My resolve to be content is being sorely tested.  Finances were already strained, then the bolt from the blue about medical insurance.  Now…we have to buy a new car.  Never lets up, does it?

The kids handled it well.  Lots of screaming, sure, but they calmed down once I (in fierce momma bear mode) tore the door open and got them out of the car.  None of the kids were hurt other than minor abrasions and we all walked away from the mess.

Can I stop for a moment and say this?  Buy a good car seat.  Buy the best car seat you can.  It matters.  Sure, forking out $250 per kid for a seat hurt our wallet, but none of the kids were injured in the crash.  You might think you can save money and buy a cheap car seat, or a used one, but is it worth your child getting injured?  We have Recarro seats with the side impact bits.  They meet European standards, which are more strict than US standards.  It’s worth it.

The Princess kept telling everyone how “it was sccaaarrry!”  The Engineer…he wanted to know why the airbags didn’t stay inflated.  And what made them inflate in the first place?

The next day he processed things, then came back with “If we had stayed home, someone else would have been in the accident.  Not us.  We should have stayed home.”  I acknowledged that was a good argument, but based on flawed logic.  I posed the question of what if the other driver had obeyed the law and not been an idiot?  No one would have been in the accident.  No accident to be had.

Then he wanted to know why I didn’t stop the car before we crashed.  “Why didn’t you brake harder?”  I sighed and pulled out the good old “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”  We dissected what would happen if we hadn’t crashed (flipped or rolled.)  We discussed how the sudden stop of the crash translated energy to us and how the seat belts kept us safe.  Then we had to revisit the gears/locking mechanism that made the seat belts work correctly.

Somewhere along the way we discussed hot gasses escaping from the air bags that caused my burn, and how safety glass is made.  I think we covered most safety stuff in cars tonight.  If he had been any older he would have been calculating speed and distance and criticising my choice of impact angle.

Sometimes this gifted stuff is an unmitigated pain in the butt.

(note: this is a shot of our car.  Point of impact.  Kids are fine, I have minor burns, sprained hand, and probably need a redo on sinus surgery.  And we need a new car.  But…I’m content because you have NO IDEA how much relief I felt when I looked into the car and saw that all 3 kids were ok.  It’s all good.)