My day was going beautifully between the hours of 8am and 3pm. It was a gorgeous day here in South Florida; clear sky, sunny, slight breeze, and with temperatures hovering around 85F (29C) all day. After my morning chores, which included washing and vacuuming my car, doing laundry, and making a couple of phone calls, my friend Rachael (who is also in AA) and I decided that it would be a good idea to go to Bathtub Beach and snorkel for a while.
Which it was 
The water was very calm, warm, and clear - visibility was about 20ft, which isnāt great, but pretty good for Stuart, Florida. We had a very peaceful 2 hour dive in 2-14 feet of water as we collected shells and rocks, chased a school of cuddlefish, followed a number of other species of fish all over the reefs, picked up a few sea urchins, and just floated along, appreciative all the while of the fact that we live in paradiseā¦
As we were leaving the beach (to go back to Rachaelās house to hang out around the pool and play billiards for a while before her orthodontist appointment), and crossing the Stuart causeway, I got in a car accident.
My first one involving another moving vehicle :o
Rachael had just gotten her braces taken off and, while looking in her mirror, remarked at how straight and clean they were. I turned my head for 5 seconds to look her way, and in those few seconds a car (another younger girl, who, judging by her tattoos and nice body was around my age) moved from the lane on my right to the left-turn lane on my left, braking abruptly. I noticed this and had time only to slam on my brakes and make a hard left turn to avoid hitting her dead-on.
Nobody was hurt and the other girlās car was fine (scratched rear bumper - one piece of plastic to replace), but my passenger-side headlight was totally busted, my hood is bent up in the middle, and my radiator is cracked :(ā¦Needless to say, I was leaking various fluids. I had just changed the oil & oil filter yesterday, washed and vacuumed it today, and, after I dropped off Rachael, was planning on going to get new air and gas filters, and spark plugs.
And on top of that, I found out that Iām not getting paid the ~$800 that I worked ~80 hours for. Apparently, according to Staff Solutionās policies, you must complete the two weeks of training, the two weeks of job-shadowing, and then finish a job on your own before you get paid. So you have to work for a month before you get paid a centā¦which sucks, because I had to quit that job because of the way the hours interfered with my AA meetings & recovery socialization.
So I wasted 80 hours, many gallons of gasoline, and a good deal of money that could have been spent on a number of things other than gas and fast-food lunches.
And Iām considered āat-faultā for this accident because I was the rear-ender (as opposed to the rear-endee).
So I donāt have a car for ~2 weeks, and I donāt have any money. I was really relying on this check to pay my halfway house rent for the past 3 weeks 
ā¦
Contrary to what the title says, this was not a ābad day.ā In fact, I had an excellent day. Ever since Iāve been involved in AA and doing the next right thing, everything in my life has been going great. I was amazed that I didnāt get mad over this!
As I was thinking about my reaction to todayās events, wondering why I wasnāt mad or angry about any of this, I realized, āWhat? Do I want to be angry?ā The answer came immediately, āNo.ā
ā¦
Many people would consider this a ābad day,ā but really it was a just big learning experience on both mine and Rachaelās part. Things could have been much, much worse. I now know what to do if someone gets into an accident, and, thanks to the serenity prayer (āSOTEOTU/God, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.ā) I didnāt overreact or get mad at all.
But for those of you who did have a ābad dayā and have not had the chance to let the steam out, this would be a good place to vent. 
