Remember that time I got hit by a car?

Back in August, Murphy got a plastic microphone for her birthday. She loved it. Instantly channeled her inner diva.

It was 3 bucks well spent.

A few weeks later, Murph insisted on bringing the mic with us on an outing. As we were returning home, we decided to jaywalk across the street. I was holding Murphy, she was holding her microphone. As we ran across the street, my arm hit the microphone and it went tumbling into the road. Approximately 3 seconds later, a car came speeding up and crushed that microphone to pieces. Murphy was shattered.

Jaywalking - Bad idea.

Traffic here is pretty crazy, so we worry about our toddler. We use the microphone incident as a teaching tool, reminding Murph of the importance of holding our hands, watching for cars, and not running off. We tell her we don't want Murphy broken like her microphone was broken.

I take a bus to work every day. I cross two crosswalks to get to the bus stop, and never jaywalk (the mic incident scared me, too). Two weeks ago, I was waiting to cross at my last crosswalk. Just before I got the green light, a black car pulled up and stopped in the crosswalk.

Decision time: What is safest? Cross in front of a potentially distracted driver, whose foot may slip off the brake? Or cross behind the car, avoiding potential injury? What would you do?

I chose... poorly.

I decided to cross behind the car. The driver suddenly realized she was in the crosswalk (a major traffic violation here) and decided her best option was to reverse quickly. She didn't check the mirrors first, and rammed me with her car (a minor traffic violation).

I was knocked to the ground. I looked up to see her back wheels still rolling towards me. I had to roll out of the way to avoid actually being run over. Sounds very James Bond, probably looked more Drunk Penguin.

Once she stopped, the driver and her friend got out to check on me. I was pretty sure my arm was broken (my first broken bone!) but couldn't tell if anything else was injured. They put me in the backseat (cant believe i got in a car with this person)  and drove me to the hospital. The doc x-rayed my arm and confirmed that both bones were broken, at the end near my wrist. The driver took full responsibility, and her insurance is covering everything.

Which is good, because the doctor insisted I stay in the hospital for 4 days, to keep an eye on me and make sure nothing else was wrong. I cannot imagine any doctor in the States keeping you hospitalized for 4 days for broken arm! At first, they wanted me to stay in a tiny room with 5 beds, 4 of which were occupied. After learning that I would be receiving a settlement for the accident, I decided to pay the extra money for a private room.

The hospital was close enough to home that I could see Murphy and JD walk out of the apartment whenever they'd visit. I spent 4 days reading, getting IVs of muscle relaxers, and watching Terminator 2 and America's Funniest Videos on TV. And not eating the wads of cold clear fish that were incorporated into every meal.

It has been a hard adjustment, not having use of my dominant hand. JD has to get both Murphy and me dressed in the morning, fix both of us breakfast, and change both our diapers. Two of those are true.

I am also disappointed that I won't be able to play with Murphy in the sand and the pool when we go to Vietnam next weekend. However, I'm sure I'll be soothed by the warm sea air and the minibar.

They will finally cast my arm on Tuesday (two weeks after the accident is their policy). I am planning to beg for a waterproof cast so maybe I can play a bit between minibar raids :) We still find it completely absurd that being hit by a car is now part of our tapestry. So, when JD and I want a laugh, we say, "Remember that time I got hit by a car?"

My creative husband made me a card with an eerily accurate recreation on the incident. And a little dose of perspective.