Its all still good...

Hello all.

This is going to be a bit of a different blog than those I normally write.

As some folks know, my life was recently turned upside down when my wife was in a head-on collision.

What happened?
On January 27th, at about 11 am I waved and smiled at my wife as she pulled out of our driveway. It was a beautiful sunny day. There wasn't a hint of rain, nor even any clouds to speak of. The weather was positively peculiar for for Portland Oregon at this time of year.

Teresa was in high-spirits and looking forward to playing a round (or perhaps even two rounds) of golf with some friends.

I was in high-spirits because I would have the house to myself for the day and I knew I could make some much needed progress on my book.

...

At exactly 1128 am, the home phone rang. I was sitting in my office sipping a cup of coffee and reviewing changes from the night before. I decided to let the answering machine pick up, which it did after the fourth ring.

Leaning towards the door of my office, I hoped to hear at least a little bit of the message. I heard what sounded like my wife, but then there seemed to be something strange about her voice.

I got up and walked to the head of the stairs to hear the message more clearly, but by the time I got there she had clicked off. For some reason, my heart had started to beat more rapidly and my palms were just the slighest bit clammy.

Something was not right.

I raced downstairs and fumbled for the play button.

Click... Old message from my Grandfather

Click... message for Teresa.

Click...

Quote:"Hello? (long pause) I've been in an accident. (Strange noises in the background). I'm at TV highway (becoming faint now). Can you breathe? Can you hear me? (Someone else's voice). I have go now..." end of call.

Honestly, at this point I was wondering if I had heard my wife's last words. I was wracked with unbelievable guilt and remore for not picking up the call. I could hear the words, "No... no... no...", as if it someone else were speaking. It was me, and I was entirely frantic to get to her somehow.

The only problem was, we're a one car family.

Don't draw it out!
Not to draw out the story any longer and because my heart still races to remember this, I'll just cut to the chase.

My wife is alive and well.

I borrowed a car from a neighbor and actually beat the ambulance to the hospital (without speeding).

The details
My wife was driving our car, an old (1984) BMW 533i, which we have held onto for years because we felt it was a solid and safe car, being entirely constructed of steel and significantly outmassing most cars (excluding large trucks and SUVs).

She was hit by a 19 year-old driver who decided that it was a fine day to push his own car and it seems, his own skills, to the limits.

The details are sketchy, but based on my wife's recollection and the likely untrue testimony of the other driver. My wife was travelling at ~35 mph (the posted speed) and the other driver was travelling at ~50 mph (by his own statement), when the two cars came together head-on (see my comments on this later).

The important thing is that this means the sum velocity of the collision was ~80 to 85 mph.

Because words are truly unequal to describing the flight of the vehicles and the resultant devestation, I am including pictures for your viewing interest.

Now, some would not call this a head-on collision, since technically the other driver's car was sideways when it hit my wife's car on the front, but I still consider this a head-on due to the direction the cars were moving at the time of impact:



The first four pictures are of our car and demonstrate the damage it sustained. Looking only at these pictures, it really doesn't look that bad. In point of fact, our car was foreshortened by approximatly 1.5 to 2 feet, but it hard to see that in the images.


These next seven pictures are of the other driver's car (1993 Honda Civic) and demonstrate the high-velocity nature of this impact:


I believe my wife survived the accident ONLY because,

- Our car outmassed the civic, equalizing the stopping equation in her favor.
- The Civic, hitting side-on as it did allowed the entire passenger side to act as a 'crumple-zone', absorbing much of the energy from the impact.


Yes, but what is with the title of this blog?
At this point, you may wonder about the title of this blog. Well, the fact is,

although this was terrible, and

although the guy was uninsured, and

although the insurance agency is holding true to the nature of all insurance agencies (They're in the business of not paying claims.), and

although this has cost a fortune in time, money, and emotional input,

all of those things mean absolutely nothing when I can still say that my wife is alive.

So, it's all still good... very good actually.


Back in the saddle so to speak
In closing, I'd like to thank those of you have knew and wrote and those of you who gave me a little grace while I left posts and e-mails unanswered. I'm back at it and things are starting to straighten out.

Cheers,

Hall Of Worlds - For Gamers
EdM|GPGT