Deer God

What an adventure.... I was on my way back from home after Thanksgiving on Sunday night and things were going great. I was driving back Erin Miller who brought Aly Boe home with her for the holiday weekend. Our stomachs were happy because we had stopped at Arby's in Springfield (mmm good stuff). We were about 10 miles from Greenville when we saw a deer standing beside the right lane. As soon as we saw him, he stepped into the right lane and stared at me. I hit the brakes immediately, but we were very close to it and I knew that from the beginning. I don't typically panic in situations like this - in fact, I didn't even have an adrenaline rush at the time. It both helps and hurts - I had more of my mind to think, but I'm slower to react. Realizing that I was going to have an impact at that speed and also that the deer had stood still for a long moment, I swerved into the left lane (fully aware about where the lane boundaries are because my main concern was staying on the road, oddly enough). When I swerved, off ran the deer....into the left lane. With still quite a bit of speed to slow down from, we bashed right into the deer head-on. I feel very lucky the way things happened. I was the only one with the slightest amount of injury, and that was all from the airbag punching me in the face. I few skin burns from the airbag inflating and a sore jaw muscle were the only problems I encountered. I thank God so much for my ability to stay calm in situations like that. Afterward, Aly saw the steam coming from my engine and since she was still on an adrenaline rush, she was afraid the car might explode, so we got out of the car right away and she ran, erin ran, then I finally started running to keep up with them. Of course, nothing happened. When I got back to my car to take a look, it seemed that although my car was ugly, the hood was buckled over, and one headlight was out - the hood still latched and the only thing I think was wrong with the engine was that all the coolant had leaked out. The police showed up without my intervention - I think someone must have called it in. My first words to the police officer were something like "Hi, do you want a cookie?" as I offered him one of the cookies that Erin's mom sent along. I was in a giddy mod, and it was obvious because I also apologized to the officer for not signaling when I swerved into the left lane, and also because it was a no passing zone. That's about it for the fun of that day... God is awesome, and he saved me from much worse. I just hope I have a car to drive soon :-).