Out of Control School Bus...

The things you think about. Yesterday when I was getting ready for work, I didn't know what the day held. On my way to work, I didn't know what was going to happen. While I was at work, I would not have been able to tell you what the rest of my day looked like. Even 5 minutes before, I would have never guessed the next five minutes. The crazy thing is, would I have wanted to know? I don't think so.

It had started like any other day. I left the house around 6:45 AM, (my school is on the other side of town) and the car was experiencing its same problems. The cables to the battery are loose, so since the connection is bad, you have to pop the hood and jiggle the cables to get the connection back. Today was a particular frustrating day with the cables, so I had to get T up help me. It is a lot easier to having one person jiggle the cables and the other starting the car.
Work was fine, I had brought my camera because I wanted to take pictures of my teeny tiny classroom, and blog about what I do all day. The last 10 minutes of my day were spent going around my classroom and taking pictures of various posters I have put up, or things I have written on the board. What if I had not brought my camera? Would it have been like any other day?
At around 3:35, I left my school. The cables and the batteries were being fussy, yet again. So, I had to pop the hood, and after several tries, it finally started. I remember putting on my seat belt, and I remember double checking. Thank goodness I did.
I started to drive on the street, I had stopped at a light, waiting to get onto the freeway. It was the start of rush hour traffic, so the line of cars at the light was pretty long. It all happened in a blur, but I remember seeing a vehicle, a very tall vehicle. I don't think I could even tell you the color. I remember seeing it plowing into car after car. I heard the sound, this crunching sound; that was when I realized I was in trouble. I then remember, my car getting pushed. Not hit or slammed into, just more of a push. The next thing I know, the car had completely tipped over and I was now completely upside down. I was basically suspended in my seat. I cannot thank my seat belt enough.
This is where it got scary for me. I weighed all my options. I could stay like this, and wait for someone to get me or I could try to get out myself. Coincidentally, T and I had just watched a movie last week where a young woman was caught in the same situation. Her car blew up. In my disoriented state, I decided I didn't want to blow up. The first thing I thought was I needed an exit. My reasoning was, there is really no benefit to unseat belt myself if there was no way to get out. Unfortunately, the drivers side door was smashed up against something, so I couldn't open it. I learned later I had taken out a fence, and it was pressed up against the door. I hung there for what seemed to be 10 minutes (more like 5 seconds), thinking of what to do. I tried the passenger side door, and it opened! An exit was found. I had to fumble with my seat belt. Seat belts are really hard to get off, when your whole body is pressing up against it, who knew? I finally got the seat belt off. I had started to maneuver myself towards the passenger side door, when I heard a lot of screaming. Some woman was screaming bloody murder outside. I saw her kneel down by the door I was trying to get out, and she started screaming at me, "Get out! Get out!". I was still a little stunned, but all I could think was, 'I am trying, and you screaming is not going to get me out any faster.' In a moment of clarity, I searched among the broken glass for my phone.
I stumbled out of my car, and saw many cars smashed beyond recognition, stunned drivers exiting their vehicles, looking around in disbelief, just like me. No later than 3 minutes did I see police cars pulling up. Amidst the panic of getting out of the car I thought was going to explode (it never did), I realized I was missing a shoe, my right shoe (the foot I use to drive with). There was glass everywhere, and my head was killing me. I touched the back of my head, and it seemed there was a giant goose egg. I called T first and told him what had happened. It was at this time, I felt I could start to feel the shock, and broke down on the phone.
The fire department soon arrived, and started helping all the injured. There were seven people that ended up going to the hospital(two critical), and my car was the only one that had tipped over (lucky me).
I found out a school bus driver (the bus contained 45 kids) had passed out (I'm still hazy on the details) and lost control of the bus. He ran into one car, thus causing a chain reaction. It resulted in a 14 car accident.
It was all over the news, if you want to see it click
here.
My car is the only one that flipped over. So if you see it, that is my famous car. It was kind of funny because since my car was flipped over, the news people loved taking pictures of it. While I was sitting by my car, waiting to give a statement, and talking to T, he said, "Hey I can see the car! Can you move toward the front of the car? I think I can see you." I wobbled over to the front of the car (I was still missing a shoe), and stood up. T said, "Hey I can see you. Wave!" I waved, and he said, "Hey, you waved at me!"
People came up to me later, asked me which car I was in. I told them the upside down one, and they were like, 'Wow, and you're OK?!" I really think I am doing OK, too. I mean my car wasn't mangled beyond recognition like some cars; it's just flipped over. Being in something like that really makes you think about things. Why me? Why did this have to happen? What am I supposed to learn from this? It's really too soon to tell all those things. For the time being, I'm just glad that I'm alive and safe.