Crash into me

Dave Matthews is a terrible soundtrack to this experience, but I'm too tired to think of a better opening act, so please, let's not additionally judge my choice in music.

Ahem.

Once upon a time, DeeAura went on what should have been a normal, no drama, run-of-the-mill, blind date. 

I know.

Date picks DeeAura up. 

Date is nice: check.

We go to date's car, get in, make small talk on the way to specific date activity.

Arrive at destination, search for parking spot...driving around, driving around...

The car in front of us stops to let some pedestrians cross. There's no stop light, but considering we're on a college campus, there are a plethora of crosswalks without light controls. We stop behind car in front of us, small talk again for another two seconds while pedestrians cross, when,

BAM

The next thing I remember is the immediate pain in my lower back...like a big iron fist intended on shattering my back...and simultaneously staring in shock at my date as we realize the front half of his car is basically underneath the car in front of us. 

"You okay?" he asks me. 

"I...think so...are you?" 

He nods, and we both carefully proceeded to get out of the car. 

Upon surveying the scene, a hysterical woman about my own age rushes out of the car behind us (her car was pretty banged up as well, and I notice my date's car looks something like an orange accordion.) 

Yeesh.

She had just looked back for a split second to change lanes, had no reaction time, no brake time, and hit us before she had time to get over. Her two little daughters were screaming and crying in the back seat.

So, while my incredibly calm date talked with the police officer and the other driver, I could see this poor mother was trying to calm her two little girls so she could go talk to the officer as well. They were climbing all over her, and she could barely stand because she was also clearly in shock.

I did the only thing I could even think of doing, and went over, told her my name, and asked her if I could help with her girls. It was pretty cold outside, and a little drizzly, and I noticed her girls didn't have coats on, so I asked her if they had any in the car. She was crying, and nodded, so I carefully went over to her wrecked car, making sure no other cars were coming, and dug around for diaper bags, purses, and coats. I grabbed everything I could, and rushed back over to the sidewalk, where the three of them sat huddled on the ground.  I felt so bad for her - yes, the accident was her "fault" but I couldn't help but just feel terrible for this mother and her two little girls. Little 3-year-old Hannah was brave enough to come to me while her mother unsuccessfully tried to calm Hanna's nearly 1-year-old little sister. Hannah had been so scared in the hulabaloo of it all that her red sucker was completely tangled and stuck in her perfectly curly blonde hair. So I sat down on the sidewalk with her in my lap and talked to her while I carefully picked the sucker out of her hair. She was so brave and so teary-eyed it just made ME want to cry.

It was about two seconds after we managed to untangle her pretty hair from that big red sucker that I suddenly noticed how uncomfortable I was. I was just sitting on the sidewalk, but it still felt like that iron fist was lodged in my back and pain was shooting up my neck.

Great. But at the time there wasn't much to be done about me because there was just too much going on. So I just kept switching positions and trying to keep little Hannah distracted from what I could tell was scary for her.

Anyway - about two hours later, we finally finished with the police officer, and everyone was frozen. Okay, I was. I was freezing cold, in major pain, and just wanted to go home and die in my bed. With some hot chocolate, a heating pad, my sweats, and Gilmore Girls. Yes, that's my comfort entertainment. :)

But my poor date had bought tickets for the local homecoming spectacular and we had about 20 minutes left until it was over. So we walked over and watched the rest. It really was spectacular, despite the judging concertgoers all around us who I'm sure couldn't figure out why we had even bothered coming at all.

Guh. :) After it was over, I still just wanted to go home, but we had no car. So we walked about 20 minutes to his old roommate's apartment and waited for one of them to get home so he could borrow their car to take me home. I offered to call someone I knew to come pick us up, but...I think there's something about guys and needing to be the man in this kind of situation? So, I didn't push it.

But I was tired. And endlessly cold. And eternally uncomfortable from the pain in my back. BUT it all turned out fine. I felt so bad for him. His car was more than likely totaled. I don't see many people driving accordions around these days, and I assume that's because  they're not safe. He'd planned a great date that clearly hadn't happened, and he was now stuck an hour from his own home, with a girl he didn't know at all. Small talk doesn't really bring people together all that much, and I think we were both just ready to be done with the night.

It wasn't until I walked in my front door that night, and turned to my roommates who were waiting up on the couches in our front room that I just wanted to crumble and not move for...ever.

I slept better that night than I have in ages, and when I woke up for rehearsal the next morning, I thought for one glorious second that it was all gone, and just a bad memory.

Uh, except then I tried to move, only to discover Mr. Angry Iron Fist (he gets a name for his presence in my life) was still out to play. I couldn't move. I mean, I could, but golly did it hurt.

So I moved around like an 80-year-old woman for the next day or so, and now I'm switching from standing up to sitting down in my chair at work. I'm thinking one of those stand-up desks would really come in handy right about now...

But the good news is, it feels less angry every day. I still should probably make a legit appointment and go get everything checked out.

I swear I'll do that after I get through that Tuesday audition I have coming up. I can only think about so many things at once, you know...

So that's the end of the story. I think the only blind date I've ever heard of with slightly more drama attached to it was when my roommate called me one time to tell me HER blind date had just been arrested, and she had to go drive his car somewhere so he'd have a ride when he posted bail.

At least my date had no outstanding warrants for his arrest. To his credit, he kept a cool head the entire time. Yours truly would've been in tears. :)

Chalk one more up to my tangled web of a dating life. Over and OUT.