Several months ago when we were visiting our daughter in Orlando, we picked up some bumper stickers at a bookstore that read: If anything can go well, it will! In other words, the opposite of Murphy’s law. Rob wrote up a post about an experience he had with one of our cars and this bumper sticker, now here’s another story about this bumper sticker on our other car.
We were on our way out of the neighborhood the other evening to go to dinner. The road outside the neighborhood is usually fairly empty of cars, except during the winter season, when the tourists and horse people are here. There’s no stop light, just a stop sign, and you really have to lean forward and check both lanes of traffic before pulling out.
This evening, there was quite a bit of traffic on the road and Rob started to pull out, then saw a car coming in the opposite direction and stopped. Suddenly, we were struck from behind, a loud crash, and I heard the crunch and thought, Aw, c’mon. Rob and I got out of our car and the driver of the truck exited his vehicle and came right over.
“Oh, wow, man, I’m so sorry. I thought you were going to turn and then I got distracted and wasn’t watching.” He handed Rob his insurance card.
We debated about whether to call the police, but the driver – Phil – said he was clearly at fault. And in Florida, if you rear end a car, the law says you’re at fault. So Rob jotted down his insurance info, we talked some more, and it turned out he lives in our neighborhood. In the end, we didn’t call the police or the insurance company. We agreed to get two estimates on the damage and Phil said he would pay cash for the repairs. That way, his insurance rates won’t go up.
I stared at the trunk of my car, where the bumper sticker has ridden for so many months. The beginning of it was squashed in and it occurred to me that the trickster was laughing. I snapped a photo of it. (See where the bumper sticker appears to lift up?) Phil apparently thought I was taking the photo as evidence and asked if I wanted to take a picture of his insurance card, too. I laughed and pointed at the bumper sticker.
“Just photographing the irony,” I said.
And actually, it could have been much worse. We could have rear-ended someone. Or the driver of the truck could have been moving at fifty miles an hour and the trunk and back seat could have been shoved into our laps. So, trickster, chuckle away. We drove on to dinner and had a wonderful evening!
PS Today, we got a call from the garage that had done the work on the car. The total was around $2,200 and change. Rob called Phil, and he drove over to the garage and paid for it, just as he’d said he would. A decent guy, a man of his word. I like that, and am grateful for it. If we were going to be rear-ended by anyone, Phil was the guy to do it!
So in the end, the bumper sticker proved true: If anything can go well, it will!
>>Or the driver of the truck could have been moving at fifty miles an hour and the trunk and back seat could have been shoved into our laps.
That very thing happened to us back in 2000, and I *was* in the back seat! We were sitting at a red light, and suddenly the whole world jumped violently beneath us. The other car was doing about 35-40, not even paying attention, and plowed right into our bumper, pushing us six feet out into the road. Fortunately it wasn’t a busy intersection, and nothing else happened. But the police report put the speeders clearly at fault (no skid marks indicating that they even tried to brake).
It was my brother’s car (he was driving), and I had to sit in the back seat because the passenger door lock was busted and the door wouldn’t open from the outside. The way I was sitting, a bit slouched, with the curvature of the upper seat cradling my neck, likely prevented a nasty case of whiplash. I was basically mashed back into the seat, which absorbed the impact like a giant sponge, so I didn’t get so much as a kinked muscle (Also, my vertebral resilience may be conditioned by my habit of cracking my neck whenever it’s stiff, providing extra flexibility). My brother received minor whiplash, but recovered quickly. In the end, our car was totaled. The trunk was smashed in, and the car was still drivable, but due to its age it wasn’t deemed worth repairing. Anyway, we considered ourselves lucky to come out of it unscathed.
Wow, that sounds horrendous, Dale! I’m glad you both came through just fine!
Actually, it was pretty quick. Like WTF just happened?!? We were rear-ended! Everyone okay? Yeah. Then we stepped outside to inspect the damage. I was just mad because the hamburger I was eating virtually disintegrated in my hand, and my soda spilled all over the floor. Waste of a perfectly good meal, and I was hungry! 🙂
Yeah, I know that WTF feeling! Too bad about the burger!!
It’s okay. I went back to BK and bought another lunch afterward! 🙂
The sign of someone who is really, really hungry!
Mazda 3 ?!
Isn’t there a saying bad things come in threes ?
Glad it all worked out for you guys in “the end” 😉
agghhh… don’t say that, Daz!
Did this happen on our dinner night?!?!
The week before. I would’ve told you that as soon as you walked in!
I figured I would have heard about that immediately, but had to ask!
At least it was a playful trickster since no one was injured…but still a major pain!
The sticker following the accident made me smile. And glad everything went well for your evening afterwards.
I still wonder if it was the trickster, having a good chuckle.