what did you do this morning?

Me? I hit a bicyclist.

I'm still completely in shock and numb. Fortunately he's going to be ok, as is his bike. And even less importantly, my Jeep is fine, just some scratches on the front bumper. But at this point, I don't know if I can trust myself behind the wheel. I have no idea how I ended up in this situation.

The morning started out great. I was motivated enough to get up early, and picked up Andrea from her place so we could go workout. My second day in a row. With it getting slow at work this week, I thought it would be good to get in some exercise to compensate for the treats I've been eating. Andrea and I had a good 40 minutes at the gym, got dressed and then I drove her to her office building, not too far from where I work.

I dropped her off, and as I was pulling out onto the street to turn right, I saw a break in the traffic and started to merge onto the road from the work complex. And then all I saw was the cyclist in front of my car, thrown to the ground.

"Oh my God. Oh my God."

I immediately got out, and fortunately there were construction crews nearby who saw it and came out to help assist and divert traffic as he lay in the road. I called 911 to report the accident and within minutes the emergency response vehicles were there. The officer asked for my license, registration and insurance and I handed it over.

I talked to the guy I'd hit apologizing profusely. Crying because I couldn't keep it in. Introduced myself, telling him that I was sorry that this was the circumstances under which I was meeting him. He seemed to be in decent spirits considering he'd just been thrown from his bike, his helmet laying next to him.

The officer was reassuring to me that this was clearly an honest accident. I was still trying to figure out how it happened. He was on his bicycle riding on the sidewalk against traffic. I had looked that direction initially, but was focused on turning right and was watching the oncoming traffic. Never in a million years would I have thought there would be a bicyclist coming from my right.

Fortunately he only suffered a cut on his knee which would require a couple of stitches and some pain in his shoulder. His wife works at a nearby hospital and so they loaded him and his bike up into the ambulance.

I had to sit there humiliated as cars drove passed my into the office complex. Completely and utterly distraught. The officer returned my documents and made sure I was ok to go on my way, and giving me a copy of the police report so I could call my insurance company.

So here I sit in my office, just over an hour later. I've called my insurance. I can't even imagine how this is going to impact my rates, or what my out-of-pocket costs will be for his hospital bills, bike repair, etc.

I called my sister. She had heard about the accident from some colleagues and thought for a second if I had gotten caught up in it. Not just caught up in it. I was it.

I called Rick at work. He was with a patient, but through the sobs I told him what happened. He's going to call me later today when he can.

So for now, I'll sit at my desk because I don't know what else to do. I guess I'll be taking my car into the repair place when I get back from Minnesota.