I know I’ve been
neglecting you, Followers. And that is never my intent. As many of you know, or
can tell from reading this blog, our lives are rarely short on action. There is
always something going on, something moving (literally and figuratively), or
something changing. It is this constant flurry of action that often tears me
away from being able to post for sometimes weeks at a time. Naturally, that
just snowballs as more things happen the longer I wait to catch y’all up. Let’s
see if I can recount the happenings…
Back in November
of 2012, I bought my dream car from a neighborhood friend. A platinum-gray 2008
BMW 535i with the Sport and Performance package, twin-turbo 300-horsepower
engine, murder-tint on the windows… you get the idea. Alli used to say, “Daddy,
you have a race car!” I promise I didn’t speed with the kids in the car, but
she thought it looked like a race
car. Well, on May 29th, 2014, that dream came to an end. As I was
sitting at a red light on my way home from work, about to turn into our new
neighborhood, a gentleman in a Chevy Silverado 2500 must have been too
preoccupied with his phone (or something) and barreled into me. He hit me so
hard that it pushed my car halfway into the turn lane, jarred the sunroof shade
completely back into the roof cavity, and sent my work badge flying from its home in
the center console all the way into the back seat. The rear bumper and left
tail light were obliterated, the trunk lid was folded in half, and the rear
windshield completely dislodged and shattered – glass was everywhere. By the
grace of all that is holy, I was not injured by this idiot’s negligence. And
more importantly, the kids were not
in the car. I don’t even want to think about the emotional scarring it could
have caused much less any physical injuries caused by being in the back seat so
close to the impact.
I knew the
moment I got out of the car and looked at the damage that the car was totaled.
Well, the gentleman’s insurance company didn’t think so (at first). I can’t
even begin to tell you the number of phone calls and haggling I’ve had to do to
get this situation handled. It started off with the claims representative who
got my claim taking a week’s vacation right
after it got filed – without telling anyone (like, say, me) and without delegating his workload to anyone at the office. When
he finally got back and around to returning my numerous voicemails, we
had a situation of getting the car released from the tow yard where it had been
taken the day of the accident and over to the body shop. Countless back and
forth, dealing with shady tow truck drivers, idiot appraisers and everyone’s
favorite, the DMV, have made the last month a total nightmare to deal with. On
the up side, I’ve been driving a rental car for free ever since the day after
the wreck (and still am to this day).
We finally got
the situation down to a matter of finances after the body shop found more
damage that wasn’t in the original estimates that put the cost of repairs above
the 75% threshold to consider the car totaled. The insurance company offered me
$18,120.26 to buy the car out and call it a day, or $16,025.26 and I could keep
the car and do whatever I wanted with it. Well, a friend of Grandma C suggested
I contact some salvage yards and see what they would be willing to pay me for
the car in its current state. I found a buyer who was willing to pay me $5,200
for the car as-is. Well, for Johnny Thinwallet here, that’s a no-brainer. By
doing a little more legwork myself and hanging on to the car a little bit
longer, I could make myself another $3,105?
I’ll take what’s behind Door #2, Monty. (Sorry, Old Guy reference). So my poor
car now hides in shame in our garage, waiting for the salvage title to come
back so she can be taken away and sold at auction, likely to be stripped for
parts. Talk about a drag – walking past her every morning on my way out of the
house. I hate to quote a cheesy line from a Disney movie, but this seems to fit
quite nicely, “I guess that’s the good part about dreams… now you get to go
find a new one.”
So the hunt is
on for a new car. I had been eyeing a Honda Accord I found online, and even had
a dealership bring it here from Concord, North Carolina (just north of
Charlotte). I test drove it and loved it even more. That experience ended with
me walking out of the dealership after the sales manager refused to negotiate
with me on the price whatsoever. And they wonder where the saying “worse than a
used-car salesman” comes from? I’m offering you cash, dude, WTF? The saga continues…
To help alleviate some of the stress, Grandma C came to visit for a whole week. She went into full grandma-mode, which basically means I barely saw my kids the entire time she was here. While I can’t say I was bummed about the much-needed “break,” by the end of the week I felt like I had really missed out on spending time with them. But I certainly didn’t want to take away from Grandma C’s time with them, since she only gets to see them once every couple months or so. However, I don’t think Grandma C wanted to spend time with them the way that she did, where both of them were a bit under the weather and prolonged periods of, um… lower digestive issues. If you know what I mean and I think you do. To make matters worse, I was not immune to whatever had inflicted the kiddos, as I battled the stomach bug for a few days myself. Nothing like spending the 4th of July in the bathroom!
The day Grandma
C left, Grandpa Ron and Uncle Jacob arrived. They stayed with us for the
weekend of the 4th of July so they could see the kiddos as well. I
still wasn’t feeling fabulous, but the kids were finally starting to come
around to the healthy side. We decided to keep the kids up late and take
everyone out on Pops’ boat to see the fireworks in the Charleston harbor.
Around 8pm we loaded everyone on the boat and headed down the river, and
dropped anchor just in front of the aircraft carrier that they shoot them off
from. It was a heck of a sight, and the kids seemed to really enjoy the
experience. They even slept in the next morning until 9am! I can’t even
remember the last time I slept that
late, much less them sleeping until that hour.
So after almost a week and
a half of being spoiled, loved on,
bussed around, and playing hookie from school, the kids are getting back into
their normal routine. Everyone finally seems to be feeling better (myself
included), which of course makes Mommy B and I’s lives much more pleasant. It’s
a good thing too; we were starting to run low on sheets for everyone! We get a
few days reprieve playing host before Uncle Tom comes to town. He’ll only be
staying with us for a couple days, then staying in a rental on the beach (like
a real vacation?) for the rest of the week. He’s got it figured out – only
staying in the nut house for a couple days before running off to hide at the
beach. Man, when do Mommy B and I get to do that again?
No comments:
Post a Comment