Why getting a flat tire on Saturday afternoon didn't upset me one bit...

So I've been majorly busy every day for the past week.  Just lots of things going on at once so that I've been doing a lot of running around but feeling like I'm not getting much done.  Anyway, Saturday was another of those days. 

I had been up late Friday night because Ang and BF K went to a 'club' in the area to hear some high school bands which were playing and I didn't pick them until after 11:00 and then we all know that I just can't seem to ever go to sleep at a decent hour... So, I slept in a bit (yay!) on Saturday and then got up and did my whole routine and started doing a couple of things around the house when Ang asked if I could drive her and K to the mall.  I told them that I could bring them around 1:00 and drop them off, and then go back and pick them up at 4:00 since our mall has a 'no one under age 18 without an adult' policy after 4:00 pm on Friday and Saturday nights.  (I actually like the policy...too many large groups of kids had been going there and causing trouble.)

So, we were going to leave but first I ran the dog across the street to quickly potty and then when I tried to get her to come back in, she dawdled for a minute so I had to sort of coax her, while the girls waited by the car.  (Trust me, this is relavent to the story...I'm not having an ADD moment and getting off track!)

We finally got going and we were driving along, listening to the radio, talking and singing.  Well, we were about two minutes away from the mall, singing along with J.T. to 'Sexy Back" when suddenly,

WHOA!!! 

And I hear myself saying, "Oh Shit!!" and I'm laying on the brakes, which lock up and I skid off the road so as to avoid the THREE CAR ACCIDENT which just happened DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF ME!!

Swear.  I was just going around this curve when I see this pickup truck coming in the opposite direction suddenly start spinning around and BAM!, he slams into the car two vehicles ahead of me, bounces off of him and BAM!! again, to the pickup truck in front of me!!  I was sure that I was next so I steered off to the side of the road and hit my brakes, problem was, it was waayyyy wet and slippery because we had had some major rain and wind that morning, so the roads were just a slick mess.  I ended up avoiding being hit but then we noticed the major gasoline, fluids, etc. pouring out of the guys pickup truck so Ang was all "Mom!  You need to back up!!  What if that blows up?"  Problem was, I couldn't back up because the guy behind me had locked up and slid right into place only a couple of feet away from my back bumper and he was getting out of his car so I very calmly stated..."Oh hell.  Get. Out.  Get out, get out, get out of the car!"  And then I made them go way back on this path away from the road because aside from the fact that we were worried about the trucking blowing up, I was even more worried about someone else coming from behind us and smashing into our cars and the girls being there.

So, the weirdest thing was, the guy behind me?  His daughter got out of their car too and what do I hear her shout?  "Ahhh!!!  Ang!!  K!!!" and I turn around and they're all hugging.  Turns out they're friends from school and the girl actually lives in our neighborhood.

Anyway, nothing blew up.  Seven people were taken to the hospital but none were too serious, I don't think. 

And me?  After I called 911 and tried to get the guy with the cut on his head to sit down and stop pacing (he wouldn't), the paramedics came and I figured that my job there was done, so we piled back into the car, pulled back onto the road, turned around and started to head back down the road when, after going about two feet I said,

'Uh, oh, I think I have a flat."

So, off the road we pulled, about 50 feet away from the accident and sure enough...my right front tire was totally flat.

 

"Not to worry.", I said.  And I whipped out my cell phone and called AAA.

We've had them for years and this is the first time that I've had to use them.  The woman on the phone was so very nice and she told me what tow service would be coming to rescue us (well, change the tire, but still) so I assured the girls that all would be well, our truck would be there shortly.  And I walked over and told the old fireman who was directing traffic that if my tow guy came, to make sure that he let him in.

So, while the paramedics and fire and policemen were attending to the accident victims, the girls and I patiently waited for our tow truck.

 

And waited. And waited....

The victims were all loaded up and whisked off to the hospital.

 

And we waited...

The cars were pulled onto wreckers, one by one.

And we waited...

The glass and debris were carefully swept up off of the road.

And we waited...

 

Sand was put down to absorb the spilled fluids.

And we waited...

The fire trucks, rescue trucks, and volunteer vehicles left little by little..

The old fireman wished us luck finding our tow-guy, as the firetruck came and picked him up and off they drove.

The road was reopened and people were once again driving too fast around the wet curve.

And still we waited.

The last lone firefighter came sauntering back to his truck (which was parked near us) to change out of his gear and go home.  He talked to us for a few minutes (in his very sexy Irish accent) and told us that his fire chief had been in the first car that had been hit.  And that he had just gotten out of the hospital a couple of days before after undergoing neck surgery.  And that an eight year old girl had been in the truck in front of us and she had received some trauma to her stomach or possibly her ribs.

I watched him too drive away and it was another fifteen minutes before our tow truck came to help us out.

 

And I realized that any other time, I would have been absolutely steaming at the fact that it had taken him so long to get there.  But this time?  All I could think about was how lucky we were that we were not one or two cars ahead...because it would have been us who would have gotten hit.  And who knows what kind of injuries we may have gotten.  It was a big truck.  And we were in a car. 

 And how lucky for us that Samantha had dawdled for a minute when I had tried to bring her back in the house after she had pottied.  If she had come right in, we would have left a minute sooner.

So yeah, we got a flat tire.  And yeah, we had to wait forever the guy to come and fix it.  But so what.  We were lucky that all we had was the flat tire...and I found that I wasn't upset by it one bit.