This is a follow-up to a prior posting titled “Turn that black cloud upside-down”. (If you haven't read that one, you definitely should!) Is this a case of life imitating art? You be the judge. In most horror films or thrillers, there is a moment near the end that you feel like the main character if finally in the clear. There is that moment you think all danger and threats are gone, but then out of no where there is one last stand by the villain/monster/killer. A wise person knows that no one is safe until the credits start to roll. I guess the credits hadn’t started to run on the most recent chapter in my life. I endured a break up with a long term girlfriend, a hit and run car accident while I was asleep at night, getting my wisdom teeth out, and my car breaking down Christmas night on my way back to Boston. Let’s also throw in there a devastating loss by the Sox in the ALCS and Tom Brady going down to major injury in week 1 of the NFL season while we are at it. I thought 2009 signified the rolling of those credits… I was wrong!
It was a nice normal weekend. I stayed in Friday night to clean the apartment and rest up from a long week at work. Besides it was sub-zero temperatures outside. Saturday was laundry in the morning and the gym in the afternoon. I was supposed to go on a date Saturday night, but postponed it due to circumstances I won’t get into right now. I ended up meeting up with some old friends for a few drinks, so all was good. I woke up Sunday to find the snow had started. I really wanted to stay in and watch movies then football, but it was my cousins’ birthdays… their first birthdays in fact. A big day for the twins. So I did the right thing and braved the elements. I picked up some nice outfits at the Carter’s store in the Watertown Mall and was on my way back to my hometown. Travel was slow due to the snow and the complete lack of plows or sanding on the highways. I was locked into a zone driving as if I was playing Gran Turismo. Then out of the blue some moron decided that it was a good time to cut in front of me and put his brakes on. I followed suit and applied my own brakes to prevent an accident with him. Well the next 5 seconds felt like an hour, but I only remember pieces of it. My car started to slide and I no longer had control. My car did a complete 360 as it was simultaneously heading towards the breakdown lane. Too say that I was a bit concerned at this point would be like saying Apollo Creed took a slight beating from the Russian Ivan Drago. My car smashed into the snow bank formed on the outer edge of the breakdown lane. This was actually a good thing because it drastically reduced my speed and righted the direction of my car. I proceeded to head down the side of the hill off the highway into a little ditch finally stopping as I hit a nice metal stake in the ground. I am also grateful for the placement of that stake because it was better than the other options I saw like trees! I immediately took a deep breathe and looked around to make sure I was in one piece. I was perfectly ok physically… the same can’t be said mentally. Boy, I was pissed off! I jumped out of the car, walked up the side of the hill and what did I find… nothing! The guy didn’t even bother to stop to see if I was ok. Literally the definition of adding insult to injury. A random car stopped to see if I was ok, which was nice. This guy also happened to be a BC grad and he waited with me until the state cops arrived. As he took off the state cop got out of the car and I was frazzled. Not only had I been in my first car accident in my life, but I’d never seen a cop so hot before. This female state trooper was like an angel. If I wasn’t so rattled from the accident when she asked me if I was ok I might have told her I wasn’t sure and I would prefer that she give me a quick physical exam!! Anyways, an hour and half later the tow truck pulled my car out of the ditch and I was on my way to the birthday party. Oh, and it only cost me $175.10 for my troubles.
It was a nice normal weekend. I stayed in Friday night to clean the apartment and rest up from a long week at work. Besides it was sub-zero temperatures outside. Saturday was laundry in the morning and the gym in the afternoon. I was supposed to go on a date Saturday night, but postponed it due to circumstances I won’t get into right now. I ended up meeting up with some old friends for a few drinks, so all was good. I woke up Sunday to find the snow had started. I really wanted to stay in and watch movies then football, but it was my cousins’ birthdays… their first birthdays in fact. A big day for the twins. So I did the right thing and braved the elements. I picked up some nice outfits at the Carter’s store in the Watertown Mall and was on my way back to my hometown. Travel was slow due to the snow and the complete lack of plows or sanding on the highways. I was locked into a zone driving as if I was playing Gran Turismo. Then out of the blue some moron decided that it was a good time to cut in front of me and put his brakes on. I followed suit and applied my own brakes to prevent an accident with him. Well the next 5 seconds felt like an hour, but I only remember pieces of it. My car started to slide and I no longer had control. My car did a complete 360 as it was simultaneously heading towards the breakdown lane. Too say that I was a bit concerned at this point would be like saying Apollo Creed took a slight beating from the Russian Ivan Drago. My car smashed into the snow bank formed on the outer edge of the breakdown lane. This was actually a good thing because it drastically reduced my speed and righted the direction of my car. I proceeded to head down the side of the hill off the highway into a little ditch finally stopping as I hit a nice metal stake in the ground. I am also grateful for the placement of that stake because it was better than the other options I saw like trees! I immediately took a deep breathe and looked around to make sure I was in one piece. I was perfectly ok physically… the same can’t be said mentally. Boy, I was pissed off! I jumped out of the car, walked up the side of the hill and what did I find… nothing! The guy didn’t even bother to stop to see if I was ok. Literally the definition of adding insult to injury. A random car stopped to see if I was ok, which was nice. This guy also happened to be a BC grad and he waited with me until the state cops arrived. As he took off the state cop got out of the car and I was frazzled. Not only had I been in my first car accident in my life, but I’d never seen a cop so hot before. This female state trooper was like an angel. If I wasn’t so rattled from the accident when she asked me if I was ok I might have told her I wasn’t sure and I would prefer that she give me a quick physical exam!! Anyways, an hour and half later the tow truck pulled my car out of the ditch and I was on my way to the birthday party. Oh, and it only cost me $175.10 for my troubles.
The point is that I have my fingers crossed that I’ve watched the final credits on what has been just a frustrating 4 months! I am, however, trying to put a positive twist on everything. The girlfriend wasn’t “the one”, so it was for the best. My wisdom teeth coming out now did suck pretty badly, but it had to be better than an infection 5 years down the road. My car breaking down on Christmas was a huge annoyance, but at least it happened 15 minutes from my parents’ house. On I-93 in route to work would have been a disaster. And while today was just flat out terrible, I could have been hurt pretty bad and I basically came away without a scratch… ok, a small one on my shin from banging the center console. I can’t decide if I have been insanely unlucky lately or incredibly fortunate. Either way, I’m ready for things to go back to normal and relatively uneventful… for a little while.
