I came home to Ohio two weeks ago for a job interview that never happened. While here my car broke down and I ended up staying two extra days and then driving my Dad's car back to CT so I could move home easier. On Sunday this past week (Oct. 25) Neal and I packed up my Dad's car with almost all of my furniture so I could drive down to the cottage and meet my uncle so we could store my furniture there until further notice. Much cheaper than a storage unit. So I'm driving down there and can't remember what exit to take from I-95. I sent my Dad a text asking and he informed me that I'd passed it two exits ago. I exited the 95 with the intent of getting right back on... except that the exit I pulled off didn't have an on ramp for the opposite direction. Instead I kept driving and found myself on a main drag. The longer I drove on it the more I recognized and realized that I could find my way from there if only I could turn around, since I was going the wrong way. I pulled into a gas station and made to turn around on this exceptionally busy street. A very nice silver car stopped to let me out to make a left turn across a four lane road and as I pulled out while looking the other direction a black Mazda came out of nowhere and slammed right into me.
Voila. My first car crash.
While in CT, while my car is broken, while driving my father's 13 yr old still in very good working order SUV Ford Explorer, just one week until I originally intended to move back to Ohio. Using my father's car. As I thought all of this (along with "dang it. Now what?") and called my Dad and my uncle to explain what happened I very unsuccessfully controlled my hysterics and refused to go to the hospital to be checked because 1. I don't really have medical insurance anymore and 2. I hate hospitals and 3. I wanted to stay with the car, to wait for my aunt and uncle, and to find out what was going to happen now. The car was completely totaled, wouldn't even turn on. I was very shaken and my head began aching very quickly due to whiplash but I knew it wasn't worse than that. No blood, nothing broken. Just very, very sore muscles. Still. Four days later.
This fiasco posed a problem. How on earth was I to get home before Nov. 1st? And I'm sure my dad was thinking the exact same thing. I wasn't about to let Neal drive me, he needed to work. I couldn't fly, I had an apartment full of stuff. My dad was busy and really not available to come up. Thankfully, via Facebook, my brother in-law solved the problem by telling me he had Thurs. and Fri. off this week and he'd come get me in his wagon if I needed him to. I told my dad, who then called my brother, why rented a utility van from Enterprise Rent-A-Car and drove the 10 hr stretch in the pouring rain to pick up me and ALL my stuff. This meant driving down to the cottage in the dark and pushing the SUV out far enough from the trees to get into the back so we could remove everything from the car that was either my dad's or mine. Once this was accomplished Derrick, using a flat head screwdriver and a hammer, removed the Ford symbol from the grill and gave it to me as a souvenir of my first car accident ever.
Now I'm home at my parent's house in Ohio. The major job hunt begins tomorrow, even if it's only for a part-time job at Kohl's, and I have a million phone calls to make to remove further charge from CL&P, Comcast, FreeCreditReport.com, and to switch my car insurance from CT to OH. Moving is stressful. And moving back into my parent's house makes me feel just a little bit like a loser, like I've thrown away a beautiful opportunity. And maybe I did. But even financial stability isn't enough to make a person happy and if you're not happy what's the point? So now I'm just moving on to my next big adventure, beginning again where I began the last time: jobless, boyfriendless (yes, friends, Neal and I broke up. We're still on very good terms but we're nothing beyond that now) and wide open to any opportunity that presents itself. I could complain that moving is stressful, which it is. I could whine about making phone calls, because I hate doing it. But without this kind of adventure, this kind of stress (the kind that wakes you up in the middle of the night terrified you forgot something and you're about to puke because of it) life would be extremely boring indeed.
I'll miss my apartment. I'll miss my friends. But life continues, no matter what we do, and I look forward to the challenge.
