When it rains, it pours

It's been an eventful past couple of days. Where to begin?

On Friday I drove to Xenia for my first 2008 Tax Class. Zach Reat, the OBB regional coordinator from the central region, was to observe my training as part of my tax certification process. As you know, I was already nervous about doing a training less than 24 hours after being trained myself. That nervousness was only compounded as I drove to the training site through a torrential downpour. The rain fell so hard and so fast that I didn't dare drive over 55 mph on the interstate. I was anxious about being late for the class, but fortunately, I had left plenty of time to get there. But even though I was ahead of schedule, the class still didn't start on time. We had to wait for quite a while to even gain access to the computer lab. Finally, a few minutes after 9:00, we were led back to the computer lab area and I jumped right into the training.

Once I got started, I felt myself relax as I covered the first few parts of the training agenda/outline. I am still getting a feel not only for the material, but also for the rhythm of the class. Zach offered great encouragement and support throughout the day, and I feel much more confident in my tax training abilities. Before too long, I'll be a little tax expert wannabe, throwing around tax jargon with the CPAs.

After the training concluded around 4:00, I decided to make the short drive down to Wilmington to visit my Grow Food Grow Hope VISTA friends. I had never been to Wilmington, so it was nice to see the town and college campus during my visit. Here are a few pictures:

The Grow Food Grow Hope headquarters, housed at the college's Service Learning Office.

Sonja walking through the community gardens, located on Wilmington's campus.

Around 5:20 I got back in the car and embarked on the trip home. Again, I encountered very heavy rain, which fell, strangely enough, during bursts of bright sunshine. It had been a very long day and I was really ready to just get home and relax.

But when it rains, it pours.

One of the last legs of my journey, I exited onto I-275 heading westbound, and immediately encountered heavy rush-hour traffic on wet roads. As I neared the I-75 interchange, the traffic ahead of me slowed to a stop, but the person behind me did not. She plowed into me at full speed. Although I don't remember this, I somehow avoided slamming into the car in front of me by steering the car onto the right shoulder. The other driver passed me, then pulled over in front of me, her car a mangled wreck:


Upon seeing her car, I immediately called 911 who dispatched an officer. I had never called 911 before, and thanks to my dad's highway driving lessons, I was able to provide surprisingly clear directions to the scene.

What happened next is a bit of a blur. Somehow I managed to call Taylor, who was just off of work. He met me at the scene still in his EMT uniform, minus the ambulance. I also got a hold of my dad and, through a steady stream of tears, told him what had happened. Because my dad was finishing round three of repairs to my car, I was driving his vehicle on Friday. I couldn't bear the thought of telling him that his car was wrecked, not after all he had done for me in fixing my car. But of course, the car was the least of his concerns.

Long story short, the other driver and I had no obvious traumatic injuries. We exchanged insurance information and took photos for our respective insurance agents. The policeman issued the other driver a citation and arranged for a tow. My car was still drivable, escaping with relatively little damage, compared to the other driver's vehicle, that is. Both of us were lucky--it could have been much worse.

As I pulled away from the scene, I realized my head, neck, and back were pretty sore, so I went to the ER to be checked out. After a 4-hour wait, the doctor prescribed me with pain medication and muscle relaxers, both causing serious drowsiness. He advised me to lay low over the weekend, because I would feel even worse in the days to come. Unfortunately, he was right. I woke up on Saturday with painfully stiff muscles, a terrible headache, and tightness in my chest that made it difficult to breathe.

Of course, this accident couldn't have come at a worse time. Saturday was Make a Difference Day, and Alex and I had made plans to help out at a local food pantry in the morning. Then in the afternoon, I was scheduled to attend part 2 of my grant-writing class in Cincinnati.

Needless to say, I had to cancel those plans.

Much to my chagrin, I didn't make much of a difference on Saturday. In fact, I've spent much of the weekend asleep, with little improvement today. Here's hoping Monday is a little more productive.