Look both ways.

I just walked full stride, face first into a mini van making a slow left turn in my neighborhood. It didn't hit me, I walked into it, and hard enough to make the driver stop and roll down his window to ask me if I was ok. It was at the corner of King St and Tradd St, and as I left the curb with van to my right, I looked to my left at a group of people reading a sign giving the historical significance of the house it was nailed to. One of the ladies then enthusiastically pointed to a word on the plaque and I continued to cross the street, still fixed on where she was pointing. Then, all of a sudden, my face became intimately acquainted with the driver-side back window. My hands filled with phone and keys brought the meeting to fruition with a loud metal to metal "tink" and the deep thud accompanied with the momentum of my entire bodyweight slamming into the back door.

What made it worse was the driver immediately stopped and rolled down not only his window, but the passenger side window as well to ask me if I was ok. I was hoping the older couple from New Hampshire in their mid to late 2000's Dodge Grand Caravan wouldn't notice getting t-boned by a mid 80's white male, but that would have been a hit and run, and those are illegal. As I tried to play it off as a pick and roll to the other side of the vehicle, I went up to the now completely rolled down passenger side window filled with two, very concerned senior citizens to give them an embarrassed smile and a thumbs up. I explained to them that I just wasn't looking where I was going and was sorry for ruining their experience at the intersection of King and Tradd. They laughed, probably at my face and its likeness to a beet and as I walked away, I gave a laughter-filled "Welcome to Charleston."

Other than a red wrist, the only other injury sustained was to my pride. Say what you will about a mini van, they win in the battle of Nate vs Dodge.

Remember what mom said on this Mother's Day and look both ways before you cross the street.