An open letter to the driver who hit me and ran.

Dear Driver,

   I know you don't know me. I'm sure we've never met.
But our worlds collided Saturday night.

I was almost home. I was exiting the highway ready to be home.
I was looking forward to watching Once Upon A Time with my husband before going to bed.
I had planned to stop at the grocery store to surprise him with ice cream.
It was going to be a quiet relaxing time spent with my husband.
And I was looking forward to that.

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But you changed all of that.
As I exited the highway, you were entering the highway going the wrong way.
Were you drunk?
Were you distracted?
How did you not notice the "WRONG WAY" signs as you continued down the off ramp instead of the on ramp?

Did you not hear my horn blaring at you?
Was your music too loud?
I tried to stop. I tried to get out of the way.
But you never even tried to slow down.
Why didn't you break?

And when the cars hit...why didn't you stop?
Why didn't you check to be certain that I was ok?
I know the impact wasn't really that bad but
you still should have done the right thing and stopped.
Listen, I don't even care about the mirror that you ripped off.
I don't care about the fact that now I have to pay for your stupidity.

Here is what I want you to know that without this post you have no way of knowing.
I'm not just the other driver that was almost in a head-on car accident with you.
The impact of us crashing could have impacted more than just yours and my lives.

I am a mother.
My two sons were home in their beds asleep.
They are 2 years old and 4 years old.
You could have left them without a mother.

I am pregnant.
As I saw your headlights coming towards me the only thing I could think about was that we were going to be in a head-on car crash and I could do nothing to protect my unborn daughter. I am 30 weeks pregnant. You could have killed my daughter and left me grieving the loss of a second child in less than a year.

And even though we avoided a serious car crash, you should have stopped.
The stress of the accident could have put me into preterm labor.
Had the seat belt tightened around my stomach I would have been admitted to the hospital for a minimum of 4 hours to monitor my daughter for trauma.

While you drove off and continued on doing whatever it was you did,
I sat there where the accident happened.
We crashed at 10:30pm and by the time the EMTs finished checking me out on the scene and the police finished getting all of the information they needed, and I was finally relaxed enough to go home it was 11:30pm.
I didn't go get ice cream from the store for my husband.
I didn't get to spend the relaxing evening with him that I had planned.
Instead I spent the night with back and pelvic pain from tensing up so much, from breaking so hard, and having loose joints with being pregnant. I only got a few hours of sleep.

So I hope you feel good about yourself.
Glad you got away with not having to pay for the small damages you ended up causing.
But I sure as hell hope that next time you get behind the wheel you think of me, my husband, my sons, and my unborn daughter.
I hope you think about the lives you could have changed forever.
I hope you plan ahead better next time and have a designated driver or call a taxi.
I hope you put down the cell and pay attention to the road.
Because next time you might not get so lucky.
Next time the other driver might not be able to avoid you.
Next time you could end a life and have to live with yourself and the consequences.

Sincerely,
The lives in the other vehicle.