Highlights: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

...of the big events since last I posted. (And wow, I have been slacking!)

Promotion
I got promoted at Job #1! Hopefully this means that I will soon be able to quit Job #2, although I'm going to stay through the holidays either way. My boss has given me the position, but he has yet to SHOW ME THE MONEY. I'm thinking this is going kind of backward...


Thanksgiving (The Good)
Thanksgiving at the Bright house... always a good time. Wednesday night I worked at Borders, then met Roomiekins at CK's coffee shop for a quick late dinner (man, there are some um... interesting people working the late shift there!) Then we went to Kroger to get the things we needed for Thanksgiving. Midnightish was a good time to go... the crowds had thinned out! Then home to watch some TV and go to bed. Thursday I woke up late and scrambled to get my spinach casserole made to take to Mom's. I ended up getting there about 1:00. My brother and sister-in-law were already there, as her family was having their Thanksgiving celebration the followign day. My sister and her family showed up around three-thirty, and we ate at five. The meal was fabulous, and afterward we spent an hour moaning and groaning about how miserably full we were before going to the pie table. After the dishes were done and the food put away, we spent the rest of the evening drinking Cruzan Black Cherry Rum and Diet Coke and playing Apples to Apples. See why this is my second favorite holiday?!? The entire day was near perfection.

Black Friday (The Good)
Our usual Friday-after-Thanksgiving ritual is to get up at 4 AM and hit the stores, then go to breakfast at Cracker Barrel before going home to crash. We go through the sales ads Thanksgiving Day and strategize our game plan.

This year, none of us really had anything we needed badly enough to fight the crowds over. Instead, Mom and I got up and went to meet big bro for breakfast at Cracker Barrel, then came back to her house, where I crashed until almost time to go to Borders. Borders was surprisingly dead for Black Friday, but that was because I was there at night. Apparently it had been crazy busy that morning, because the store made more that day than all year long! After work, I stopped by Wind Jammer to hang out with Roomiekins and Boyfriend for a few minutes, but I didn't stay long... I wanted to go to the office Saturday morning and get a few things accomplished before my new position officially began Monday!

Saturday (The Bad)
Saturday began rather uneventfully, and remained so until the last half-hour of the day. I went by the office as planned, then just hung out (and finally finished the Wally Lamb book!) until time to go to Borders at 4. I had switched shifts with someone, so I got to go in earlier than usual and leave at 11 instead of staying until 12:30 to close. After I left work, the plan was to head to Mom's to do the laundry I had piled in my backseat and spend the night, so I wouldn't have to drive so far to church Sunday morning. It didn't quite happen that way.

As I was heading to Mom's, I was listening to the Indelible Grace Christmas CD and willing myself not to get sick, as my throat was beginning to hurt. It had rained earlier in the night, but the rain had slowed to a light mist. The streets were still wet, however, and by the time I saw that the vehicle I was approaching was stopped, it was too late for the brakes to do me any good. There was a car in the lane next to me, and a telephone pole on the other side... all I could do was smash into the stopped car. HARD. The speed limit through there is about 40, and I would bet that even as hard as I hit the brake, I hit the car at about 30 MPH. Genius that I am, I wasn't wearing my seatbelt, and as the airbags deployed, I hit my head HARD on what I was later told was the windshield. Makes sense, because I remember hearing glass break, I just didn't realize that it was my HEAD that was breaking it.

When everything was still, I put my hand to my aching forehead and thought, 'Oh my God, there's a dent'! When I pulled my hand away, I saw and felt at the same time the blood. It wasn't a dent, but a gash, a wide, deep one. And I was sure my right hand and arm were broken. Then I noticed smoke coming from the dashboard. My thoughs immediately went to a dear old friend's parents, who were killed last week in a tragic car accident in which their car burst into flame. I panicked and tried to open the door, but I couldn't. Then two things dawned on me: One, it wasn't smoke I was seeing but airbag residue; and two, I couldn't open the door because it was locked. So I got out, still in sheer panic at the amount of blood that was covering my clothes and the sidewalk.

The car I had hit was that of an older lady, and the house she was stopped in front of was her son's, who was outside and saw the whole thing. The lady and her granddaughter, the passenger, were both okay, so most of the attention was focused on me, and I have to admit, I was being a bit of a drama queen. I don't deal well with blood anyway, much less when it's pouring in gallons from my own head! I gave the man who lived there my mom's number and asked him to call her, and he did that even before he called 911! My mom got there just as the paramedics were strapping me to the backboard, and I know how much my mother worries, so I kept saying, "Tell her I'm okay! Tell her I'm okay!" In the ambulance, I raised my right hand to where I could see it and clenched and unclenched my fist, so I knew the hand and wrist weren't broken, but it was already swelling and bruising.

At the hospital, I had to stay on the backboard for what seemed like an eternity. I was feeling very claustrophobic, and I wanted to sit up, badly! They finally let me up after I had my spine x-rayed. I had to go to the bathroom, so they took me, and as soon as I stood up, I had trouble getting my balance and almost fell over! Once I steadied myself, I had the unfortunate experience of looking in the mirror. That almost made me fall over again! My hair was sticking up in a million directions, and matted with dried blood. My face and clothes were covered in blood, and there was a big bloody bandage on my forehead. Ugh! Not a pretty picture. I told the cute doctor that stitched me up a few minutes later that my hair was usually much cuter! Ha!

With all the X-rays and stitches, I was only at the hospital for four hourse. Not too bad. The care I received at Methodist North Hospital was first rate. It probably didn't hurt that my sis-in-law is an RN there and knew almost everyone! I was very, very lucky. I hit the windshield hard enough to break it, and didn't even have a concussion! I have eight stitches, a mild sprain in my wrist, and lots of bruises. It could have been SO much worse. I am now a believer in seat belt safety!

The Aftermath (The Ugly)
I was back at work Monday to start my new position, but tonight will be my first night back at Borders since the accident. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning with the left side of my face swollen and disfigured. (The stitched cut is on the left side of my face, maybe an inch and a half below the hairline- good thing I wear bangs!) My face has continued to swell thoughout the day, and now I'm worried that my left eye will swell shut- because I'm blind in my right eye! I'm also worried about frightening small children with my deformed-looking face at the store tonight. :(

On top of my injuries, I have a cold. Believe me, coughing has NOT been fun, with every muscle and bone in my body aching from the accident! Not to mention that when you cough, your brow wrinkles, which aggravates my stitches. I am a hot mess!


Okay, enough complaining. Off to get some work done, and ice my eye. Good to be back!