BoomerGirl Diary

I had a fender bender the other day. It was certainly not the first, and I am sure it won’t be the last.

In an effort to blog about the experience, (stripping my dignity as I admit to being a bad female driver) I am happy to say I was not a frantic mess but left with an eerie feeling of grown-up confidence from the experience.

As you might assume, I don’t have the cleanest track record. There was the speeding ticket when I was 16. The parking lot bump at 17. The rear ending when I was 18. The rolling stop at 19. OK — so it’s not clean at all! However, once I started paying my own insurance I miraculously began to drive with caution. Until the other day.

It came after a long day that I would like to attribute to Monday. However, the cherished Labor Day weekend took that claim from me. Instead, it was a terrible Tuesday ,and I was suffering from the flu.

Leaving work slightly early to get some much-needed rest, I had one errand to run before sequestering myself to bed with movies playing in the background. This errand, however, turned out to be far from an afternoon of delight and more like standing in line at the DMV to renew a driver's license at 4:30 p.m. (no pun intended).

Needless to say, afterwards I dragged my feet to my car anxious to get home. But I was in no hurry; the extra-strength cold medicine was slowing me down. I began to back up, inching out of my spot. Everything was normal until — CRUNCH! I didn’t need to look, and I didn’t panic. I had just run into another car. As I disembarked my black (most likely unnecessary) SUV, I saw what look to be my grandmother crawl out of a pristine white Buick.

I recognized her from the waiting room where we both spent the last 45 minutes listening to customer service ticker through the “take a number” patrons who were standing impatiently.

I asked if she was OK, knowing she was slightly shaken. All I could do is think this is how my grandmother must have felt, caught in a parking lot with no clue what to do. Once we grasped what had happened, and agreed we didn’t need to call anyone, we admitted to our blond moment of … well … not looking.

We spoke the next day. Agreeing not to involve insurance and take care of our own vehicles. We laughed about how fortunate it was to hit someone so kind and gave a little more introduction to each other. I was thankful, not for the fact that my insurance won’t go up, but for crossing paths with a kind soul. She left me with a yearning to offer a game of Scrabble.

I have come of age in supporting myself, and know that my mistakes are mine to clean up. I have also become oddly sympathetic for the elderly. I will inevitably have another fender bender and have to be the one to pay for it. Even so, my bump into a friendly old gal out running errands, made me realize that life is too short — accidents happen.