It's not Friday the 13th!

Ethan and I went to bed really early last night.  Marisa went to her girlfriend’s surprise sweet sixteen birthday party.  Van was working late and it was really a perfect night to snuggle with Ethan.  At first, I just wanted to put Ethan to bed since we’ve been out shopping all day.  I needed a moment to myself and saw a perfect opportunity to get Ethan to bed.  The next thing I knew, it was seven o’clock Sunday morning!

It was sunny and perfect after a gloomy Saturday.  Marisa was up early too so we thought that it would be nice to meet up with daddy for lunch.  Both of my kids were so excited to see daddy.  Marisa was excited that I was going to help color her hair.  I was extremely excited to see my children gleaming with happiness.  Since Van wanted to have a nice family dinner and was planning to leave work “on time”, we just took a quick bite for our late lunch.  We told daddy that we would shop around Kingstowne until he was ready to leave.

Our family outing turned out to be more than what we were expecting!  After returning Van to work, we wanted to hit TJ Maxx, Famous Footwear, Home Goods, and Ross.  We ended up at Ross first and were going to work our way up to TJ.  Marisa helped Ethan out of his car seat into his stroller.  I was putting something away in the trunk of our car when I felt and heard a loud thump.  At first, I thought someone hit our car when they were trying to squeeze into a parking space.  I walked around to where the sound resonated and behold, a lady had slammed her door into the side of our car.  She left a huge dent on the passenger side of the door, well, it was the back door.  I approached the lady and she exclaimed that her car door was too heavy when she swung it open.  I asked to get her information then headed towards the back of her car to get her license plate number.  She entered her car; my assumption was that she was getting her information ready.  Without warning, she slammed her car into me.  The impact caused me to jerk into a “c” shape ~ the top half of my body fell forward on the back of her car while the bottom half of my body went under her car.  Just imagine my children witnessing this traumatic incident!  I called 911 and asked my daughter to get a camera so that I could take a picture of the lady’s car.  After hitting me, the lady continued to stay in her car and screamed out for me to move.  Then she proceeded to scream at my daughter and claimed that she did not hit our car nor did she hit me.  While I was on the phone with the dispatcher, I told my daughter to stay away from this lunatic since I did not know what she was capable of.  She jumped into her car and proceeded to leave but I stayed behind her car to block her.  Within minutes, Officer Kelley arrived.  I was on my way to greet the officer when lady saw an opportunity to escape!  She drove off!  It wasn’t very smart of her because the police gave chase and brought her back to the scene of the accident.  Prior to the officer’s arrival, I asked this lady how she could be at this age and not want to take responsibilities for her actions.  What has this world come to where no body wants to be held accountable for their choices? 

The officer took my statement and then took the lady’s statement.  She denied everything.  The officer asked if our cars were moving when she hit my car.  I said no.  He then advised me that he would not be able to give her a citation since it was not considered a moving violation.  Then I told the officer that when she struck me, what would that be considered?  He approached the lady, who continued to stay in her car.  She claimed that she did not see me.  The officer asked if I needed to be taken to the hospital.  I was more concern for my children but I also did not want to make a mistake and not get myself checked.  I said yes and within seconds, a fire truck and the ambulance arrived.  The firemen approached the lady and asked if she needed to be taken to the hospital but I said, “Excuse me; it is I who was struck by this lady”.  Marisa had to run to the bathroom and Ethan was in his stroller listening to music.  Thank goodness that he did not fuss and I was so proud of my daughter for being such a grown up and was there for her brother.

I wish that I was able to get information for the gentleman that saw everything, but when the officer arrived at the Springfield Heathplex, he said that I did not need a witness.  He said that she finally admitted that she hit me.  He gave her a citation and she is at fault.  He also said that she is from Mexico visiting her daughter who lives in Annandale and the car that she was driving was a rental.  He went even further to say that this lady was crazy, I don’t know if he was suppose to tell me that, but I figured that as much because it just did not make any sense.  Why would you try to escape knowing that the police was within a foot of your car?  My daughter asked why this lady thought that she was in the right especially when it is common sense that you have to look both ways and behind while backing a car out of any place!

What a day!  I ended up with no broken bones but a bruised left hand, arm, elbow and wrist.  My right foot has a small fracture but nothing major that would require surgery.  I now have a slight headache, tender shoulders, stiff ring finger, painful left arm and my knees and body are a bit sore.  It was such an ordeal for my kids, but my little angels are now safe and sound asleep.  Thank God that my children were not harmed.  Thank God that this loony was not driving so fast that she would have dragged my body to no limits.  Thank God that I’m breathing although I was pretty shaken up to have my children experience this horrific side of a human behavior.  Marisa said that it was a good thing for this lady that she was not old enough to stand up to her.  I told my daughter that she did stand up to her because she remained calmed and collective and not let this lady swayed her to do anything rash.  This is a sign of maturity and this is a sign that doing what is right will always stand up to anything.  I am a proud mother, indeed!