Collision

So, I've had my drivers license for 5 days short of 5.5 years... I'd managed in all that time to avoid any vehicular complications, tickets, accidents, etc. (minus that little mis-hap with that demon rock, but we won't go there...) until last night.

Yesterday was just a cold, rainy, gross Ohio day. Not the most beautiful of fall days, and definitely not my ideal conditions to drive in. So the agenda for the evening consisted of Sam, Stacie, and Sierra going to something for their high school, then afterwards we all would go get some Zencha tea. While they were at their Tree of Life event, I just planned to maybe shop a little, but spend most of my time reading in Barnes & Noble. So, as I drove through the packed out parking lot, I stopped to wait for a car to back out of their pretty prime spot for a Friday night at Polaris. Meanwhile, as I waited patiently, the car that had been in front of me decided that they wanted that spot as well. Rather than give up on it, said car went into reverse. Now, I wasn't really upset about the loss of this great parking spot, so much as I was slightly irritated at the fact that this brand new Honda Civic was coming right at me, not leaving me many options other than to sit there and take it. crrrash. suck. Now, I suppose I could have honked, but I was more so in a state of shock... like "really?? we've driven the entire length of this parking lot with me right behind you, and you missed all of it... "

So a girl about my age, who I would later come to know as Jigna, got out of her car in tears and asked if I was ok. "I'm in so much trouble!" were the words she repeated over and over and over. I hugged her, and told her it was ok, it was just a car and neither of us thankfully were hurt.. I felt worse for her than I did for myself... She wasted an accident on a car like mine that is already held together in part by duct tape. She could have got the biggest bang for her buck doing damage to a slightly more valuable car... ha..

So, we traded information and all that jazz. The mall cop showed up and did his little routine. Eventually, after way too long of standing in the rain, we'd done all we could do for the evening and went our separate ways.

Jigna has been on my mind a lot in the past 16-17 hours. Her fear to tell her father about this accident hurt my heart. It was clear to me that this was going to be a huge ordeal for her relationship with her father to bear. Seeing that something as materialistic as a car was going to bring so much tension between her and her father made me sad. It made me very thankful for the fact that nothing as replaceable as a car could make my parents love me less, but for the fact that my parents see the bigger picture of knowing that things could have been so much worse.

One thing is for sure, Jigna will be in my prayers. I hope that her father will be able to see the bigger picture and have a forgiving heart.