May 2nds Can Go Kick Rocks

My brother and I are Irish Twins, which my mom isn’t too proud of. That means we were born within the same calendar year. In our case, we are 364 days apart, so we barely made the cutoff. On May 2nd every year my brother turns another year older, and we are the same age for 24 hours until May 3rd when it’s my birthday. While growing up, May 2nd always irked me. Not only did my brother get loads of attention (I believe that siblings’ birthdays are difficult for any selfish child regardless of the day or age difference), but he got to brag about being my same age and rub it in my face that I was no longer older than him. Obviously, as an adult, I recognize this isn’t true… of course I’m still older than him, by 364 WHOLE DAYS! But as a child it still stung.

My brother and me as children safely jumping on the bed with helmets.

As an adult, the May 2nd Blues have died down a LOT. However, I’ve still noticed little things that happen on May 2nd where I shake my fist at the sky and say “damn you May 2nd! I can’t wait until my birthday TOMORROW!” This year, however, the events that unfolded were special enough that I found the need to write them down.

I woke up the morning of May 2nd in New Orleans, turned to my manfriend and said, “just so you know, May 2nd is always the worst day of the year for me.” And I was sort of joking… but this was a good reminder that our words are powerful! I had a couple of meetings in the morning, wrapped them up and had a two-hour break before my next meeting. We decided to drive two miles to Tulane University’s campus for a nice little walk with the dog, and then come home for my meeting. All in all, the experience should have taken about 45 minutes.

We walked out of the Airbnb to the car and realized it had been broken into. Not broken, broken, but rifled through. A door must not have been closed all the way, or I didn’t lock it. But either way,) I was robbed. Nothing too important was taken; just several gas and Starbucks gift cards, a fresh pack of gum, and my little sack containing crystals I had collected from friends over the years. The bag of crystals was by far my most devastating loss. They weren’t expensive, but they were very special. I was able to shrug off the loss and the feeling of being violated pretty easily. “Meh, it happens! And they didn’t take the things that are SUPER special, like my mini globe or candy cane from my work bestie. And there’s no damage to my car.” Brightside, Brightside, Brightside!

Off we went to Tulane University! While sitting at a red light on St Charles Ave and Jefferson (one of the busiest streets in New Orleans, where the trolley runs), we got rear-ended. But not just a gentle bump as in someone mistakenly missed that we were stopped… I’m talking ram-rodded rear-ended. The person had zero intention of stopping. Needless to say, her Lexus ES basically went under my jeep. And was firmly stuck there. We got out, made sure everyone was okay, took some photos, and then I pulled our cars, attached at our bumpers, off to the side of the road, so we no longer blocked traffic.

Policemen and the Accident Report Officer quickly came, my friend took my dog Ruby in an Uber back to our Airbnb and then came back to help at the scene of the accident. Eddie, the police officer, had been working for nearly 20 years, and the accident report guy was an EMT, police officer, and now contracted for accident report totaling about 30 years of experience. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, ready to work together to get the two cars apart as neither of them were allowed to leave until they were separated.

I ended up calling the first tow company that came up in a Google search and miraculously he was on site within 10-15 minutes! He brought some sort of apprentice along with him. All-in-all, including the two drivers, there were seven adults attempting to get the two vehicles separated.

It was INSANE! The tow truck lifted the front of my car up to try and drag my Jeep up, but lo and behold her car came with mine. Then, the tow truck went behind her car to try and drag the back of her car up the truck, yet my Jeep followed behind. Then they tried lifting up my Jeep from the side, still no movement. At this point, Eddie had the entire street blocked off, and we had been there for about 1.5 hours. It was so fun seeing the trolley pass by and everyone’s faces looking at the scene of the accident. I was mostly sitting in my Jeep waiting for instructions, like “put your car in neutral,” “now drive,” “take your foot off the break,” “put it in reverse and back up.” It honestly felt like I was watching a movie out of the driver’s side window. It was fun seeing grown men, strangers, using their brains to work together to solve the problem and decide what to do next, influencing each other on their next move.

My friend turned to the young lady who rear ended me and said, “you know your car is totaled, right? Can I rip the bumper off so we can see what’s really going on?” She sadly nodded, and said it was fine to do so. I think all the frustration of sitting around for hours not fully understanding exactly WHY the cars just simply wouldn’t separate gave him super-hero strength to man handle the bumper and rip it off completely with his bare hands. With the bumper removed, we could see the issue…. My tow hook was jammed into the steel frame of her car, at such a perfect angle that it wouldn’t pull out. It was lodged in so tight it was as if my Jeep was inadvertently towing her car. Finally, an answer to the mystery… it only took us 3 hours to figure it out!

Eventually, the fire department came and started chiseling away at the two cars with a hammer. It was incredible! Shrapnel was flying everywhere, and I was completely mystified, and slightly worried about the damage to my car. At this point we had been on the side of the road for about 3 hours. It was a beautiful day in New Orleans, about 80-ish degrees, sunny, and a little warm. I was sitting on the grass starting to get a little hungry and irritated that so many precious hours of our 48-hour birthday celebration in NOLA were being spent waiting and hoping for my jeep to break free of this ram-rodded vehicle. Then Eddie the police officer and the accident report guy and the tow truck guys started saying things like “in all my experience, I’ve never seen anything like this.” Is that not the BEST birthday gift you can get? Combined, about 60-70 years’ worth of experience and this was the FIRST time they’d seen something so unusual. I absolutely love firsts, or unique situations. I think it’s so incredible when the universe gives us an opportunity to enjoy a new experience together with strangers.

Finally, about 3.5 hours in, a second fire truck was coming with the jaws of life. THE JAWS OF LIFE. Oh man, I was so thrilled to see them in action! In elementary school I did a report about the invention of the Jaws of Life. I highly recommend learning more on the wiki page. However, right as they pulled up, a PT Cruiser came around the corner, pulled over, and two men hopped out with a saw. After quickly replacing the blade, they sawed my tow hook completely off, and scurried away. I’m pretty sure they knew the tow truck company, but quite honestly, I have no idea where they came from! I was finally able to drive away, albeit without my tow hook!

And somehow, by some act of God or an otherworldly miracle, after being lifted off the ground from the front, from the side, from the back, my Jeep had very minimal damage. Besides losing my tow hook and having a crooked bumper, I had no visible damage. No one was injured. Unfortunately, her car was totaled but after a very productive conversation it seems like she walked away with a valuable lesson… it’s okay to be late. You don’t need to text anyone that you’re running late. Pay attention to the here and now. Be present and go with the flow of life. I think too often we feel the urge to update others on every moment of our life, when the reality is if we just experience it, it’s easier to find fulfillment and joy. It wasn’t that long ago we didn’t have computers in our pockets and didn’t feel required to let people know when we would be a little late. People just showed up late, apologized when they got there, and moved on. We need more of that. I know that the 3.5 hours I spent on the side of the road in NOLA was quite a joyous occasion. You can find peace and love in every situation if you stay present, kind, and positive.

After all the hubbub, we stumbled into a nearby restaurant and enjoyed some well-earned delicious food at Iacovone Kitchen and officially kicked off my birthday celebration!