Last Sunday, I was driving along a darkened highway with my family on our way back home. The weekend had been absolutely fantastic and I was babbling away about how I wished life could always be this way. I glanced away from the road for a split second and when I looked back, a semi was drifting into our lane.
I swerved to avoid him and my car careened into a ditch, landing nose first in a ravine. “Get The Princess and get out of the car,” I ordered shakily as I struggled to take in the situation. Almost-Husband obliged while I grabbed my nearly-dead cell phone and climbed out via the passenger side door.
Thankfully, none of us sustained any injuries. The truck hadn’t stopped. There was no one around. We called Almost-Husband’s parents straight-away, let them know our phone was only at 4% battery and waited for help to arrive.
It was midnight before we got home. As soon as we were in the door, the three of us snuggled up on the couch in complete silence. The sound of the rain outside was soothing and I imagined it washing away all the negativity. I focused on the positives. No one was hurt. We had good insurance. Somehow this would work out for the best.
All three of us fell asleep like this. When I awoke, I heard a dripping sound as well as a very distinctive popping. I went in search of the leak and found no water. As I walked under one of the light fixtures, the popping got louder and was joined by a faint buzz.
I woke Almost-Husband up immediately and he went to investigate. He asked me to switch off the lights. I did, and the buzzing stopped. The buzzing resumed when we flipped it on and we exchanged a look of dread and disbelief. We turned the lights back off and he removed the bulb. It was soaking wet.
A car crash and a fire hazard in one night. Fan-freaking-tastic.
For the past several days this has been weighing on me. As I may have mentioned before, things are a little tight around here. We were already convinced to move out of the apartment due to these sorts of issues (which always seem to go unaddressed) and now we had to worry about the car. On top of 2 short checks due to Almost-Husband taking time off for a funeral.
Still, I tried to focus on the positive. I just knew that all of this had happened for a reason. Something good had to come out of all this.
Finally, I heard back from the insurance company. They determined that the car was a total loss, which we kind of saw coming. As I listened to the lady explain how they arrived at their figures, my heart skipped a beat. They had valued the car at more than we had paid. Not only would our loan be paid off, but we would be receiving a rather sizable check.
Combined with some other money saving measures we had put in place (such as cutting cable), we are finally back on (somewhat) even ground! If we can find a slightly cheaper car, things should be smooth sailing. We’ll still be far from steak and caviar, but we’ll finally be able to breath. We can continue our hunt for a new home and take the next step forward.
I cannot tell you how much lighter I feel. As my dad told me the other day, “Good stuff happens all the time, bad stuff just happens every once in a while. It’s what you do with it that matters.” I kept my eyes open for a silver lining, and I found it. We can use this as a stepping stone to a better life for our little family.
I can’t wait to see what’s around the bend. Our string of bad luck may finally be–scratch that–is coming to an end!