Safeway Not the Safest Way Today

This morning a nice gentleman in the Safeway parking lot and I backed into each other with our cars. My rear window was completely shattered and the whole hatchback door got pretty well dented.  Sigh.

I had dropped Gunnar at preschool and met my friend Andrea at the preschool so I could take her two-year-old with Holly and me on a few errands while Andrea went to the doctor.  We rendezvoused in the Safeway parking lot shortly after 10:00.  Andrea stood by, waiting for me to pull out before buckling in her daughter, and witnessed the collision that followed. I heard a large bang and it took me a minute to realize that my back window was missing.  I immediately rolled down my window and asked Andrea, "Was that my fault?"  She thought it might have been kind of mutual; she could see it happening but couldn't do anything to stop it.  The other driver actually said he saw her standing there aghast and wondering why she had that look on her face.

The other driver. . . . He was very nice. We approached each other with outstretched hands and the whole thing was very cordial. I've never been in this situation before and didn't know what to do.  We exchanged insurance information, names, license plate numbers, and then each called our own insurance companies. He waited patiently and answered some questions that my agent had.  He was driving a Toyota Tundra (big truck).

As Andrea and I examined the accident scene, she pointed out that the glass on the ground was much closer to his truck than mine. I paced it before I finally left and it was ten steps from my car and only about 5 from where his had been.  That shows me that I'd been pulled out much further than he and makes me think that maybe I was less to blame.  ???  We'll see what the insurance adjusters decide, right?

The worst of all this is that on Thursday morning I am flying off to Tucson, AZ to visit my friend Erika, leaving Damon and the kiddos here at home. Damon will need the van to shuttle everyone around to the homes of all of my nice friends who have offered to watch the kids while I'm gone and Damon's at work.  It's going to be such a pain. I hope it can be fixed quickly.

There are a few bright spots of the day on which I'm trying to focus:

1. Even though we woke up to a dusting of snow (and yesterday it poured rain most of the day), at the time of the accident and since then, the sun has been shining and the skies dry.

2. Andrea was there. She helped keep Holly happy in the initial moments after the crash, took her into Safeway for a cookie, and then offered to just keep her until preschool pick-up time so I could finish with the insurance company phone call, buy some fix-it supplies at Wal-Mart, and get my groceries.  Also, there was another preschool mom in the parking lot who also helped move Holly's carseat and offered help transporting kids, if necessary.

3. The shattered glass in the back of my car gave me a great reason to vacuum my whole car, which has needed it for quite some time with all this wet winter weather.  It's super clean now.

4. Holly fell asleep on the way home from preschool and stayed asleep in the car while I brought in groceries AND while I vacuumed the car! She didn't wake up until I'd already vacuumed all the seats and floor areas. Then she played happily in the yard while I finished up in the very back where the real mess was.

5. We have insurance and will be able to afford the deductible.  It's a bummer to have such an expense--who ever wants to pay out?--but at least we have that money in the bank.

When I picked up Gunnar from preschool and walked toward the van, I told him about what had happened. "Was it an accident?" he asked. When I told him that it was, he said, "You need to say 'sorry.'"

More photos of the damages:

Broken glass in the "trunk" space of the van:

My awesome temporary vinyl and duct tape fix-it job, completed after getting Adah and Maggie from school:

 

Oh, and I guess I should have said this before: Holly and I are fine. I have a little bit of lower back pain, but don't expect it to be problematic.  Still, I mentioned it in my official recorded statement to the insurance company, just in case....  SIGH. What a day!

Follow-up Note: The insurance companies both concluded it was a 50-50 at-fault siuation, so they'll be splitting the bill. It's in the shop today and the nice place (Apple City Auto Body) is even giving us a free loaner car since our insurance doesn't cover it. What a relief, since only four people fit in our truck.