Last night, I miraculously walked away from a five-car accident on the freeway in downtown Seattle.
[This post may not be the best writing, because I just want to get it off my chest, as I will probably be staying home alone for Thanksgiving and it turns out, I have something to say.]
I entered the freeway from 6th and University onto a left ramp, the kind where you gotta get to the right quick, or you will be forced off a coming exit. My blinker is on. I am about to switch lanes, when I see an white SUV coming into that lane I from behind. It is going fast. I give them room; they zoom past me on the right, then crosses left, in front of me. Cursing a little, I merge right. Why couldn’t they just wait? Then the car merges back, hitting the front of my car and it is too late. I spin, clockwise.
I am spinning. I am out of my mind. There is nothing I can do. It’s over. My life is about to end or it is about to drastically change into a chapter of long hardship and pain. I have no control, so I let go. The car is spinning. This ride is about to end. I am about to die. And the car stops, smack on the other side of the five-lane highway.
My first reaction is surprise. I am alive. I am alive! I am not critically injured. And my door actually opens. I cannot see anything because the air bags are hanging in front of my face and my side. There is smoke coming out of my steering wheel where the airbag is attached.
Immediately, there is a man at my door. Am I ok? Can I move? Is there anyone he can call for me? He is insistent. He is there, and I do not have to experience this moment alone. He says there are five cars, total and he can’t believe I am ok. He says I may have even rolled. I say I don’t think I did. He stays with me for a few minutes until the aid cars come and then says, help is here. He will be in the way now, so he is going to go.
The police are here. I am out of my car, now. My glasses are not on my face. We find them, broken. And I grab the tiny stuffed Sasquatch that is right there…put it in my pocket, soft in my pocket. The tow truck is here. The aid car is coming. How did they all get here so fast? Before I know it, when I am not looking, my car is already on the flatbed. I beg a cigarette from one of the tow drivers. A Marlboro. Choice.
The week before I had been in the ER with a knee so back I could not walk. This was my first day without any crutches. I feel no pain in that knee.
All the paperwork and statements. I am bored. I decide that yes, maybe I do care about my belongings. I am stuffing all my maps into a Trader Joe’s insulated grocery bag. I should want these. I love my maps. I see a bear pin that I had tied to my steering wheel. Maybe that is not a good memory. Fuck, no! That was protection! I am alive! With my precious, black swiss army knife that I asked an ex-boyfriend to give me for my birthday, I cut it out. There is the remnants of my last medicine pouch that I’ve kept around. I reach beyond the cup holder, where I’ve looked two or three times in the past few weeks and bring out my missing protection necklace.
The look on the medic’s face tells me it’s not worth the money to take an ambulance. He’s seen a lot and I am… really fine. He says that I’ll be banged up for a few days but I’ll probably be fine. I want to argue because I’ve already said that I can feel the worst whiplash ever spreading in my neck but I can hear that his words are a spell and I will receive that.
They keep asking me if I have anyone to call. I live alone. I do not have family in the state. I hate that I have no one call, so I call my neighbor who is going through so much right now but I know, 100%, she will come get me. I tell her I can get an Uber but I don’t want to be alone. She is coming.
The tow truck driver takes me off the highway and my neighbor picks me up. She thrusts a pack of cigarettes towards me. (No, I am not an avid smoker but she knows this is the moment.) She gets me home and settles me in.
It is so easy to file an insurance claim online. Unbelievable. They have this down. I leave various messages.
I am waiting to cry but it is not happening. I feel elated. I feel held. Clear. I call a few people who love me, as an act of self-care. After ice, bath and more ice, I know, as I go to bed, that the only way I am not going wake up with a frozen neck is if I relax my body and open myself to the Spirits of Grace. I must let them help.
First time to the bathroom, my neck is frozen. Remove the pillow and try again. Sleep on my back. Don’t turn. Next time I am up, my neck moves. Each time is easier. By morning, I am going to work. If I had not already been on anti-inflammatory meds from the previous week in the ER, this could have been much worse.
I look at the police report. Every side of my car was damaged except for the driver’s side. I pull a contained salad out of my backpack and eat it for breakfast, until I bit into a piece of safety glass. Oh! I spit it all out but save the little bit of glass. This seems important.
(Google ‘swallow safety glass after an accident’ and you find some hysterical threads.)
Uber. Light rail. Talk with Mom. Bus. Work. Shut the office door. Phone calls from insurance, car rental, optician’s office… nurse. Nurse says go to urgent care. Fear of internal bleeding! Uber.
Long wait in Urgent Care. I am texting a lot of people, mostly my Mom. I don’t want to be alone. I have spent enough of my life alone. I give this to myself. The doctor doesn’t find anything worrying. I am set up now. Pharmacy. Long talk with insurance guy at the pharmacy. (I was the entertainment.) When I hang up, an old woman befriends me gives and me a ride home. Even waits for me to get flowers for my neighbor.
I am alive. I am held.
I put on some drumming to find out what this incredible strength I feel is. I’ve been feeling super-positive since I bummed my knee out and went to the ER last week. It is the anti-inflammatory meds? Am I still in shock? How long can you be in shock? Immediately, I am taken to the scene of the accident, in the spinning car, contained by the poufy, white air bags. Time has stopped and yes, there are soul parts there, still hanging in the air. One by one, I call them back, telling them the accident is over. Love.
I ask about why I am feeling so strong? This has been going on for the past few months as drama after drama has not rocked my boat…but this is incredible. I am told, ‘you are getting stronger’. And, the more you open to us, the stronger you become.
I ask how I can express my gratitude and they kind of laugh. They say, you don’t have to do anything but remain open to us. That is gratitude. Repay us that way. We cannot help you if you do not allow us to.
This, my friends, is the lesson I want to share with you. Gratitude, to me now, is the act of opening to the forces that take care of us. And it’s not just to the spirits. It’s to all the people around you who want to help. Let people help you. It makes the world go around.
Blessings to you and your kin. I hope your day is just perfect for you tomorrow. Thank you.
There is a cuddly Sasquatch in my coat pocket.
Tasara