An Accident Waiting to Happen

Last month my husband had to go out of town for training for work. He called before he left and told me he was on his way. About 15 minutes past the time I expected him to arrive he called. Our conversation went like this:

Bran: Hey honey. Could you come get me?

Me: What happened?

Bran: Something broke in the front end of the Jeep and the wheel fell off.

Me: You have got to be shitting me. Where are you?

Bran: Half way between home and Tupper Lake.

Me: We're on our way.

So I get the baby bundled up. (It was cold and snowy) I run up to go to the bathroom. I have my hand on the door ready to walk out of the house when the phone rings again. It's Bran.

Bran: If you wanna give me about 15 minutes I think I can get the wheel back on and be on my way. I think I'm far enough out of the road to get it jacked up.

Me: Too late. Already have the baby dressed and was walking out the door. If I don't meet you on the way we'll sit and watch out for you while you're working on the wheel.

So out we go. We drive and drive and drive. No Brandon. I drive some more. I'm almost to Tupper and there's no Brandon. I start wondering if he meant he was halfway between school and Tupper. I call him to see if he can tell me what's around him but there's no answer. I had a bad feeling. Just as I started to think maybe something had happened to him I round a corner to find emergency flares, troopers, ambulances, fire trucks, and tons of volunteer rescue vehicles. I mumble to myself about this being the day for accidents and hope that it won't slow me down. I no sooner get done mumbling when I see my husbands Jeep on its nose in a ditch. When I say on its nose I mean I couldn't see anything but the ass of the jeep sticking straight out of the ditch. I panicked. Then when I couldn't see my husband anywhere I really panicked. I pulled up, threw the van in park and tried to find the flashers. When I couldn't find them I started swearing. I grabbed Dailaesse and started running towards the Jeep. All I could imagine was that he had been on the side of the road with the Jeep jacked up and someone had plowed he and the Jeep into the ditch. Then he walked out from behind one of the rescue vehicles. Now I'm not quite sure exactly why, but I started screaming at him. Loud. I was nuts. I'm told I told him he was lucky he hadn't died because if he had I would have killed him. I guess once I realized he was safe I had a little meltdown. It's all a little blurry to me now. Anyway, come to find out the Jeep was in the same spot it had been when he called to tell me he needed me to go get him. But remember the conversation? He said he thought he was far enough out of the road to get it jacked up. Wouldn't you assume that meant he had broken down in the middle of the road? I did. Never in a million years did I expect to find the Jeep 10 feet OFF the SIDE of the road in a ditch. The tow truck came and pulled the Jeep out. He put the wheel back on and we came home.

Tonight we mentioned to the kids that Bran has to go out of town for school again on Thursday and Friday. Dailaesse pipes up and asks her father...

"Daddy, when do you plan to have an accident again? I just want to know so I can be ready to come get you. You know, that was really scary to me."

Bran tried explaining to her that you never plan to have an accident. That's why it's called an accident. Took about 15 minutes before they finally both gave up and dropped the subject. I wish it was that easy though. To be given some warning. Wouldn't that be nice? "Hey honey. I'm heading home. Might want to start getting the baby dressed. I think I'll have an accident on the way home tonight." At least you'd know what to expect.