The Icing

It's 3 a.m. and I can't sleep. Yesterday I was in San Francisco with my friends Toni, John, and John for the ballet. We had a fabulous lunch at Burma Superstar (my second trip there during the last two weeks), had a nice time at the ballet, and met Toni's friend Richard for hot chocolate. Afterwards, Toni and I were on the way to the freeway when someone ran a red light and broadsided us. My glasses flew across the car, and the impact basically sealed my door shut. In order to get out, I had to climb across the seat to the driver's side. Here are some things I'm grateful for.

1. The windows didn't break.
2. No one that was involved in the crash had any external injuries--no cuts or abrasions.
3. The police did a great job of getting information from both drivers so that we didn't have to interact directly with each other (which kept everyone calm, I think).
4. My glasses didn't break or get stepped on.
5. I was able to call my friend Kent (who just was hired as an assistant professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins--congratulations, Kent!) about a half hour after the accident to process what I needed to be paying attention to in terms of possible internal injuries. He did a great job of explaining what to consider--and he and Janet were both very reassuring.
6. Toni's car was running well enough for us to drive back to Fresno (although I had to sit in the backseat). Although Toni hit her leg against the steering wheel, she felt well enough and brave enough to drive.
7. Toni saw the car coming and tried to swerve because she was worried about him hitting me--that was her main thought when she realized we were going to have an accident.
8. Things could have been so much worse.

I have to admit that I'm feeling a little emotional about this. I didn't see the car coming. I can still feel the impact both in my side (I think I either bruised or broke a rib--I'll go to the doctor today) and in my teeth (of all places). I can still hear the crunch of the car. I feel really lucky to be alive and pretty much okay.