Early liminality

Usually this is the start of my liminal time, the small stretch of time between the end of one calendar year and the beginning of my new age. This year, I've been liminal for the past two weeks. That's when I crashed my car.

The world was already a little off-kilter after a conversation that provided a new perspective on things in my life. And the morning of the crash, I was ordering my first pair of prescription glasses (reading only). I was heading into work, getting on I-5 southbound, when an SUV merging on to the on ramp failed to yield to me. I slammed on the brakes to avoid it hitting me and wound up going into the concrete barrier on the east side of the lane, hitting just below the driver side headlights. I spun and scraped and bounced back across the lane, coming to rest with my back bumper against the metal railing on the west side of the lane. Somehow I'd wound up in front of the non-yielding car, which did stop to make sure I was okay.

I felt oddly okay at the time, but as time passed and I talked to the insurance company and brought my car in to be assessed, I started feeling pretty weird. Partly the ickyness after a massive adrenalin rush, and partly the aftermath of life suddenly going horribly wrong.

It did not help that my bad "carma" continued after the accident. I was given a rental car that was uncomfortable for me to drive. When I went out to return it the next morning, the driver's side window was broken. I cut my left calf driving it back to the rental place. I opened the door of the car being used to drive me to my office into my forehead, cutting myself on the eyebrow.

My friend Alex said it took him a week to feel right after his accident. I thought his sensitive nature was to blame, but I had the same experience. I did not like going out, even without getting in a car. Cars were all around and I didn't trust them not to come too close.

Monday the insurance company finally okayed the repairs to my car, and I was told it would be about 2 weeks until I got it back. I'd been fortunate in that Daniel had gone out of town the day after my accident, so I borrowed his car until he returned Tuesday. It is a manual, which I'm not used to driving, so again things felt weird, but at least nothing went wrong! I'm picking up a rental car later today for the rest of the time until I get my car back.