IT WAS AN ACCIDENT. IT WAS ON ACCIDENT.

On Friday, early afternoon, I was driving down highway 14 on Maryhill near the Dalles, a quiet road, between hills, by fields with tall dry grass. I had a GPS that suctioned onto the front windshield of my car, and the piece that connected to the back fell underneath the passenger seat. The seat was filled with blankets and bags, and while I was driving, I reached down to the floor, searching in between my belongings for the missing part. I felt sleepy and absent-minded and my car began to swerve. I grabbed the wheel and over-corrected, my car spinning out of control, reaching the other side of the highway and flipping over, rolling multiple times down a slope, shattering the car windows, scattering my luggage in the open field. The car stopped moving and lay upside down, the hood bent in, so my neck was bent, my head hitting the top of the car. I unlatched the seat belt and climbed out through a broken window, cuts on my arms and legs from the glass.

I saw my belongings strewn in the field, books and chargers and old journals, and other items which hold invaluable sentiment. Panicked, I hardly noticed I was barefoot. I ran towards the piles of books and clothes and bins, and a middle age woman and her daughter approached me, sighing in relief as she saw me standing upright. She put her hand to her chest, "Oh thank God, you're alive," she said, "and SO young." I started collecting my belongings and she reached out and grabbed my arm, "Honey," she said, "stop moving. You're bleeding. Come with me to the car and sit down." I explained that I needed my belongings, that I was coming home from college, and inside my vehicle was everything that I owned. But she didn't care. Another car full of people arrived, whom had driven to a house nearby to call the police, since there was no cell reception, and announced that the police and ambulance were on their way.

The daughter led me up the hill to their car parked on the side of the road, and it wasn't until I walked uphill, that I started to feel dizzy, my neck sore and my head throbbing. They found my cell phone and I called home. An ambulance took me to the ER, where they checked out my head and neck, prescribing me some Vicodin for the pain for the next couple of days. Andrea picked me up from the hospital a few hours later. I am in fine condition, and feel very blessed.

Right now, I am Portland staying at Andrea's. My medicine makes me drowsy, so I've been sleeping more than I have in what feels like my entire life. Staying with Andrea has been wonderful, who has been showing much more than the adequate amount of hospitality. My wallet and ID are locked up in Vancouver for investigation until Monday, and the rest of my belongings are in the towing lot in Goldendale, which doesn't open until after the weekend as well, making me feel a bit tense and stranded. She lives a couple of hours from the place of the accident, so on Monday, we still have quite a drive to the towing lot, where I hope to find the majority of my belongings in okay and workable (i.e. my laptop) condition. The soonest I can fly out is on Tuesday, and to be honest, I am feeling a bit restless.

Thank you to good friends,
for showing your care and concerns.
I hope the summer goes well.
I might be off to a bit of a rough start,
but as always, it just a blessing to
be alive, to breathe, to think,
to enjoy, to love. {aurelius}