Weddingbee Blog

I was once in a gang fight.

OK, that’s a lie. But that’s what I tell people when they notice the small scar above my right eyebrow. It sounds a bit more interesting than saying it was just a car accident. But after I confess my lie, I take their finger and brush it over another little souvenir I got from the ordeal – a small piece of glass lodged underneath my skin on my right temple.

Several years ago, more like about 8 years ago, I got into a car accident. I was in the passenger seat and the accident occurred when the car I was in made a left turn. So naturally, the other car coming in the other direction ended up hitting me directly. I don’t really remember the accident at all. I remember briefly waking up to smoke, then passing out again. I came to briefly in the ambulance as someone told me that I had just gotten into an accident, then the next thing I remember is being in the hospital.

I’ve told this story to a lot of people, so it’s not much of a secret, but one thing I haven’t told many is that I recognized the doctor that was working on me. I woke up to multiple people using scissors to cut off my clothes (which they later gave back to me in scraps in a plastic bag).

But one of them was a regular at the restaurant where I worked part time! I knew him pretty well and I knew he was a doctor, but what are the chances he’d be there in that emergency room, cutting my clothes off with a pair of scissors?! I was so mortified that I didn’t even realize the pain I was in. I even thought I was dreaming because everything was just so crazy. But he was nice enough to stick around and chat with me and even visited me during my stay in the hospital – and luckily never mentioned that he saw me in the buff.

I was in the hospital for about three days. Luckily my injuries weren’t that serious – just stitches in my ear, a broken fibula (which is a non-bearing bone in my leg) a concussion, and lots and lots of bruises. But what I felt was the worst part of the accident was what had happened to my face. The window had shattered on my face when the accident occurred so there was what looked to be dozens of cuts. Glass would come off my face for weeks whenever I brushed my hand across my cheeks. I know I was lucky to be alive, but I feared bad scarring and was pretty depressed for a while. But now, I’m very grateful that the only proof that I was ever in an accident is the scar above my right eyebrow, a tiny scar below my left eye, and the little glass on my right temple.

Why do I still have glass in my head? At the time, the doctor sympathized with how banged up my face was. He told me that I had the choice to remove it and risk another scar, or to leave it there. It shouldn’t really bother me though, he said. And if it does in the future, I will always have the option to remove it then. I decided to keep the glass. Sometimes it bothers me, but for the most part, I forget the glass is even there. It’s really tiny, so the bump isn’t visible, but you can feel it if you brush your finger against it. Over the years I’ve come to realize that it’s a great conversation starter as well, so I don’t mind it really. So my secret is this: if you see me with my fingers on my temple, it’s not because I have a headache. I’m actually just playing around with the piece of glass that is lodged in my head. Ask me. Maybe I’ll let you touch it! LOL.