My Horrible Day

Today started to be a great relaxing day stuck inside because of the freezing whether. We sat around all day watching tv and playing games. Later that evening we decided to venture out to do some shopping for my pregnant wife's expanding wordrobe and to get me an ipod touch.

Half way there a dog runs across the road out of nowhere. It went right underneath the center of our Honda Accord and came out the back. It shocked me and threw my wife into tears. I pulled over to the side of the road, called 911, and checked out the damage. Kristy was ok. The dog was sitting in the middle of the road, obviously taking it's last breaths. I felt so bad. I have a golden retriever that I love and couldn't stand it if this had been my dog even though it had no collar or tags. I then checked out the front of the car. The bumper took a beating and would need to be replaced. It could have been worse except for that it had just been repaired last year from when a deer ran out in front of us and hit the same place. The car had also just recently been paid off. A few moments later a cop showed up and it seemed like it was something he had seen quite a bit as he started preparing to move the dog to get traffic going again. As I made my way back to the car I looked at the dog who was still panting but who's eyes looked vacant. He was the same color as my dog and it made me imagine Cooper's face in the place of it's own. The animal control lady then bent down to get a pulse and said "He's gone." and gave me a sympathetic smile. I went back to the car to find Kristy crying but otherwise together. We decided to go back home and when we got there Kristy said with a sad tone "well we went out to hit a dog and came back" which was too ironic to be funny but was true all the same.

For some reason the significance of what had happened didn't hit me until later that night. We hugged Cooper and felt bad that we had taken someone else's pet just to go home to love our own (which I know isn't true but we couldn't help feeling it). I also was awakened of how quick things happen. I was driving to the store with my expecting wife, I remember talking about which store we go to first and then... It could have been worse I guess. We could have braked and hit another car or swerved into a ditch. The only thing I could do was pray, thanking God for my family's safety and praying for the family that probably lost a good friend that day. I also kept wondering if I should have stayed and apologized to the family even though I wouldn't know what to say and would probably make it worse.

The car wreck would be an inconvenience at most. We had just started saving for an emergency fund that we were about to add our second contribution to. So even though it feels like wasted money, it's not for dumb emergency's like these. You try to prepare for simple things like this and then you're mad when they happen.

To end the day I went down to the basement to decompress and play my XBOX 360. I pushed the button and... (ahhhh) Three Red Rings of Death. This is microsoft's way of telling me it was my turn to have a dead Xbox. I called them and I can send it in for free under their extended warranty.

What a day. Such a day, in fact, that I had to write it down.