the smedley log - suburban scrawl

Could be a lot worse

“…one shot of perspective,
a couple more to kill the pain.”
- Bill Mallonee

Yesterday was long. In many ways.

It started as a typical Mother’s Day. During its first half, I spent some time with my mother, which was nice. Then I got to see the majority of the Phillies game on TV, though I left before the disappointing finality of it could sink in.

Then I kept myself busy with a variety of small tasks until it was late enough for me to travel to the airport to pick up some girl from a flight that was delayed far too long. After about half an hour standing by the baggage claim carousel, we were on our way.

Let me say that at this point, the day already seemed about twelve hours too long to me. Not that it was a horrible day, but I was hoping it would wind down relatively quickly from there.

Which is why my more cynical self should have suspected what came next. It involved a disabled vehicle in the middle lane of a notorious Philadelphia expressway. Add three other cars having varying degrees of success avoiding said vehicle.

For reasons known only to a little card from the insurance company, I’m not really supposed to discuss it in detail, but suffice it to say, the vehicular skirmish lengthened the interminable day by at least another hour. Thank God it was only an hour, and all injuries appear to have been minimal. The car is damaged, but drivable; for the most part, so am I. I just have to wait for the soreness to subside.

On the bright side, these events took us into the earlier part of today, which just happens to be Marisa’s birthday. Which is a good thing, especially since we made it to this point alive.

It could have been much worse, but I’d still like to think it could get better.

[…] Yesterday was a very long day of travel, including a four hour flight next to a vomiting (four barf bags passed through his hands) seven year old, an already-long 3 hour layover in Detroit stretching into an improbable 4 & a half and an interminable wait for luggage.  Just when I thought I was in the clear and was finally going to get home, this happened. […]

My gosh, Howard, I heard about that accident on Am radio. Very scary….I’m glad you guys are okay…thank goodness for that.

Holy crap. Glad you’re OK.

As it happens, I was at the Phillies game with mom, so I witnessed the disappointment in person.
Add to that a disabled vehicle on the Walt Whitman Bridge (bad day for disabled vehicles) and it was an odd day.
It was mom’s first trip to the ballpark, and her first time seeing the Phils in a while. Now, I have to make it up to her!

I vaguely recall a Seinfeld episode in which great significance (a relationship milestone) was attached to picking someone up from the airport. Of course, they mentioned nothing about the subsequent car accident.

Glad you’re okay!

Frank – You mean we actually made the radio? Well, I guess it was a little bit of a obstruction for a Sunday night Schuylkill commute.

Anthony – and I thought I had a long day. All I can say is I’m sorry for your loss (or the Phillies’ loss, but being a fan, it’s really the same thing, isn’t it?)

Missy – So does this mean I’m moving too fast?

Eric – Thanks, so am I! I titled the post the way I did, because those words (or something very similar) must have been uttered at least a dozen times by one person or another. It really could have been so much worse. I’m still sore, but I can see feeling better in the not-too-distant future.

Nah, I think it’s cute. And yeah, I noticed today’s haiku too. Adorable.

Car accidents are so ugly. I’m glad that you and your family are ok!
If only the Phils had been winning…