December Good Ole’ Uncle Vic

December 2, 2011 By: Victor Brick

Hi, everyone. Happy Holidays. It doesn’t feel like the holidays with this weather but I am not complaining. The cold weather will get here soon enough.

The answer to October’s trivia question:  What college is Steve Jobs’ alma mater?  This was a trick question.  The answer is he didn’t graduate from college!

This month’s quiz: How much does the average American spend on Christmas?

You won’t believe this but I got in an accident on Thanksgiving evening on my way to the Ravens game. Lynne and I were in my three-month old, brand-spanking new 2011 Lexus LS-460 sitting in line on I-95 North, waiting to get on the Russell Street ramp just south of the stadium when we were rear-ended by a young girl who obviously didn’t see that we were stopped. She hit us from behind going at least 30 or 40 miles an hour and completely destroyed the rear of our car. (Check out the Uncle Vic video to see the damage). It was amazing that nobody was hurt.

I always make it a habit to look in my rear view mirror when waiting in a queue or at a stop light and thank goodness I do. Since it was about 7 pm it was dark and I saw her headlights coming at me full-speed. I quickly processed my options. I couldn’t pull over to the right because there was a barrier and I didn’t have enough room. I couldn’t pull over to the left because that was a through lane and cars were whizzing by me at 60 plus miles an hour. So I drifted forward as far as I could without getting too close to the car in front of me. I thought she would see me and slow down and maybe avoid the collision but my hopes were in vain. Bam!!! When she hit me, even though I knew it was coming, it was still a shock.

The first thing I did, of course, was to see if Lynne was okay. I didn’t have time to warn her because I was trying to figure out how to avoid getting hit but it might have been a blessing in disguise because she was so relaxed that she was not hurt at all. Then I let the On-Star service know we had been in an accident and then I checked to see if the people in the car that hit me were okay. Fortunately they were, but their car was totaled.

The police came and an ambulance came as well, even though we didn’t need it and the net result was they took our report and we were still able to get to the game before kick-off. Fortunately, while my beautiful car was badly mangled, it was still drivable. And now, six days later, the other insurance company has admitted fault and I am in the process of getting it fixed. So, all’s well that ends well. Which brings me to the moral of today’s Uncle Vic:

Lessons I Learned from My Accident:

1. Be Thankful for what you have. We were so thankful that no one was hurt. I was really concerned that we would suffer from whip-lash or delayed muscle soreness but nothing. It made me realize how thankful I should be all the time for my health and every blessing I have.
2. Stay alert. Always expect the unexpected. Thank goodness I was looking in my rear-view mirror or things might not have turned out as well as they did. Always be awake, alert and aware of your surroundings. You know neither the time nor the hour of an unforeseen calamity.
3. Stay calm. When the voice came over the On Star system asking us if we’d been in an accident, we were so startled by the collision that we sounded like one of those voices on their TV commercial. “We’ve been hit. We’ve been hit”. But we quickly calmed down and regained our composure and everything went smoothly from there, including our discussions with the party that hit us and with the police.
4. Keep things in perspective. Immediately after the accident I began to fanaticize about how it was going to ruin my life and about how much of a hassle it was going to be and of how my car would never be the same. But here it is, six days later and life is back to normal. As I said, no one was hurt and that is the big thing.
5. Stay relaxed. Tension usually makes everything worse. I truly believe that one of the reasons Lynne was not hurt is because I didn’t have time to warn her before the collision so she was totally relaxed; that and the fact that she is “strong like bull!” But really, being relaxed is usually best, in any situation.
6. And the final lesson I learned was. “Don’t leave your sister-in-law, Lisa’s home on Thanksgiving day to see a football game when she has four pies that you have hardly tasted!” Oh well, all’s well that ends well.

Thought for the Day:  Life is a lot like driving. You need to check your rear view mirror to see what’s behind you but if you spend too much time looking behind you you’ll never get to where you want to go!