Swapping paint

Aside from the occasional parallel parking nudge, my car had never touched another car while I've been behind the wheel. I've been justifiably proud of that fact, especially after spending two accident-free years in California. However, the freeway gods thought I was doing a little too well for myself in the highway karma area, so they sent a Toyota SUV careening into my driver's-side door on Friday.

The driver didn't notice the line of cars ahead of him had come to an abrupt stop, and in order to avoid plowing into the back of the car ahead of him, he swerved across the lane directly to his right. Unfortunately for me, I was the sole occupant of that lane.

All three of us (he ended up hitting the car in front of him despite his maneuver) pulled over into the median and exchanged information. Everyone was OK, and all our cars were still drivable. But now my car has a sizeable dent across the driver's side, and generally looks like caca.

I guess it had to happen eventually.