Brian had a car accident…

…a little while ago at 1:30. Nobody got hurt and, this time, it wasn’t his fault.

He left for work about 1:00, stopped for something to eat and came right back home because he forgot the charger for his cell phone. A few minutes after he left, I get a phone call from him telling me he got in an accident, and where he was. Before I could ask him any questions, his phone went dead.

No what do I do? I can’t leave Barbara alone, so I can’t go rushing up to support him, so I try calling to get someone to stay with her. I call a few people before my next door neighbor gets out of the pool and comes over.

So I leave to drive up to the accident. I make the left, and could see the ¼ mile up the road, a lot of vehicles and flashing lights. I get closer and see the road is blocked off by cop cars, another cop car on the side of the road, two fire trucks and two ambulances. Now I get scared. WTF is all this equipment there? Did he get hurt? Did anyone get hurt? Are the cars on fire? OMFG, what is going on???!!!!

I park my car on the side of the road and begin searching the crowd, yes crowd, and finally see him. There must have been 50 people milling about. It looked like the whole neighborhood came out to see what happened. I get to him and he’s fine. He was going slowly, so the damage to the cars wasn’t that bad.

I help him take care of the technical stuff and then I go one way, and he goes another to call work to tell them what happened. My phone was charged.

The cops are directing traffic and firemen are putting stuff on the antifreeze that leaked out all over the road and sweep up the mess. Then they pull the cars off the road because there is quite a bit of traffic in the immediate area. We live down by the water, and the side road there, is the way everyone goes the get the ferries to Fire Island.

I walk over to the side of the road to get out of the way, lean against a fence and then I realized how proud he’s made me and how well he is handling the whole thing. I see that he at least learn a few things from his mother and me.

One is that he knows how to keep his priorities straight in times of hardship and stress, take care of business, and get the situation under control. Which he did very well.

The second is try to stay calm so you can think straight, and be better able to deal with what is at hand and the aftermath. You know what I mean? Tow trucks, police reports and insurance companies. He also did that very well too.

Then the third, during all this mess, never miss an opportunity. Let me explain that one.

The cops and fireman are all milling around, I’m watching all this going on and loose track of Brian. I walk over to the side of the road to get out of the way and lean up against a fence and the woman that lives there, walks over and starts a conversation with me, just small talk. We’re chatting and I look around for Brian and see him talking to a very attractive young woman, and he’s drinking a soda. I think, maybe she brought him a nice cold soda, because I’m sure he could use it.

She looked to be a little older than he is, he’s 23. I can see, not that I looked but just for a second, I swear, she’s got a nice tan (we do live down by the water) and she’s wearing one of those belly shirts, and very short shorts. I can see he's smiling, and all of a sudden doesn’t look sad anymore. In fact, he looks very happy. I see him laughing a little and so is she.

Then it dawns on me that we are both having conversations with strange women, and at a very trying time. Typical of me, the flirt that I am, but I didn’t know it was like him. I just smiled.

Now don’t get the wrong idea, we didn’t go out scouting for woman to hit on, they found us. And you all know as well as I do that in times like this, friendship is important for people, isn’t it. People need to be comforted, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s by lovely ladies, now does it?

You never know, the ladies could have been nurses, or social workers or something, and know that when people are stressed out, comforting is medicinal, right? They know how to calm people down, and take their mind off of their troubles, if only for a moment.

Brian instinctively knew, like I do, that one should accept compassion when it is offered, and that one will feel a whole lot better for it. I know I did, and I could tell he did too, if only for a moment.

Beside, one must always think of others feeling no matter what is happening to themselves. When someone offers one a shoulder to lean on, one must accept the offer. One doesn't want to make him or her, in this case her, feel bad and ignore his or her, in this case her, offer of comfort, now does one?

Yep, a chip off the old block. He makes me proud. ;-)