Silver Linings
The important thing is that no one was hurt.
I tried to remind myself of that as I dealt with the aftermath of the car accident that happened two days ago. You know—the phone calls, the paperwork, the estimates, having to get into my car from the passenger side, the rental car…you name it.
But no one was hurt. Thank goodness.
And it could have been much worse.
The day started off cold and snowy. Twenty degrees with gusty winds (wind chill: 2º) and light snow blanketing the Cincinnati area. Our family was headed south to Louisville, a two hour drive, so we left an hour early, expecting delays due to the weather.
Little did we know we’d become one of those delays for other travelers.
Lucky for us, traffic was slow, inching along the highway due to a broken down tractor trailer. We driving slowly (about 10 mph) in the right lane, chatting about how brilliant we were to leave early, factoring in enough time to deal with the traffic when…crash!
The Range Rover in the middle lane never saw us as he changed lanes. Whether from a blind spot or negligence, who knows? We were okay. He was okay (and miraculously completely accepted fault). However, his car was barely damaged and my Camry was a wreck. It still ran, thank goodness, but the driver’s side door was smushed in, the mirror gone (leaving behind an attractive dangling mass of wires), chunks of glass gouged from the window. An hour after the accident, the door decided it was traumatized and refused to open.
Out of all this, though, a little of my faith in humanity has been restored. From insurance agents to body shops to rental car agents—everyone has gone above and beyond what I expected in customer service.
$2300 later, my car should be fixed in a couple of weeks. Until then, I’ve been upgraded to a 2007 Accord. Oh, and for those who follow the blog, the auto body shop is trying to track down face plates for my hubcaps, so it will be like getting new hubcaps for the low cost of face plates (which we’ll pay for, not the insurance company). Silver lining!
So, in the midst of the aggravation of having to deal with the accident’s aftermath, I’m tremendously grateful. And we still made it to Louisville in time. 
~heather