Nudge

So I hit a deer last night. Wait, not really hit. I sort of nudged him. He ran out of some high grass about two feet from where my car was careening down the road, he bounded in front of me, I hit the brakes, he jumped toward the driver’s side of my front bumper and, kathunk, my driver’s side front end thudded against his left hind end. Sort of his left hip, if you will.

Then he bounded away.

I was taking Olivia to gymnastics but I stopped along the side of the road and checked for damage. It was already dark outside so I was looking at two brightly burning headlights with no other light to see. I could see the deer hair (fur? Ick!) around the driver’s side headlight but since the light was still on, I decided to just keep going.

I called Tom from the road and told him what happened. He agreed that since the lights were both still working it made sense to just get O to her class and check it out when we got home.

When we got to the gym, I was able to inspect the car a little more. The plastic cover that protects the headlight bulb was gone. Huh. I wondered how I’d missed that while on the road but then realized that the headlight burns against the silvery reflective material and all I really saw was the light rather than the missing cover.

I called Tom from the gym to report this new finding. He sighed and said it is good we still have my old silver Grand Prix from which to salvage parts.

Olivia attended her class in which she and every other child in the class was an obnoxious brat and then we went home. (Never fear, Miss K was kind enough to say that every class had been awful, it wasn’t just our kids. Yay?)

O and I got about three miles from the gym when the bulb in the headlight that had been nudged by the deer popped and, there it went. I was driving with only one headlight. Yikes!

I called Tom again. Yes, at this point, I do believe he was tired of hearing from me. Poor guy.

He told me we had no spare bulbs at home and suggested I go back into town (not that far) and go to Auto Zone to get a new bulb. He said that if I was pulled over for having a light out, I could explain that I was going home to replace it that night. I laughed and said I’d tell the officer I was going home so MY HUSBAND could replace it, thank you very much. As if I’d know how to replace a headlight bulb. Ha! I do hope my daughters learn this skill, though. It would be so nice to be that independent. Is it too late for me to learn? Probably not, but I sort of just don’t want to.

Olivia and I went back, got the bulb and then sort of crawled home. It was raining (which is why the stupid bulb popped) and a little foggy and it just sucks to only have one headlight on a night like that. I think I might have topped 40mph once during the drive. It felt traitorous.

When we got home, Tom came out and inspected the damage. Then he hurt my feelings by asking if I’d been watching out for deer, it is, after all that time of year.

Whatever! I told him there was no way I could have avoided that sucker and we were just lucky I hit it the way I did.

He agreed, apologized for doubting my deer-watching instincts, fixed my car and finally ate dinner.

It was nice to drive to work this morning with two headlights. This is just one more example of why my husband is my hero, even if he does sometimes hurt my feelings.