The Inspection I Never Made It To

It was the Saturday before Christmas and I had one final inspection to do before taking a few days off. The inspection was north of Birmingham, so I gave myself plenty of time to get there. It was raining, so I was not looking forward to inspecting the exterior in the rain. As I traveled north on I-65 near Trussville in a light rain, the back tires of my car lost traction and the car began spinning down the interstate.

Fortunately, traffic was light and there were no other cars around. I tried to correct it but since I was hydroplaning nothing worked. I said a quick prayer "Lord protect me", and hung on for what was next. My car spun around and backed into the inside wall. It bounced off the wall, my car spun again and the front of my car made contact with the inside wall. Up until the moment I hit the wall all was quiet (since my tires were not in contact with the road there was no noise from them.) Once I hit the wall it was very noisy. When the front of the car hit the wall my tires began riding up the wall and the hood of the car flew up. I thought, at that moment I had turned over, but fortunately I did not..

The car came down on it's tires again and I spun across the interstate. I was concerned now that I might be hit as I spun, but everyone was paying attention and swerved around me. The car was stalled in the middle of the interstate. Fortunately, the car started and I was able to get to the shoulder. I learned the kindness of strangers that day as a young lady and an older gentleman both stopped to check on me. Later the police came and since I was the only one involved in the wreck, I did not receive a citation. The car was totaled and had to be replaced.

I lived with the pain of bruised ribs for the next few months. This made most everything painful, but I was able to keep working. I just had to be slow about lifting my arms above my head.