Oh Dear! I Mean OH DEER!

I officially have my very own, personal, almost-die-story as of this morning. Let me share.

This morning at 0'dark-thirty, I drug myself to the garage with my running shoes and water bottle in hand, heading to the gym. I pulled out of the driveway and out on to the highway. I was about 3/4 of a mile away from my house and then deer/explosion/panic.

That's the short version.

The long version is that suddenly, like it materialized from thin air, there was the face of a deer immediately to the right of my hood. I can still see it. Then within a split second, before I could understand what was happening, the noise like a loud explosion. It turns out that was my rear passenger window shattering. My heart leaped into my brain as I tried to process what had just happened. I looked back and the rear passenger window was gone. I looked into the back seat just to make sure the deer wasn't IN the back seat, ready to kick me in the head. No deer.

I pulled into a nearby parking lot and tried to catch my breath. First thought? "Should I keep going to the gym?" Uhhh, no. No window and you almost just died. Second thought? "Is the deer laying dead in the road?" I looked over in that direction and I saw the silhouette of legs and hooves twitching. Third thought? "Do I need to call the police?" No, you don't have your phone with you, dummy. So I turned around and started driving home. By the time I got to the spot where I had hit the deer, it was standing beside the road. Uninjured, I thought but in the daylight, the road tells another story. Ew.

The crying came on slowly. I started whimpering, processing what had just happened. I realized that if it would have hit a second earlier, the front passenger window would have blown out instead, all over me. By the time I got in my driveway I was crying out loud. I'm so glad the neighborhood was still asleep. Hey, I'm a cryer, and I'm not apologizing for it. Just say the word, and I will cry. I walked around in the dark and tried to assess the damage. It was then that I saw the deer hair everywhere, inside the backseat with the shattered glass. Something had flown across the back seat with enough force to shatter the glass on the other side of the car. If it would have been the front seat, my head would have been in the path of whatever that was.

I went into the house, sobbing by now (again with the crying) and woke up poor Nate. He was trying to figure out what in the world was going on and why his wife so upset. Was she attacked? No, but kind of...by a rogue deer. He threw on some clothes and we went out with a flashlight to check out the XB. Here are some pics of the damage:


The poor little Black Lego is in the shop, waiting to find out the extent of the damage and I am not crying any more, so that's good. And also, I'm alive. That's good too.