expect when you get there. I didnt expect her to have bloody and swollen face. That really took me off guard. I've been in hit before but fortunately had not suffered any injuries, so really wasn't expected. The paramedics had cleaned her up a little. Still a shock. And I was so overwhelmed that she was ok, she kept saying I'm sorry. Hard to make your child know you dont care about the car, as long as they survive. To bring some levity to the situation, the paramedic says to her, "Hey this never happens to guys when they crash, no car load of girls stops to help" and look at all the men you have here. Wow.
So my days over the past 10 days have been spent driving my daughter to all her activities, college, dance lessons, rehearsals, dr appoints, waiting for hours inbetween these things- as its too wasteful for gas to drive home and most times not really worth the time. I had to find something to do while waiting. I read, I window shopped- unfortunately that gives me more ideas of things i would like to be doing, sewing, cleaning, scrapbooking. I went to the movies, i drank coffee . I factored in how to pay a new carpayment-ugh, not the head of my list when i'm already factoring in how i'm going to cover college expenses for my daughter next year. I researched cars, their safety factors and if the insurance was favorable of them.
In the meantime, I finally found a replacement vehicle. Something considered very safe- subaru legacy- all wheel drive, dependable. A car that hopefully will last her for several years, make it thru the mountain weather until we move, and keep her safe. That's what its all about. Keeping them safe. So she has wheels again as of yesterday, and already is back to driving the miles. And we waited and worried until she got home late last night. Off again this morning, how quickly they return to their routine. And as parents we have to let them, its our job to help them grow, and worry about their safety!
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