Laconic vs. Verbose

As you’ve seen from reading my many blogs, I have a way with words, sometimes too many ways. Now with the magic of Facebook, I find that I have an appropriate venue for those little blurbs of life that occur all too frequently, but not frequently enough for me to open a Twitter account (but I won’t rule it out for future use). Most of the time when I post status messages on Fb, they are just clear enough to be witty, but often vague enough that if you haven’t been keeping up with my posts, you’d be lost. Such is the case with one of my last status messages where I just put “car totaled,” lamenting that my car was counted a total loss by the insurance company. In this case, I should have been a bit more verbose and explained that it was a singular car accident, not two subsequent ones. If you read my post from last week, you’ll know the cause and part of the outcome. But I will briefly list some of the damage to the vehicle to give you an idea of just how blessed I am:
• Bashed-in hood and grill, to the point that my front license plate is in the shape of a U.
• Airbag deployed
• Dashboard and steering column separation
• Engine damage; fluid spillage
In my very first accident, someone told me that any accident you can walk away from is never that bad, and I’ve been fortunate enough to escape virtually unscathed. At first, I was merely paying this saying lip service but the realization is that people get killed every day by other vehicles. There are constantly stories on the news about fatal car crashes or pedestrians being struck with a force hard enough to knock off their shoes. But I reacted well enough not to hit any other cars or any other people on foot, and for that I am grateful. But pray for me, gentle readers, so that I will never be blessed in this manner again because collisions are scary! No matter how minor the damage to your body, your mind is affected; when you close your eyes for the first few days, you relive the impact. And you’re paranoid in any vehicle, even when you’re not driving, often pumping imaginary brakes while holding onto the door handle until your knuckles turn white. But the best cure is always to get back behind the wheel.