Exactly a week ago, I was at the wrong place at the wrong time (intersection car accident in NYC).
It was near the JFK airport in NY, I had just finished facilitating a workshop at Stony Brook, and got a suggestion for dinner from the hotel concierge.
The expressway north heading toward Flushing was slow to a crawl, so I exited and filled up the tank, then was ready to re-enter the expressway.
Sitting in the middle lane waiting for the green light at the intersection of the Van Wyck Expressway (687 north) entrance and Hillside, I was content: it's ~6pm on Sunday in NYC and the weather is cooperating, I might even get a little work done and get to sleep early after dinner!
The green light came, and cars in the lanes to my left and right started moving. I put my foot lightly on the gas pedal. Then in my peripheral vision, I saw a car coming from the right and thought "huh? is this possible?" and within that second, I felt the impact of being hit somewhere in the front of the car. Within the next few seconds, my car spun to the left 90 degrees toward the bridge, while the other car spun 180 degrees, returning to hit my car's left and driver side. My car was getting dangerously close to the concrete pole and the voice in my head kept repeating: "don't hit the pole, don't hit the pole!"
Things appeared to be happening in slow motion as I saw my life flashing by and thought:"I'm going to die". When the cars stopped moving, I returned to reality. I moved my feet, my arms, my legs and my head, everything appears to follow command.
At this time, a man was speaking to me outside of the car: "Are you okay? Get out, your car is leaking, it may blow up!" Well, my driver door is molded to the other car's driver door (with all the turns, the other car is now pointing to the opposite side of its original direction of traveling, while my car was 90 degrees off from the original course), and the passenger door is less than a foot from the concrete pole I was desperately avoiding. I yelled back:"I can't! I'm stuck." "Climb out of the back!"
My knee was hurting and I was shaking all over. The same man walked up to the driver of the other car, and said "What were you doing? she had the green, I was behind her."
Long story short, after informing the appropriate authorities, waiting for the police, and getting the car ready for towing, taking a taxi to JFK, and getting a replacement rental car (thank you, Hertz, for making things easy, I've been and will continue to be a loyal customer), I was exhausted, hungry and phone battery was drained.
Shortly after 10pm when I finally walked into the hotel lobby after dinner, I was greeted by the lady at the front desk saying urgently:"Your husband has been trying to reach you, please call him back."
"They can't find the car that needs to be towed, it may be impounded or stolen."
Is this really happening? Do I really need to file two police reports within three hours? I caught myself from self pity and dialed 911 again.
Life happens, and you just have to deal with it.
Close to 11pm, I got a call of relief while still with 311 on the phone: "AAA located the vehicle."
I relaxed and tears started flowing down my cheeks. Through this ordeal, I had forgotten to nurse my sore knee and pay attention to what else that may need attention.
I have often had the luck or planned to be at the right place at the right time, to capture opportunities to advance or to help others. Being jerked into life's realities gives me different perspectives:
- You can do a lot of planning but sometimes things just happen outside of your control.
- I need to treasure each day and live it to the fullest so I don't have regrets if things do happen
- If I am a witness to an accident (or something else) I will also provide my account of the event (which I hope the man driving the vehicle behind mine would come around and do so), as the parties involved may not be able to fully account what has happened
- I have a new appreciation for the work processes and compassion of emergency workers: it helps to hear words of comfort: are you safe? do you need medical attention? Have you contacted family?
With Thanksgiving coming up, I'm especially thankful to be around friends and family, having come out of that accident with these new perspectives.
