By Chris

"Nobody's hurt . . ." That's not really the best way to start a cell phone conversation with your daughter.

I got home yesterday, and Nick was anxious to tell me that Lauren just called the house, "And it sounded urgent! . . . But we got disconnected. I think something's wrong" That'll give you a knot in your stomach. I called her right back. I hear sirens in the background and "Nobody's hurt . . . ." She was in an accident. Someone left turned into her as she was going straight through an intersection. Car is all messed up.

She was typical, calm Lauren. You would have thought she was calling to tell me that she was stopping for gas. She didn't even mention until the ride home that there was smoke in the other car and a bloody passenger whom she helped out of the car. I was like "huh? was there an ambulance?" She replied "I think so. Somebody took her off. I couldn't see behind the fire truck." "Firetruck?!?" I said. "Yeah. I think there were 2 cops, a fire engine and an ambulance. something like that," she answered. To her, that all boiled down to "nobody's hurt," I guess, when I asked for details. Sometimes, we want her to get a little more motivated and feel some heat, but her "calm under pressure" sure was reassuring yesterday. It took me (and Nick) forever to get to the accident. They caused quite a traffic jam. By the time I got there, she had already filed a claim with the insurance and a tow truck was on the way. In fact, she has done a pretty good job of handling things with just a little bit of guidance and follow-up from me. The other driver was issued a ticket, so it is officially not her fault (shewwww).

She did do one funny knucklehead thing though: she locked her keys in the car. The police officer, tow truck driver, her brother and I had a pretty good time joking and laughing at her about that one. But, they figured it out and got the car out of there. She has already secured a rental car, which she is pretty happy about.

She seems to be doing pretty good. She has some aches and nasty looking bruising from the seat belt (which she now really understands the importance of wearing). It's funny how all that sets in the next day even though you feel fine right afterwards.