Airbags and seatbelts

Many of my readers know about my car accident. My car/airbags saved my life. I'm not being dramatic.  It was a very serious accident. I haven't written about it, not because I'm having PTSD, but because I'm typing one-handed.

I have a fractured left hand. Other then a banged up right knee, which is still bruised two weeks later, I had one small cut over my right eye. That's it. I am so thankful.

The last thing I remember (I'm guessing I closed my eyes) is seeing the car turn in front of me. I don't remember the actual impact or the airbags going off. From what others have told me, I'm even more grateful for that.

It's been very interesting. I guess I'm part of, or conducting, a social experiment. When someone sees my hand, they ask what happened. When I tell them it was a car accident, nine out of ten people go on to share about a car accident they were involved in. Today, at the checkout at Target, was no exception. Except she was not as lucky as me because her accident was long enough ago that her car did not have airbags. She showed me the scar across her shoulder and motioned to the entire length across her body where the seatbelt had bruised her. She was going 25mph. I was going 50mph. We both had tears in our eyes for the other as we realized how lucky we both were to be sharing this with each other.

I posted a picture of my car on Facebook, or what was left of it. I'm not going to post it here, because it can be very upsetting if you haven't seen it. I think most of you have though. I'm going to pointedly not post it as a way to move on. I don't need the picture to remind me. For at least the next two weeks I have the brace on my left hand as a constant reminder.

To end with a bit of humor, we live in a decidedly two-handed world. The humor comes if you were to be a fly on the wall watching me do the simplest things like button my pants or unscrew the lid to a jar of peanut butter. Knees, teeth, and my left elbow have become quite handy. Every time I use my teeth, I think of my dentist. I'm sure she wouldn't be happy. But sometimes that's all I can do!

Stay tuned, I have a lot more time to think, so I'll be writing a few more posts!!