Unexpected bumps in the road along life’s journey – Part I
By JAMMIE SALAGUBANG – Buzz Editor
My fianc and I had three venues scheduled for walk-throughs on Friday. The first one was at 9:30 a.m. I work until close to midnight on Thursday nights. Oh, and did I mention these venues were in Los Angeles?
But we had to do it. Our wedding is in less than six months and as of yet, we don’t have a venue. Without a venue, we can’t decide on the size of our guest list. Without a guest list, we can’t send out invites. Without invites, we can’t get gifts. You can see our dilemma.
So we left right after work ended for me. We drove in two-hour shifts. We were making good time. But while I was sleeping, it happened.
We got into a car accident.
I woke up to a cloud of hazy yellow light being filtered through smoke (which I think was the gas from the air bags that deployed) and a pungent industrial chemical smell. My man yelled that we needed to get out of the car. I fumbled around awkwardly for my glasses but couldn’t find them (not surprising, as I am almost medically blind). I couldn’t put on my boots, either (my physical coordination is correlated to my glasses). The door lock was slippery in my grasp and I couldn’t pull it up. I tried pushing against the door, but it wouldn’t budge (it had been dented in).
I sat there stupefied for awhile, still confused about what was going on and trying to wake up. (Apparently, I need my glasses for that, too.)
My man wrenched open the door, and scooped me up, Whitney Houston “Bodyguard” style and carried me to a slope of grass some yards away and gently set me down.
Miraculously, aside from some aches and bruises, and a burn on my man’s forearm (we’re guessing from the airbag), we were OK. We were alive, coherent and had all our appendages. It was the best possible outcome considering the situation.
Our car, however, did not fare so well. It could not be driven. We unloaded everything from it and watched sadly as the towtruck carted it away. Worse still, none of the car rental places could send out a car to pick us up. And we were still 2 1/2 hours away from Los Angeles.
Next week: A denim angel comes to the rescue.
Jammie Karlman is the entertainment editor for the Chico Enterprise-Record. Contact her at buzz@chicoer.com. Follow her on Twitter @JammieKarlman
My coordination is tied to my glasses too. Unfortunately my hearing is as well so in the morning when people try to talk to me I’m like, “Wait I can’t hear you. I have to find my glasses.” So glad you were both ok!
Me too! (on the hearing better with glasses.) It’s weird, because aren’t your other senses supposed to compensate for each other? I’d always heard that blind people had awesome hearing. But maybe that’s only in cases of total loss of a sense. Maybe if one sense is only half-bad, it drags all the others down to its level. 🙂