My Poor Little Pumpkin

Well, one reason why I've been away for a couple weeks is that I got into a car accident over break. Nothing too crazy, I was rear-ended while STOPPED at a STOPLIGHT in my bright ORANGE car, but it has caused me one hell of a headache. 

1) My poor little orange pumpkin-mobile, my beautiful 2020 Subaru Crosstrek that was MY FIRST BRAND NEW CAR, is smooshed. It is in the collision shop and they estimated at least 2 months of repair time. Apparently she hit me so hard that my back frame rails are crushed and my rear doors are buckled because the floor got pushed forward which made a mess of everything. I have a horrible feeling it's going to be a ton but not totaled, because the car is (was?) actually worth something, but I am so pissed that the value of my car is going to be impacted. (On the other hand, if it got totaled the car market is a mess due to supply chain issues, so who knows what's the better choice? And they don't make it in Sunshine Orange anymore. Grrrr) They aren't done with the estimate and the inspection and it's already up to over $13,000. The pictures don't look so terribly bad but the mechanics keep telling me "do you realize how hard you were hit?" and the damage you can't see is unbelievable. Smoosh, smoosh, smoosh little pumpkin. :(

2) I am so lucky I didn't see her coming, because I was looking ahead at the STOPLIGHT like a normal human, but even so when she hit me it hurt my left arm. You know, the one with the partially torn rotator cuff from my fall over the cat and into my desk edge in November? The one that I've been doing physical therapy for and have made such amazing progress that my PT was going to release me? WELL GUESS WHAT. Now my range of motion is back to where it was in December and it hurt to the point that sleeping is difficult. The good news is my PT had just done a progress assessment days before the accident, so there's a record of where I was vs. where I am now. It is getting a little better every day, but my elbow is involved now and it's just so, so frustrating.

I am lucky I wasn't more seriously hurt. I am lucky that Bryce could drive me into work when it took a WEEK to get a rental car. I am lucky that I have no one to drive around to school or sports or activities, just myself. I am lucky that I can afford to pay for my rental car since apparently Allstate (her insurance) now has a policy that claimant's rentals are reimbursement-only. What do people do who do not have support of a partner or the money to pay for the rental? It's going to be hundreds of dollars, possibly more than a thousand (and they only cover 30 days, which I will be fighting since the damage means 2 months in the shop). 

It is so frustrating to be so inconvenienced, stressed, and hurt because someone simply wasn't paying attention. The kicker? She was a physical therapist. In a Chevy Malibu. You know what the first rental car they gave me was? A CHEVY MALIBU. But it looked like perhaps someone was murdered in it or peed in the backseat and the Oh Shit Handle on the driver's side was literally ripped out and every time I turned left there was a hideous grinding sound that was definitely not safe-sounding, so I got to trade it for a Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, which is much better and closer to my Crosstrek (but boring black and not zippy orange). 

Sigh. 

The worse side. The wheel well is touching my tire. 

My trailer hitch that Bryce got me for my birthday was pushed all the way under the car.

Hahaha this picture was fun to show my students. The police officer was lovely and gave me a ride to a Starbucks so I could wait somewhere with chairs while Bryce came to pick me up.

Bye bye little pumpkin!