That's Life

The Accident

The phone rang and it was a number and area code I didn't recognize. Usually I wouldn't answer, but for some reason I did.  "Mom? I've been in an accident."

It's that call that no mother ever wants to receive.  After ascertaining that she wasn't hurt and telling her not to admit responsibility,  I hung up the phone and got in the car to meet her.  I felt amazingly calm my entire ride to the high school.  Ruth said she was fine. I couldn't have been that bad.

Imagine the sinking of my mother heart when I pull up to see this:

There were many cars pulled off to the side and a lot people. The police had not yet arrived.  I wondered if several cars had been involved.  I located Ruth, she was in good spirits.  She had been able to pull Gonzo (what Kaitlin had named the Kia) off to the side of the road.   This is what Gonzo looked like:

It's pretty clear to see that Gonzo was the winner. The Ford's bumper is attached to Gonzo's fender and it's engine is all across the road leaking in dark puddles. Gonzo still ran. If it weren't for the bent rim and frame, Ruth could have driven away.

Ruth was driving down the road and another girl pulled right out into her.  Ruth doesn't remember the crash but she remembers right after.  She remembers pulling off to the side of the road. She remembers several people stopping to offer help.  She remembers checking to see if the other girl was okay.

There were a lot of tender mercies that happened.  Kind strangers stopped and stayed with Ruth and gave statements to the police. Traffic was light enough that when Ruth was sent spinning across the road no other cars or pedestrians were hit. Ruth was hit on the passenger side, but she had no passenger.   Both drivers wore seatbelts. Neither Ruth or the other driver needed medial help on scene.   Ruth's good friend saw the accident in his rear view mirror and came back to help. It was his cell phone that called. It was he who had someone else call the police.  He stood next to Ruth for the next hour, the loyal knight, talking her though everything and holding her hand.

Ruth is still sore today.  This happened on Friday and I've had her rest since then.  We may take her into the doctor on Monday to have her checked out, just to be sure.  She also has a little post traumatic stress. It may be awhile before she will feel comfortable driving again.

I'm proud of Ruth. She did everything right.  Sometime bad things happen to us out of our control.


Marching Band

Jared has been looking forward to marching band for a month. We've been watching marching bands on YouTube, we went to orientation and wrote a big check.  Finally the time to start marching band had arrived, and...  he hated it.   He spent several days after school having rookie camp, 9 hours in all, and he hated every minute.  Then basics camp began on Saturday - 8 hours of marching in lines on the football field and he hated all of that too.   To make it all worse, because he is the new kid in the group he had to play cymbals, which was his last choice.

I've tried to be very encouraging.  Sometimes new things are hard before they get fun.  I'm confident that as he gets to know people that he'll start enjoying it, so I'm forcing him to stick it out a little longer.


Debanquet

We are glad that Ruth's Accident happened on Friday because  Thursday was Ruth's AP World history test. She said she felt like she did pretty well on it and is hopeful that she got a passing grade.  Wednesday was the Debanquet.  That's Debate/Banquet.   Ruth performed her Humorous Interpretation at the banquet and was given her awards that she had earned this year.

Ruth's awards

Ruth performing

Comic Con Launch

On Wednesday I went with a neighbor to the Comic Con launch. Anyone who went in costume got a free Friday ticket, so we ventured.

This cosplay couple went viral this summer with their awesome Rae and Finn. 

We were at the capital rotunda. 

This was my neighbor Judi's first time cosplaying (she was dressed as Prof. Umbridge from Harry Potter). She fit right in and before you knew it was taking group Harry Potter pictures with Belletrix Lestrange and some Quiddich players.