Here's the conversation that happened shortly afterwards between me and Justin:
m: guess who has 2 thumbs and got hit by a car... (don't worry, i'm mostly okay)So, as the text record explains, I was on my lunch break, walking back to work from Starbucks, when BAM!! And despite what Justin says, I'm mostly okay, so you don't have to worry.
j: Boo! What happened? (Mazda should stop getting hit)
m: no actually this was just me
j: Oh... um well you shouldn't get hit either, how did it happen were they having a nap
m: crossing the street from starbucks... someone turned left and didn't see me
j: Boo are you sure your OK though?
m: half scraped up... i've already been to the doctor and now i'm on my way to the police
j: wow your not mostly ok.. boo!!!
I was crossing on a crosswalk at a four way stop in the commercial area where I work. This particular intersection is usually pretty quiet, but today was an exception. I'm usually not too timid about crossing at four-ways - I figure that not only do pedestrians have the right-away, but the car needs to stop for the stop sign anyways. In this instance, there was a really big truck stopped beside the stop sign - he was covering my entire crosswalk! I figured that he would be gone by the time I got over to that side of the road - but I didn't count on the car turning left in front of him. They couldn't see me since he was so big and pulled out so far, and I didn't seem them until the last moment.
One second I'm trying to get out of the way, the next I'm on my butt with my feet up on the curb. My shoes flew off and a little ways down the road. Weird. I remember thinking "I need to open my eyes." I might have thought "I need to try not to hit my head." I have no idea exactly what happened - where I hit the car or what positions I went through between standing and sitting.
I was coming back from Starbucks with two full drinks - a pick-me-up for me (the day was miserable even without this incident) and a surprise for my manager. And then there was coffee everywhere - all over the road, the car, my sweater, my hair, my arm. I think I just found some dried coffee on the back of my shoulder.
The girl that hit me, Janna, was really nice. She was one of those very capable people who doesn't run from stressful situations, and I admire and appreciated that. She immediately got out of her car and ran over to me. She asked those "Do you know where/who you are" questions to make sure my head was okay. I decided we didn't need to call 911 (which I found out later you're kind of always supposed to do... but oh well), and instead she took me over to the doctor's office in the area. She waited while I saw the doctor, took me to Starbucks and replaced my coffees, came with me to work to explain things to my manager ("Hi Omara, sorry I'm an hour late from lunch, but I got hit by a car and I need to go home." They thought it was a joke.), and then joined me at the police station. She felt guilty and said she was sorry a hundred times. I responded in a variety of ways: "It's okay," then "I've heard you and you don't have to keep saying it... unless you need to get it out," and then "I know." She was very supportive through the whole process. I'm aware of what a stressful situation it was for her, and I appreciated her. (If it was me, I don't think I would have reacted so well, as awful as that sounds.)
The doctor was pretty nice too. Conveniently, this is the doctor that I've seen a couple of times for other things. The office was technically closed, but they let me sneak in anyways. I didn't have to tell them my name - they knew who I was! That really impressed me. She checked me out and cleaned my up, and gave me gauze, and then as we left the doctor told Janna that I'm one of her favorite patients. I don't know if I really believe that - I'm just a walk-in! - but it was nice to hear.
So I'm all scraped and bruised up, especially on the right hand side. I scraped my shin and elbow, and bruised my hip. I scraped my foot through my socks, and my knee through my tights. I scraped my ribs through my dress. And I keep finding more bruises. There's a whopper on my left knee that I didn't discover until a few hours later, and something's coming on my left thigh- I can't see it yet, but I can feel it there. My head's starting to hurt too - just a vague ache - but the doctor said that would happen. I guess I'm supposed to feel way worse tomorrow. But really, considering what it could have been, it wasn't that bad.
