Soren's First Car Accident!

The whole ordeal started when I went to JoAnn Fabrics to exchange a pattern, got scammed by a clerk, who offered to give me $2 for a $12 pattern that another clerk promised full exchange value for.  When I was unable to produce a driver's license, I'm pretty sure she put a hex on me.

"What if you get pulled over?", she asked.

"I don't get pulled over.  I have an infant, I don't speed, and I'm a very safe driver," I replied.

"Well,  you never know," she countered.  "They perform random stops sometimes, and you could get arrested."

I shrugged it off, went to pick up my brother for a coffee date on his last day in town.  We grabbed coffee, went to the grocery store to pick up cheese for some Mac.  I was a half an hour late for our scheduled day feedings.  Soren is a sleepyhead and won't wake himself up to eat.  I have to wake him.  Almost every time.

We pulled out of the parking lot, into the Northbound lane at Vanderbilt and Airport, when I heard fire sirens behind me.  As a good, law abiding citizen, I pulled as far off the road as I could, into the shoulder.  Letting the emergency vehicles pass I merged back into traffic, and proceeded through the green light at the intersection.  Just then, a squad car with lights blazing, appeared on the right from Vanderbilt Beach.  Once again, as a good law abiding citizen, I quickly stopped to allow the car to proceed.

The van behind me didn't.

Soren let out a brief yelp, fussed for a second, and then there was the most petrifying silence.  I had visions of my fourteen day old infant bleeding to death in his lime green Chicco car seat.  I panicked.  My level headed brother declared boldly, "Sarah, you have to get out of the intersection."

Pulling forward, I ran out of my car, crying and shaking, opened the car door, to find Soren sound asleep in his car seat.  My son had slept through a car accident.

My trunk is about a foot smaller than it was before.  The car seat in the trunk is... nonfunctional?  

The poor guy who hit me was totally panicked.  His eight-month pregnant wife arrived on the scene.  I think he was having visions of his adorable Cuban wife and there two week old son on the side of the road.  They were as sweet as can be.

In the pic above, a half an hour after the accident, Soren is still sleeping soundly in his car seat on the side of Airport Road at 4:00 in the afternoon.

So here's what I'm grateful for:

1)  For some strange reason, I put Soren's docking station on the passenger side of the car.  Every time I put him in, I wondered to myself "Why did I do this?  It's such a pain.  I need to move it."   There was no glass on his car seat.  Glass was all over in the car, on the front dash, but none in his little seat.  The impact was much gentler on that side as well.

2)  I got to meat Joe and Lizette.  I hope our paths cross again.

3)  I got an extra half an hour with my brother.

4)  I quickly learned how very much I love my little boy.  I had no idea until I thought he might be hurt - or worse.  I really don't care about the car.  My baby is safe (and my brother - that was cool, too!).

5)  You can't put a price on a safe car seat.  Thanks to the engineers at Chicco for designing such an excellent infant car seat to keep my little boy safe.  

So Michael and I went to look at the car today.  The wreck yard owner said the whole back and will need to be completely rebuilt.  The insurance adjuster still hasn't looked at it, and I suspect he may declare it totalled.  We will see.

And it all started at JoAnn Fabrics, when that woman put a hex on me.