Scary!

I tried to post this by e-mailing it in, but it didn't work. Bummer.

Yesterday morning at the airport, I got an e-mail from Shana inviting me to dinner at her place. Shana's one of my favorite people at the office, and I almost never get homecooked meals when I'm on the road, so I immediately accepted her kind offer.

After work, we drove through pouring thunderstorms to the grocery store to pick up dinner fixings. We both commented on the habit of drivers in the DC area of avoiding hurting the raindrops. We dilly-dallied at the grocery store because it was fun (and because I'm staying at a suites hotel, I got a couple of healthier things to keep in the fridge/freezer), and then headed to her and Jeff's apartment.

Shana called Jeff as we neared the apartment to ask him to come down and help us with groceries. He was already downstairs and waiting for us, and all three of us were laughing about it. Shana and Jeff hung up their cell phones, then there was a crack, Jeff screamed, and a massive tree branch hit Shana's car.

Yes, you read that correctly. A massive tree branch hit Shana's car. How massive? The diameter of the branch was 6 inches. Miraculously, the only damage done to the car was that a little over a third of the driver's side mirror shattered and disappeared.

I don't use the word "miraculously" lightly here. Shana drives a convertible. I think it helped tremendously that it's a hardtop (the very cute Pontiac Solstice), even though Jeff read that Consumer Reports says that a hardtop won't help in a serious accident.

Jeff was freaked out because he was outside and saw the massive tree branch drop (Shana wants to call the branch "Ed," but Jeff and I prefer "Beelzebub"). Shana didn't hear the crack or Jeff's shout -- all she heard was the huge thunk on the roof of the car right above our heads. I ducked and covered, not that it would have helped if the roof had caved.

I took video of it with my Flip. You're not going to believe how big this branch was.



What was equally amazing was watching the apartment complex maintenance guys take the branch apart and haul it away. They started with clippers and took off the smaller branches. Then they broke out the chainsaw. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to grab the Flip, because it was a sight to see. They had the whole thing cleared away in 30 minutes. Except for a few wood shavings and a couple of leaves on the ground, you'd never know that there was a near catastrophe.

Shana tested the top on the convertible to make sure it worked right, and it does. The roof and hood were wet, so we couldn't tell for sure, but it really seems like there aren't even any scratches on the car. We're going to check later today in the dark, but dry, parking garage.

We talked a lot about how many things have to happen at precise moments for you to be in a place where a tree branch can fall on the car. If it hadn't been raining, the top would have been down, but if if hadn't been raining, we would have gotten to the store and home sooner, and the tree's leaves wouldn't be saturated with water. If we hadn't played so long at the store, it would have been a near miss rather than a hit. A few more seconds, and instead of Jeff being well out of the danger zone, he might have been right in it without the protection of a car.

I'll never forget the look on Jeff's face as he frantically looked for a way around the tree. I was a little shocked, but I had the presence of mind to make sure that Shana was laughing hysterically because of the shock and not crying hysterically because she was hurt, and then I opened the door (I couldn't remember how to roll down the window) and yelled out that we were ok.

The patron saint and guardian angel of silly girls was working hard last night, and for that, I'm VERY grateful.