Totaled.

So I was involved in my first "serious" car accident on Monday. The kids, my mom, and I were coming home after Ethan's swimming lesson, and as I was turning left into our new driveway, BAM, out of nowhere the left rear of my van was smashed into, then the car bounced off the left rear of the van and smashed into my left front. In a word: totaled. My head hit the passenger window, and I got a nice seatbelt burn across my neck, but other than that, everyone was fine. The girl driving the other car was driving on a suspended license, OF COURSE. There was a car in between me and her, and she couldn't see my blinker and just thought I was going really slow, so she decided to speed up and pass me just as I was turning. I know she broke the rear axle, and I'm pretty sure she broke the front as well. She broke the front axle of her car and smashed it up pretty good, and then the state trooper impounded it for her driving on a suspended license. My car had to be towed because it was undrivable and it has been in the wrecker's yard, accumulating storage fees, since Monday. The next interesting tidbit of the story, other than the fact that the girl driving was doing so on a supsended license, is that she was driving her mother's car, so now her mother's insurance company is trying to decide whether or not they are going to pay the claim. They were supposed to let me know for sure by today, and of course, it's 5:30 and I haven't heard a word. So I guess it will sit in the wrecker yard over the weekend, accumulating more fees which we will probably wind up being reponsible for.

When I told the 911 dispatcher that I was pregnant, she ordered an ambulance out to check me out, and thankfully I have uninsured motorist protection on my liability insurance policy on our van, so that will cover any medical bills up to $1000. But unless this girl's mom's insurance pays up, which I'm not thinking is likely, I'm responsible for the tow and wrecker storage fees, and we just have to eat the loss of the van. It makes me sick to my stomach. I have the rest of the weekend now I guess to pray that they will make good and pay us at least a little something and cover the tow and wrecker fee, but I just don't know if I'm that optimistic. I'm thankful everyone was okay, and I know a car can be replaced, but it takes money that we don't want to spend to replace it right now. But I guess we'll have too, at least by January when baby #3 arrives. There is NO WAY three car seats will fit in the back seat of that Jetta. The Jetta is paid off in two more payments, and we were so looking forward to not having a car payment. Oh well, we'll just wait and see what happens. I'm trying not to stress and worry about it, as that generally does not do any good.

The girl called me yesterday and gave me this long sob story about how she just moved up here to Wetumpka to move in with, get this, her mother's ex-boyfriend, so she could "get up on her feet." She said now she "ain't go not car, ain't got no job and no way to get to a job, and even if she had a job, she ain't go no one to watch her baby." I told her I was sorry for all that, but if the insurance didn't pay the claim, that she needed to make it right herself and pay us some for the van. We didn't pay much for the van, and we wouldn't ask her for even what we paid for it as we have gotten some use out of it ourselves over the last six months, but somebody is going to pay us something. I told her my husband is an attorney (she doesn't have to know he isn't licensed yet) and that we didn't want it to turn into a legal battle, but somebody was going to have to pay us something. David seems to think we'll have better luck taking the insurance company to small claims court over taking the girl, and I agree. It sounds like the girl is pretty much at rock bottom, and I really hate that for her, but I believe people need to be held accountable to the consequences of their actions. She was driving around like a maniac on a suspended license, which is so dumb to me. If I was driving on a suspended license, I would be the most careful grandma driver ever. This girl was just asking for it. So....we'll see what the beginning of next week brings...We took pictures of the wreck on my mom's camera, which has mysteriously gone M.I.A, but if we ever find it, I will post pictures of the carnage. I already miss my van. It's tough stuffing ourselves into the tiny Jetta again when we were used to so much space.

Like sand through the hour glass....these are the days of our lives. Sigh.