So about 5:30, there was a slight interruption in the party preparations. Rewind: One of my employee/friends, Amanda, called me. She was on her way with the ice and balloons for the mailbox. She said "I have to tell you, traffic is really bad. There is an accident right at the turn off from the highway to your street. Police, fire truck, etc." My immediate reaction: "OH no! Katie's not in it, is she?"
We live in an area of "estate lots" off of a main 4-lane highway with a 65mph speed limit and a center dual turn lane. We have not seen any accidents out there, but people turning into and out of the road across the highway from us are generally going to/from the lake, and usually are towing a boat. I am always afraid for Katie as she turns left out of our neighborhood, heading toward her school and the town where all her friends live. I wasn't sure if she might be on her way home.
Amanda said she wasn't sure. Oh boy, that scared me to death!
I called Katie, but she didn't answer. The restrictions on her license say she can't use a cell phone or wireless device while driving for the first 6 months, so she won't answer while driving.
A few minutes later, Katie called and said "Mom, I need to tell you something. I will be home in 10 minutes." I said "you weren't in that wreck at the highway, were you?" and she said "no". Little did I know that this threw her into a panic and I think she called my Mom or something and commented on the irony.
Read on...
So Katie arrives home around 5:45 or so. She comes in, very hurriedly, obviously nervous. I instantly knew what was up, but didn't comment. She wouldn't talk to us until both DH and I were outside with her. Remember, we have all sorts of people making preparations all over the house, the dogs are trying to figure out what this is all about, people are asking me how they can help, etc.
We walk outside and Katie takes us to her car, points to the front bumper, and breaks down in tears. When she finally got her composure, she told us about how she had rear-ended some lady on her way out of the school that day. A teenage boy in front of the lady had been on his phone and stopped abruptly. The lady stopped abruptly and did not hit the boy. Katie slammed on her brakes and skidded for what sounds like several feet, tapping the lady's back bumper.
The lady was mad at the boy for not stopping, and took his license plate number to report him. Apparently Katie and the lady pulled over and the lady calmed Katie down. No damage to her car. Long story short, Katie's car is fine. It looks like chipped fingernail polish. Obviously, we're just happy she wasn't hurt.
She thought she'd be grounded and the car would be taken away. She said "I just don't want to be that teenager who wrecks her car 3 days after getting her license." We told her: look at it this way. Now you've had your accident - the one that statistics say 90% of all teens have within 6 months of getting their license. We told her she's not grounded and asked if she wanted to go back to her friend's house to spend the night as she had originally planned. Lots of big hugs to make it all better. She stayed for a few minutes and talked to Amanda, who calmed her down a bit more, then left for her friend's house. She called us when she got there.
Oh the drama. It's all better now.
No pics of the car. It's really not worth it. It looks like a fingernail chip, like I said.
she was so upset about the accident but glad it was minor.
