Crashed the Fiat

Oh, no:  I'm not joking.

Oh, yes:  I'm talking about my two-month old, 2012 Fiat 500.

I have never been in a car accident before.  Turns out it only takes a split second.  While driving the kids to school, I glanced down for the barest second to adjust the heating and there it was:  the traffic calming island in front of St. Thomas More Catholic Church.  My front driver's side wheel went up the foot-high curb, then slipped off it, destroying the front driver's side suspension.  The wheel, detached from the steering system, was facing toward the side of the road, and that's where the car went - unsteerable as it was.  Up the curb, across the sidewalk and scraped along someone's backyard fence until it finally crashed through and stopped.

Local readers, check it out!  Right across the street from St. Thomas More.  I have often noted how property owners with fences on that bit of road must get them taken out pretty regularly; now I'm part of that whole history.

No one hurt.  The lady whose fence I smashed was gracious in the face of my shocked apologies.  Geico has been fantastic.  I just don't know what will become of my beautiful little car.  My first car that I bought on my own.  Chuck came down straight away, steam-rollering my objections.  Hugged me and put me in his car so I could warm up.  He listened patiently as I went over all the things that needed to be done, until a sensible sequence emerged.  He took me to the house on Aloha Road and made me a cup of tea.  Provided me with a car and insisted that he would be OK riding his motorcycle for a few days. 

I don't allow myself to get emotional about this kind of thing, but I did go into his room while he was making tea and cocoon myself entirely in his black blanket.  He laughed when he came in.  "Where's Kate?  I can barely tell you're even in there."  "I'm in time out,"  I said, in a muffled kind of way.  He dug through the blanket a little until he found my hair and kissed my head a couple of times:  "OK..."  He went back out to pour the tea and I started to cry.  I shed a few little tears of frustration and suspended adrenalin, but ended the pity party before Chuck came back. 

I'm fine now.  It reminds me of a quality that I like about myself, but Simon used to misunderstand.  When we would have a misfortune, I would (as he put it) fail to see the seriousness of the matter.  He thought I didn't understand just how bad the mishap really was.  The truth is that I just move on quickly.  Well, shit.  I crashed the car.  So, NOW what?  What do I have to do first, second, third?  What needs to have happened by tomorrow?

It was a great thing to have Chuck's help and support. I am grateful that I have him.  He's steady in a pickle.  This evening, he asked of he could come to my place for dinner, and I was happy to see him.  He didn't seem happy, though; and I didn't have the ability to alter his mood much. This seems to be the case more often than not.  He says that I make him happy; but I have never noticed that I lift his burdens.  I wish I did.