Ouch!

What was that?! I thought. I wasn't sure if the world was ending and I was being raptured, just a little bit late, or what was going on. Last night, just as I was turning left into a driveway from off of a state highway(read 55 miles per hour) the driver of a pickup truck decided to pass me on the left. The truck hit my left front quarter and ripped the front bumper nearly completely off my car.

The end results are that our work car-the one I use for performing both of my jobs, and that Shannon drives to work, has been totaled. The pickup had a flat tire. No one was seriously injured although I have a doctor's appointment set up for tomorrow to check on some pain between my shoulders and in my left shoulder/arm/elbow/hand. Probably all caused by my body slamming into the drivers door at impact.

I was able, with help, to wire the bumper back onto the car and limp it home. I was 50 miles from home at the time. Shannon was able to make it daytime street legal until we can find a replacement so I can do the mail route this week. We are very disappointed in the loss of the car. It is an 89 Buick with a lot of rust but it has a strong engine and tranny and is perfect for the mail route. We bought the car about 5 years ago for $850 and have spent little on repairs. It has 276,000+ miles on it. Yes, you read that right! We were hoping for 300,000 at least. We figure it doesn't owe us anything. In fact, it almost deserves a memorial service!

Our intentions are to replace it with another just like it-either a Buick Century or Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra-with the same engine and body style. Then we will keep the old one as a parts car. Being married to a trained mechanic has its advantages. Although he doesn't use his mechanics education for his career, he certainly uses it on our cars. Shannon is going to look at a diferent car this evening in fact. We hope it is the one.

Praise God with us for no injuries. If I had been 1-2 seconds further into my turn it could have been so much worse.