Saturday, January 26, 2008

I Hate My Car and I Love the Smith Family

This morning I awoke to rain. Little did I know this rain had a hidden, dangerous aspect: it was freezing rain.

I slipped on my heels and skirt and headed out to a baptism at the church. Going up 185th, the car seemed to lose some power, but I kept driving. When I turned from Gassner onto Grabhorn, my brakes seemed to fail me. Up ahead I saw a silver Acura parked diagonally across the road and behind it a white Jeep. Frightened my brakes wouldn't stop me in time, I chose to slide into the ditch. I jammed into the muddy bank and got high centered on a ridge. Fortunately, I was not hurt, but I could not move the car.


The driver of the Jeep saw me, backed up, and who should pop out but Sarah and Nathan Smith, also going to the baptism! They cheerfully stuffed me and my two bottles of Sprite into the front seat and drove me to the church. (See Sarah's picture. She's not only beautiful but saintly and helpful! So is Nathan, but I don't have a picture of him. :-)

Later this afternoon, Nathan helped Lester yank the car out of the ditch. The use of what Lester calls "brute force" caused the front bumper to disconnect from the body of the car. Plus, I sort of smashed the front quarter panel when I collided with the muddy ditch. Sooo, now I will list the damages to our poor car:

- 1 disconnected front bumper

- 1 smashed front quarter panel

- 2 dented rear quarter panels (from other incidents I shall not name at this time)

- 1 broken passenger-side mirror (I was driving down Gassner a few weeks ago from church and a rock or something jumped out of the ditch and shattered the mirror. I swear that is the truth. However, I finished off the job when I accidentally hit a post in a parking lot. That is when the frame fell off the mirror and now it is swathed in plastic. A lovely ornament to my car.)

I will not post a picture of the damage because I prefer to let my poor car suffer in the dark silence of the garage until we can get it to the body shop next week.

Can someone say EXPENSIVE?

10 comments:

Bridget said...

Oh bummer!!! So glad you are not hurt though. And how fortunate the Smiths were right there to help you. I can feel your dread in anticipation of the estimate though. Ouch.

Becky said...

Sarah really is a saint, I should know- she visit teaches me lol.
Im sorry about your car. At least its a fixable car though and not a hurt body part.

mahina said...

i was so sad when you called me with the news this morning! one good thing is that lester hadn't taken the car in already to get the other damages repaired. that would have been an extra bummer to have a newly fixed car fall into a ditch!!

i am so sorry for your day! hope you're holding up alright!

sarahseekingsanity said...

Happy to be of service! Sorry that you needed the service to begin with. Roz would like to know why you left off the part about her offering you a hair brush.

Elizabeth Dimit said...

Sarah, tell Roz I think I was so shook up that I probably didn't even process the offer. But now that you mention it, tell her how much I appreciate it. It was a very thoughtful and appropriate offer, considering the circumstances. :-)

brenda said...

You seemed so calm and collected at the baptism. I would have been a basket-case! Sorry that all happened to you. We also didn't know it was icy until we slid a bit on Gassner.

Darilyn said...

I heard about this. What a terrible thing to happen. I'm glad you are okay and that Sarah and Nathan were there to help. By the way, I was not giving you the stink eye today about not being Emma's teacher anymore. Although I am sad about it I actually had other things on my mind today. So i'm sorry if it appeared I was upset with you.

Margaret said...

Lizzie, lizzie, lizzie (picture me shaking my head and tsking). I'm speechless. That poor car has been through more abuse...Anyway, I'm glad to hear that you are okay. Eres una chofera bien loca!

Merilee said...

Oh my word. That is insane! I'm so glad no one was hurt.
I also heart Sarah Smith. I owe her big time for saving me at the Hazeldale principal's coffee.

RocketBox Boy said...

Yikes. I am glad you walked away unharmed by that scary event. How lucky that the Smiths were right there. That was a blessing. Sarah is the best and seems to always be there when help is needed.