2002 - the dodge shadow

i didn't own a car in college for two reasons: first, i didn't have enough cash to pay for one myself {and there was no way i was making payments} and second, my mom and step-dad decided only boys needed cars at byu {i'm not bitter at all...}. it wasn't normally a problem - my roommates who had cars also had to do things like go to the grocery store, so i was usually able to tag along. but, every so often i really needed to do something at time that wasn't convenient to those with their own transportation. 

tuesday, november 19th was one of those times.

i really needed to go to target to grab a few things before i headed out of town that thursday to be a bridesmaid in my roommate regan's wedding. another roommate, liz, wasn't able to drive me because she had to go to work. but she was kind enough to let me borrow her white dodge shadow to make my target run so long as i would pick her up later that night when her shift ended. i readily agreed. 

i left around 6:00pm, so as i made my way home, the november night was dark and chilled. i drove down state street from orem, then made my way down university parkway. as i turned the corner onto university avenue, i hadn't gone more than 100 feet before the ginormous ford f250 in front of me slammed on his brakes for no apparent reason. i braked as well, but not in enough time. i remember gasping and then driving slow motion into his rear bumper and tail hitch. the shadow didn't stand a chance. the air bag released, saving my face from shards of glass, but have you ever felt an air bag? they're canvas and so not soft like the balloons they show on tv. and they're hot, hot, hot!

after the initial impact, i sort of checked myself to see if everything was okay. my glasses had flown off my face and were resting on the inflated air bag. i felt a little blood in my mouth, but found it was from my front teeth {which were still in tact} scraping my lower lip. 

moments later, a man named scott was at the driver's side window, motioning for me to roll it down. he was driving behind me {in the other lane or he most likely would have slammed into me} and was an off-duty e.m.t. there to make sure i was okay. 

"does anything hurt?," scott asked. no. 

"can you move your arms and legs?," he continued. yes. 

"can you move your neck side to side?," he questioned. um...the answer to that was a little more complicated.

the short answer was no, but the long answer was that i couldn't before the accident either. i woke up with a really bad kink in my neck and couldn't move painlessly all day long. {this made for an interesting case presentation in my public relations class that morning. my teacher got a kick out of my owl-esque movements.} 

after he determined i was okay to move, we tried to open the door, only to find it was jammed shut. i crawled across the seats and, grabbing my purse and target bag {and the items strewn across the front seat}, exited through the passenger side door.

i spent the next hour or so filling out police reports and answering {and asking!} questions. turns out a pedestrian was jaywalking* across university avenue, in the dark, wearing dark clothing. the driver of the ford truck didn't see him until it was almost too late. he stopped inches short of ending this person's life - just too quick for the life of liz's car. his car was fine. 

we exchanged info, they towed the shadow and he left. since i didn't have transportation, i asked a policeman to drive me the final 14 city blocks home. he said no. apparently it's illegal for a policeman to help a fellow citizen. who knew? if you'll remember this was a time before cell phones {at least for me}, so i started home on my own two feet. as i continued, my right knee started to ache a bit, but it was dark and i wanted to get home. when i entered the front door of sierra apartments, i went straight to the kitchen table to call my mom. after she knew i was okay, i gave her a detailed description of the evening's events and she suggested i write it all down while my memory was fresh, so i did. 

while i was on the phone, my knee continued to ache even more. i pulled my pant leg up over my knee and gasped. it looked like a grapefruit made of extra skin was sitting just below my knee bone. i quickly covered it up, but my roommate laska, who had wandered into the front room, saw it. she wanted me to go to the hospital, but i refused. so we settled on icing it and not moving for the night. 

{my knee a few days after - before the bruising continued down my leg 
and turned the disgusting purple shade. 

you can kind of see the large mass below my knee, though}

as the evening wore on, i was so nervous to call liz, but i had to since she no longer had a ride home, let alone a car. she took the news beautifully and never said anything negative {at least to my face} about the entire situation. i paid for her deductible and she got a new car, so hopefully it wasn't too awful. 

i did go to portland for the wedding. and my entire leg from my knee down to all of my toes now matched my dark purple bridesmaid skirt perfectly. it was disgusting. 

{regan and johan's wedding. 

i know i have a picture of me showing my bruise that matches my skirt 

but i can't find it! i'll repost when i do.}

when i got home, i took it easy over thanksgiving break then jumped right back into school for finals. suave ryan, who i had just begun to date, came every morning in the cold ice and snow to drive me five blocks to my 8:00 class on campus. he then turned around, drove home and then ran back to campus to be on time for his own 8:00 class since he didn't have a parking pass. i didn't like being in need of service like that - it was embarrassing to an independent person like me. and i was further put to shame when i attended my cousin's wedding during the christmas break. his dad, my doctor, got news of my car crash and demanded to see my still bruised leg. he was so mad when i showed him - and my uncle never got mad at me. at that point, nothing much could be done. the grapefruit went away and the purple changed to green, then yellow, then faded back to normal. i started running again in january. 

my knee has never been the same, though. sometimes i wear a brace when i run and you can usually hear some cracking when i walk up stairs {this grosses ryan out}. but other than that, it caused no damage. just the death of a car and an "in" for mr. layton. 

to be continued in 2003...

also in 2002:

 {february - meg's wedding, maren, meg, carrie}

 {february - watching lavell edwards run with the 2002 salt lake olympic torch with chris and johan}

 {march - one of my first 5ks - with kelly, amber and naomi}

 {2001-2002 roommates - whitney, regan, morgan, me, amanda}

 {july - fun up provo canyon with my roommate nancey - in black}

 {august - cleaning uncle gary's office with bratny}

  {september - the first and only picture of all ten kinnersley and hauley children all together}

 {r.i.p. hbll copy center}

 

 {december - finishing scott's mission scrapbook}

 {december - watching kelli perform at assembly hall with the skyline high school madrigals}

 {december - our p.r. campaign about mitt romney's turn around of the 2002 olympic games. 

we titled it "mitt happens". maren, amyann, kurt and ???}

{riding the city bus to dinner with my roommates...because i totaled liz's car. 

kim, maren, laska, liz}