One year ago today...

August 17th 2006

This day will be forever etched into my brain, it was my first day back in Omaha after an amazing trip to Austin, it was the day in question when I went to trial on November 20th 2006. It was the first day I wore my new watch. The day when the world around me took its ques from the lyrics of the Gran Bel Fisher song "Crash and Burn" I was listening to.

August 17th 2006 3:20 p.m. 87th Ave and Pacific Street = my first car accident

Yes, one year ago today after picking my brother up from school I attempted to make a left turn onto Pacific street when a young man driving a Toyota Scion coupe proceeded into the intersection while the light was red. While the lyrics of "Crash and Burn" could be heard through my window...


BAM!

Next thing I knew I was getting out of the car and coughing on the smoke from the airbag. I checked to make sure my brother Stephen, in the passenger seat was okay. He assured me he was. I hadn't realized my own injuries. It wasn't until the girl in the car behind me brought to my attention that my hand was dripping blood.

I looked at my windshield and looked at my hand. The deployment of the airbag caused my hand to punch through the windshield. My brand new watch that had been re sized not even two hours ago had caused a deep laceration on the head of my ulna (the bump on your wrist) along with many tiny shards of glass embedded in my hand.

Once I came out of the ambulance after the EMTs had wrapped my hand to stop the bleeding, I was delivered a ticket by a police officer, who didn't even care to hear BOTH sides of the story before determining who was at fault.

So I have a lot of glass in my hand and I have a ticket I don't deserve. I recall my dad telling me he recently took the collision insurance off of the car.

After some miscommunication resulting in me sitting by my busted car for an hour by myself I was treated at the urgent care. There I had almost all of the glass removed from my hand (I had to get a few hiding shards removed in Provo a couple months later) received some stitches on my ring finger and some superglue on my hand and wrist.

Later in November I contested the ticket issued against me and won. Yeah, take that. I was so relieved to have all the car business taken care of.

Or so I thought.

In March the young man I was in the accident with decided to sue me in civil court for the damages to his car, since he decided to let his insurance lapse on his 2006 Scion, he wanted me to pay for it.

THANKFULLY just a few weeks ago after a counter sue and some pressure from my lawyer, he decided to drop the suit and we therefore dropped our counter suit.

Although I wouldn't do it again I did learn some things. (In no particular order)

• The legal system really takes a long time.
• Some people have no problem with lying under oath.
  
• Getting glass removed from your hand is extremely painful and although it was taken care of quickly, it's a toss up as to whether I would rather break my arm again or have that amount of glass removed from my hand again.
  
• I'm more self-conscious about the ugliness of my scars than they really are, but I'm getting better about it.
  
• Having had two lawyers during this process, it's essential to have a lawyer who believes you and understands exactly what happened. Therefore he/she doesn't question you when someone of the other party lies under oath.
  
• It's amazing how in the heat of the moment you really can't feel pain.
  
• When the heat of the moment is gone, the pain takes it's place.
  
• Tylenol with codine makes you really tired.
  
• If you are given a ticket you honestly don't deserve handle it THEN not later. Without violating the officer be firm but lawful and explain to the officer how things happened and why you are not at fault. If the officer had been accurate in his investigation or/and I would have gotten him to understand how it really happened, I would have saved over a thousand dollars in legal fees and never would have had this gorilla of burden on my mind for a few weeks short of a year.
  
• When I am in a stressful situation I am able to be focused and handle things and somewhat even reduce the severity of the situation. (Ex. my explanation of my injury to my parents gave them the impression that I just had a few minor cuts, that may or may not need to be seen by a medical professional but if so it wasn't a big rush.)
• In some ways I can't believe how much this accident has effected me.