Yesterday was a crazy day and ended in a way I never expected. The whole day was nonstop with typical Saturday stuff. Then that night I had to run and drop off the slideshow that I created for a lady in my ward. I decided to take Abe's truck. I got about 2 miles from home and noticed the low fuel light came on. I went to the nearest gas station and filled 'er up! Realizing, halfway through, that I had just put unleaded gas into a tank that required diesel. Diesel!!!! Um, I think that diesel vehicles should say "Low Diesel" not "low fuel"! That would have been helpful!! I brought the truck back to the house for Abe to figure out what to do and I took the Expedition. So one car down. I ran the DVD to the party, arriving late because I got lost. Augh! It was so frustrating. I decided not to stay at the party because I really just wanted to be home and veg out after being on the go all day long. So I left early and headed home. I got on the freeway. It was dark and very wooded. I was in the right hand lane and before I knew it a deer was in my lane, standing there right before me. I, instinctively, slammed on my brakes (lesson learned! HIT THE DEER!!) and swerved to the right. I swerved into the shoulder, swerved back into my lane, did a 360, went into the median (a grassy median, luckily it was pretty wide median), did a 180 and stopped on the embankment of the median, ending up perpendicular to the road. Needless to say, I was completely, totally freaked out/shocked. Several cars stopped to make sure I was okay and I was!!!! I still can't believe I survived that one. I don't say that flippantly. No life flashing before my eyes, but I did distinctly think that I was going to die. The whole thing happened so slowly (not really, but it seemed that way) that I kept waiting for a car to hit me, knowing there were cars all around me and I was all over the place, or at least the car was going to roll. When I finally stopped, several cars pulled over to make sure I was okay. The neat thing was when the first car stopped, a guy jumped out yelling at me to see if I was okay. When he got to me, I broke down into tears and told him I was and he immediately took my hand and, out loud, said a prayer of gratitude. It was so special. I'll never forget that prayer. A police car wasn't too far behind. He pulled over. He told me that I was very lucky that I did a 180 in the median. See, Louisville is notorious for people losing control of their car and crossing the median into oncoming traffic. Unfortunately, it was a pretty common occurrence when we first moved here. They have since put cable fences up and down the freeways and it doesn't happen anymore, but I was on the part of the freeway where there wasn't a fence. My car could have easily crossed the median. A tow truck came and brought me and the car home. Miraculously only 1 flat tire resulted from that accident. Incredible! It's the next day and I'm still shocked that I'm not in a hospital somewhere. The crazy thing is, I think it was right of me to swerve. If I had hit that deer, our car would have suffered major damage and who knows what else. Actually, someone in our church hit a deer a week ago and it totalled their car. but honestly I say don't do either. Avoid it at all costs!!! I feel so blessed that NOTHING happened to me or the car. I was watched over and I felt it. I just had to share my experience because it just seems so surreal and I want to remember how protected I felt at that moment. God is very kind. I'm soooo grateful. And pretty impressed, I knocked both of our cars in a matter of an hour and a half!
Update: Abe (my hero, my superman, the most understanding man ever!) fixed the Expedition and all it required was one new tire! That deer tried to cause more damage, but all he caused was one tiny little tire pop! Okay, so it ripped the tire off the rim, but still. I put up a good fight! The diesel truck is still to be determined. Please pray I didn't destroy that car! yikes!! I also have to admit that while I was thinking I was surely going to die, I also had the thought "We Can't Afford This!!!!" running through my mind. I was positive I had totaled the car. I thought the undercarriage had been ripped off, the tires had been obliterated, and the engine was dead. But nothing!!! One. Popped. Tire. I'm still in shock about the lack of damage to the car. I never getting rid of my Expedition. I'm sold. I will own one for the rest of my life! It's tried and true, we are Safe, with a capital S, in that car.
The other great news is when Abe went to the car this morning to fix the tire, he opened up the door and his $80 watch that slid down the dashboard was laying on the floor of the car! So really, we made $80 with this incident. :)
I have to give a shout out to Abe. Let's just say I'm not the most graceful person ever. I tend to get into some pretty ridiculous situations and Abe is amazing. He just laughs them off and does what needs to be done to fix it and make things better. He gets to tease me a little bit, but hey, I better be able to laugh at myself. :)
.
