How I spent my OBX vacation...

Our vacation begins just like anyone else's vacation. We leave around 5:30 AM and head to the KY AA Highway. We have a fairly uneventful drive through KY, WV and VA - noticing only that VA has a LOT of personalized plates. (We assume they are much cheaper in VA than in OH... and my personal favorite was "me n gzus." It seemed a little conceited to put the "me" first. lol)

We stop at the "gas-and-anything-you-may-need-before-you-leave-VA" station and pass over the NC line with some excitement. It's a little after 3 pm now, so after passing 2 farmer's markets, we decide to his the third one we see. We wanted a watermelon, some tomatoes, some peaches, and a jar of jam to supply the kitchen at the house we are staying in. So that we got.

Then there is a lot of water and a bridge. YEA!... We are finally in Kitty Hawk / Nags Head. Just three more minutes and we are poolside! Errr not.

We hit a little congestion, because apparently everyone is driving into town with Saturday-to-Saturday rentals. So we pull up and sit in the line of traffic right where we are about to turn down our street. Then BAMMM... a minivan hits the back of us at 45 mph (according to the police report). The good news is, we are all "fine"! It was eerily similar to those Jetta commercials. None of us knew it was coming. I was mid-sentence, then all of a sudden... I couldn't breath. After realizing we were in a wreck, I felt the LOADED trunk had creeped into the back seat and the front seat was laying on top of me. I pulled off my seat belt and Matthew moved the front seat some so I could breath. Matthew and Ralph were smacked in the face with airbags but were out of the car. I looked to my left and Adrianne was bleeding from the nose, and had watermelon all over her lap. My torso hurt and my knee hurt and there were tomatoes smashed too.

Well, the fire department and EMS arrived and took Adrianne to the ambulance. They decided that I needed to be neck-braced and back-boarded - and because of where the car got hit, my door didn't open. They took out the jaws of life and cut me out of the car. Nothing like glass shattering and a saw thing in your ear with a sheet as the only thing protecting you. Into the ambulance, I went. I didn't see anyone/anything at the scene - which sucks. Adrianne was sitting in the ambulance when I got in there.

It was a 15 minute ride, filled with a collapsed vein in my hand and a second try for an IV in my arm. They cut my shirt and my borrowed sweats. My BP was really low and then they couldn't find it for like 5 tries, so they freaked me out a bit.

Adrianne wanted out of the truck - and her watermelon-stained pants. She had to have had a headache. I just wanted off the backboard and out of the neckbrace that was poking into my throat.

So into the ER we went. All of us got checked out, and given drugs. A few hours, a bunch of x-rays and a cat scan later, we are free to go. I however, had no clothes, so left in a nice comfy pair of scrubs. Remarkably with nothing seemingly broken, ruptured or bleeding too badly. Lots of bruises and lots of soreness, but man were we lucky...

The Maxima - not as lucky. It's crumple zones performed their duties well. My laptop, also not as lucky - as you will see below.

I was drugged or slept through most of vacation, either from the soreness or from the rash from the dye in the CT scans. (A lovely time and way to find out you are allergic to it!) I just couldn't get over the hump to fully enjoy vacation. I had one drink the whole week, and if you knew my friends, you'd know that was ridiculous.

It was so nice to pull into my driveway last night and to sleep in my own bed. Now comes the fun part, right? Hospital bills and settlements and receipts... rah rah rah.

I didn't sleep very well, but that's a whole different story. :(

The pictures:

Ralph's car from the rear.
The silver bumper is attached from the car that hit us.

This was my seat... with the door they cut off sitting in it.
(Pay special attention to the tomato on the ground. FUNNY)

The door.

The floorboard full of the glass from it shattering as they cut the door off.

Adrianne's and my seat.
Close up. With the trunk pushed into the seat.

What formerly appeared to be the trunk.
Buckled roof and shattered back window.
And. my personal favorite photo...

Oh yea, and... my laptop.

Again, glad we all made it out as well as we did. But don't look forward to another vacation like that anytime soon! I do, however, love the GTP.

Got lots to be happy about:

• Being "okay"
• My boyfriend (who was not even with me, but still helped me get through the week)
• My bed
• My family
• My nephew's sweet smile
• Forgiveness, giving it - but more importantly receiving it.