The last thing I remember saying was “Can’t everyone just be quiet!”

The last thing I remember doing turning my eyes off the road to fiddle around in the back seat.

Next, I felt the curb.

I jerked up my head just in time to swerve into my neighbors lawn, avoiding a huge head on crash with the mailbox.

I did not jerk my head up just in time, however, to miss the mailbox completely. Darn.

My white Jeep bucked the 20 person association-style lock-port mailbox like a cartoon anvil.

Seriously, it would have been comical, if say, I was watching it on YouTube. But, no, it was me in real life…scared and crying.

The implications are overwhelming.

What if someone had been checking their mail?  Sigh…. What if the kids had been hurt? How am going to pay for this? What if someone had been there, a kid, a dog, another car. What if, what if????

The police came and filled out a report. My neighbor comforted me while my nerves settled down. My husband sighed deeper than I have ever heard anyone sigh in my life.

My son, 4 years old, gave me a driving lesson,

“Just drive around things that are not in the road, drive straight from now on.”

Thankfully, nobody was hurt except my checkbook and my dignity. I have been thanking God all day for the mercy in the situation. No one was checking their mail, no one.

Fearfully Focused,

Messy Jess

PS Yes, Mom I will keep my eye on the road from now on, I promise, not even to look at my flip flop.

Here is an image summary of how I captured Summer 2008 through my lens.