Near Fatal Accident

Some things in life are just totally unexpected.

Monday, my wife and I were driving back from the gym heading toward our house. We had a good workout and we were looking forward to a late lunch and the warmth of our home.

About three blocks from the house as we passed the golf course, I heard a terrible loud boom. In one gigantic motion a pine limb came through our windshield butt end first. The blow was so severe that I had glass shot into my face like a cannon. I instinctively stopped the car to see if my wife was alright. Seeing the limb protruding 10 inches into our car in front of my wife’s head, I feared the worst. Fortunately she had her visor down at the time and was spared any injuries from the wood and glass.

Not wanting to block the narrow two lane road, I slowly drove the car home and into our garage. When I got out, filled with glass fragments, I was totally amazed. The tree limb trailed over the back of our car some twelve feet. Glass had shot past my head into the rear of the car, where it filled every crevice. My vehicle resembled a stunt car from a crime scene shootout sequence.

My first action was to ensure my wife and I were okay. She was fine but I had considerable glass in my right eye. I carefully flushed it with warm water several times and we both took a shower to remove most of the small glass shards. I then called the insurance company and arranged for the windshield to be replaced and assess other damage. Finally I called a neighbor for the mad dash to the eye doctor.

On our way to the ophthalmologist, we stopped and spoke to the manager of the golf course to let him know that a part of one of his trees had come down on us. They assured me they would take care of the expenses so we proceeded to the doctor’s office. Although it was a few minutes before five, the door was locked. I pounded on the door a few times and a nurse answered. They were kind enough to bring me in and start an eye exam as they recalled the ophthalmologist from home. Fortunately, he is also a personal friend. After a thorough exam and treatment, they felt there was no more glass in my eye and sent me on my way.

Shock is something I’ve rarely if ever experienced in my life. However, when we got home, I definitely went into shock. Indeed, we had come very close to getting killed. With the knowledge that we were relatively okay and with the help of a bottle of wine, we went off to bed. It was a restless sleep but it was very good to see the morning light.

I felt terrible the next day. The physical and mental trauma had taken their toll. I was up early and anxiously awaited the mobile windshield replacement professionals.  They carefully removed the tree limb, replaced the glass and cleaned-up most of the broken glass before it started to snow. I was pleased to see my car relatively whole again. Yes, there was a slight dent and a scratch on the dash. The fancy rear view mirror with its compass had also been knocked out of commission. And yes, there was still a mini mountain  of glass to vacuum up.

As I dug into the insurance aspects for real and talked to the golf course about covering my expenses, I couldn’t help constantly coming back to once big important fact: Rachel and I were still alive. All the insurance and money in the world can’t replace that simple fact.

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Read author Allen E. Rizzi’s latest books available at Amazon.com