Whoever put the "Hit me!" sign on my car's bumper...

...feel free to come remove it. Anytime!

Yesterday I got rear-ended on the freeway AGAIN. It's been only six months since the last time. Once again, an apologetic young woman was to blame, but this time there was no visible damage at all, thanks be to God. It was a pretty gentle collision. I felt like an old hand at getting hit as I pulled across the five lanes of traffic to park and rooted around in my purse for a notepad to get the other driver's insurance info. I told her it was all right; it really is tricky traffic around rush hour on the 605. (Sometimes you go from cruising along to stopped dead in a very short space and I've often had to brake suddenly.) She said she appreciated my being nice about it.

One kind of cool thing was a Metro tow truck that showed up on the scene almost immediately. We didn't need help, but the driver did give us both brochures from which I learned that he's part of the "Metro Freeway Service Patrol," which drives the LA County highways offering various services for free: flat tire changes, jump starts, radiator refills, a gallon of gas, and towing off the freeway. I generally dislike unnecessary spending of taxpayers' money, but I softened when the handy brochure informed me, "FSP tow trucks help reduce traffic jams by quickly clearing stalled cars, the cause of more than 50% of traffic congestion. We help reduce the chance of further accidents and bottlenecks caused by impatient drivers and gawkers." I never knew there was such a service in LA.

So the only thing that's got me down now is the fact that I could easily get hit again and there's not a darn thing I can do about it. No matter how carefully I drive, it won't help if the car behind doesn't see me in time. It's not like I'm braking too fast and that's why I'm getting rear-ended; both times I had been at a full stop for at least several seconds before the car behind whammed into me. How am I supposed to prevent that?

Eh, I won't worry about it. :)

Oh, John Paul's baptism was beautiful, and afterward his parents treated us all to a delicious meal at their house. Only three days after their sixth child was born, and they're entertaining large crowds. Sometimes parents amaze me.