Gabe's First Car Accident

In case you missed the first post where I mentioned this...no one was hurt in Gabe's first car accident. And, this accident happened over two weeks ago.

It was Friday late afternoon. School had been canceled that day because of a snow storm. I spent all day cleaning and packing because we had planned to have Gabe's Kansas birthday party the next day at my mom and dad's house. Casey worked until 4, then he came home, we loaded everything and everyone into the truck and headed out. The road conditions weren't exactly ideal for traveling, okay....honestly speaking they were about as far from ideal as you can get....however, we'd driven in worse before.

So, we headed out as planned and Casey told me we needed to stop for gas before we got out of town. This did not make me a happy camper. You see, we were also hoping to join the family for my sister's birthday supper at Carlos O'Kelly's in Topeka. I thought he would be fueled up and ready to go right at 4. I knew it would be slow going with the snow-covered roads so the last thing I wanted to do was take time to stop and fuel the truck up.

Gabe and Libby weren't all that enthused about the stop either.

And, here's a look at what we were driving through. Just to give you some perspective.

75 highway just north of Dewey

So, Casey got the truck fueled up and we headed north. We were still in Bartlesville, and only two blocks from the gas station we had just left, driving in the left hand lane when Casey began to yell and swerved the truck to the center turn lane. I looked to my right and saw a little green car coming from a side street where he was supposed to have stopped at a stop sign just as it hit us square in the middle of the two doors on the passenger side of the truck.

I may or may not have muttered a certain expletive (God forgive me....I was very angry) and Gabe began to scream. Casey got the truck pulled over and as soon as he was stopped I jumped out of the truck and got in the back to try and calm Gabe. He was not having it, so I may or may not have repeated the same certain expletive which adequately described what I thought of the idiot who hit the truck. The expletive can be likened to say....a donkey.....or mule. I quickly got Gabe a bottle made and as I was doing that, Casey surveyed the damage and flagged down a highway patrolman who happened to be passing by.

He told us to pull into the car wash parking lot and exchange insurance information. Thanks to Operation Slick Streets no accident report would be written. The other driver was incredibly apologetic but unfortunately, I was beyond accepting any apologies at that point. It didn't help that my infant son was still audibly and visibly very upset. So, when he came around to apologize to me I told him very sternly the nicest words that came to mind...."Just make sure you stop at the next stop sign to keep this from happening again." My incredibly polite husband shrugged it off and mentioned something about the roads being slick.

See, Casey and I differ on how exactly it happened. I don't think the man ever intended to stop. Casey thinks he was just driving too fast for the road conditions to stop at the correct place.

A survey of the damage.

Fortunately, the truck sustained minimal damage to the passenger doors and finally an hour after actually leaving our house we were able to leave Bartlesville for Kansas. It only took us four and a half hours (normally three hours), but we did arrive at mom and dad's without any further incidents. And, also fortunately, the other man did have insurance and accepted responsibility so, tomorrow Casey has an appointment to leave the truck at a dealership to have the doors replaced.

To sum things up, thanks be to God for keeping us safe on that drive. And, thanks be to Him for keeping us all safe in Gabe's first car accident.

Lord, may it be his last.

And, Casey would like me to write in a disclaimer for him. Some of the facts listed herewithin are not the facts as he recalls them. He recalls that the car slid on to the highway with wheels locked, proving his theory that the man did attempt to stop at the stop sign.

He was driving and I was sulking, so I guess if you'd like to choose a side here, probably his would be best.

Just don't tell him I said that.

I'd hate to have to tell him he's right.

Happy Valentine's Day, Honey! Love you!