Ouch! I love my Durango and after a year of looking was going to be so mad if I had to find a new car!!!

A few thoughts after a not so great morning, that could have been worse.

1. Have you ever had one of those moments when time goes super slow and for 10 seconds you distinctly remember each and every moment? Not the "ooh I want to savor every second kind of moment," but the "oh my gosh that car is going to hit me and I can't do anything about it" and wait for the impact kind of moment. It is strange, because 1000s of second pass all of the time and I don't stop to think about it at all, but today for about 10-20 seconds each second went by very, very distinctly and slowly.

2. I love my Durango. I've always heard that SUVs do well in crashes. I am here to tell you that the impact of a Honda Accord is not felt super strongly on the front-driver's side of a big Durango. As I told the police officer "I was expecting a way bigger crash feeling than I felt."

3. When you drive you take so much for granted. There are all of these rules and signals and signs and you drive around under the assumption that you and everyone else will follow them. When someone doesn't, and had absolutely no idea there was a stop sign and they are going 20 mph and they hit you while going 35 mph -- something bad is going to happen. Gratefully I only have a really bad headache from the side of my head hitting the window and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a stiff neck and side in the morning. (I'm still a little worried about the 74 year woman who hit me and was still in shock not saying much 1 hour after the accident. I really hope she is ok.) How can you teach your kids (and always remember yourself) that even though 99% of the time it is safe in the car, you just can't take for granted that you and everyone around you will follow all of the rules and signs.

4. Good people are even nicer when there is a trauma -- and when people are nice to me it makes me want to cry. The policemen, the witness, the paramedics, the tow truck driver were all so kind. After she hit me and I jumped out and called 911 I was very calm. She was not getting out of her car and while not fatally injured, she was definitely in shock. I was calm, relaxed and ok... until I called Dave. As soon as I heard his voice I started crying. When the policeman came back over and starting talking to me he wasn't quite sure how to react now to the calm woman was now bawling. Again... composed until I try to call my sister. I said I was fine, it just makes me cry when I talk to someone I know... nice tow truck guy says "would it be easier if I call your sister then?" "No," I calmly said, "I just need to put on these sunglasses so no one can see my tears and I'll be ok."

5. Perfect ski days with 3 feet of new powder, perfectly sunny blue skies and temperatures in the 40s are not that hard to come by. It is ok that we were all ready to ski (lunch packed, clothes on, 10 hours of cleaning the day before done). I must admit, after I was hit and was ok and she was ok, I thought how grateful I was the kids hadn't run to the store with me, and then I just was really, really mad I was going to miss a fabulous day of skiing!!!!!! (Oh well -- maybe Cam was going to fall off the lift or something if we had gone.)

6. Wrecks, 911, and having the paramedics check your pulse and blood pressure are not the way to spend a morning. Lauren was soooooo mad when I got home and I was ok and then realized she wasn't there. I guess when you are 12 it all sounds very cool. Apparently I had neglected to tell the kids the paramedics had come and checked me out, and when they heard me tell the story to my dad they were very unhappy that I had "left out the coolest part -- I didn't know the ambulance people actually looked at you!" Lauren said later in the day "I can't wait to tell my friends we were in an accident over Spring Break and the ambulance came... oooh, well I wasn't in the accident but my mom was and we were almost with her."

7. I've said 1000s of prayers in my life and prayed we'd be safe driving or skiing or doing whatever. When I got home this morning and everything really was OK because she hit the front end and not the driver's door, neither of us were seriously hurt and the kids weren't in the car, I was so grateful that I really did "get home safely" today.

8. Bizarre last thought (but it is late and Cam has been up screaming with a leg ache). I wonder what my "sideways" world would look like if I had been 20 seconds earlier or later or hadn't gone to the store at all? (Ok... so a little obsessed with LOST as of late, but it is a good question.)