Raising Maine

We were driving in Brunswick on our way home from Cross Country last night when a pedestrian with an Labrador Retriever puppy entered the crosswalk in front of me. I stopped, of course, and waited for them to cross.

"Look at that cute Labrador puppy, boys," I said, turning my head to the right to follow the ball of cuteness and his owner.

And then.

BAM... bam... BAM!

I found myself at the front end of a four car accident.

The last car, apparently was driving way too fast, and rear ended a car which rear ended the car behind me which in turn hit my van and then bounced or rolled some twenty feet back. The three cars behind me were accordion crunched in the way that cars today are built to fold while saving the passenger space from damage.

My van? While there is most definitely damage -- I have an appointment at the auto body shop tomorrow -- my 2000 van was intact, and, after the policeman had made his report, mine was the only vehicle that was drivable.

I guess that five-star crash rear end crash rating was worth something after all.

Both boys are fine. I am so very thankful that both were in seatbelts and that Robby was in his booster seat.

My neck ached a little, and then a bit more... and then my back... urgh. We went to the emergency room. The lady two cars back was admitted ahead of me and in a lot more pain.

I have a bunch of the typical pulled muscles, mostly on the left side since my head was turned right. None of my ouches are in the spine, so I have that to be thankful for... but this morning I feel a bit like I slept in a twin bed with both boys and both dogs on top of me in spite of having taken a prescribed muscle relaxant last night. No fun, but I'm thankful that we are mostly all okay.

Here's a photo of the cute puppy (Harry) who, happily, was not injured or apparently worried by the chaos.



... and here is the exciting aftermath...



Yep... it definitely could have been a lot worse.