They say life never goes as planned and boy has my life been proof of that lately. My miracle baby was a completely unexpected but very much wanted surprise and it threw a wrench into my plans.
I had planned to get a full time teaching job as soon as possible and establish my career. This would give me a chance to pay off some debts and grow some savings before undergoing IVF (which we thought we needed).
Then comes my wonderful baby surprise! Okay, I’ll substitute teach as close to full time as possible from January-March. If I get in 300 hours I qualify for a year paid mat leave (I had 300 from my summer job).
Then I find out that the paperwork from the university take a couple weeks meaning I won’t be certified to substitute teach until late January/early February. So now there is almost no chance of fitting in those hours. Okay fine. I’ll go back to substitute teaching in September and find child care for my five month old.
And then this happened……..
On my way to work one dark morning, a buck darted in from of me and destroyed my car! First off, having air bags go off is the scariest thing ever! You can’t see ahead of you, in my case I swerved into the opposite lane and had to quickly get in the ditch because I didn’t know if a car was coming or not. While heading into the ditch, I had to be careful not to go too far into the ditch because there are electrical poles along that I did not want to hit.
As soon as I came to a stop, I ran out of the car and lost my mind. I was shaking so hard and in complete disbelief That was the scariest accident I’ve ever been in. Luckily, a lot of people stopped to help me, including my brother in law Brad. So I waited with him until Ryan could make it out.
We went to the ER to get everything checked out and make sure the baby was okay. I don’t think the airbags hit me or the seatbelt squished me, but when you’re in the middle of a situation like that you don’t remember.
Everything was fine, I was okay, the baby was okay. Now I had to get my car to be okay. I dealt with insurance, tow trucks, the collision centre, and the rental car place.
The verdict? Ding dong my Jeep is gone! It is only three years old and it’s a write off!!
Even worse, because I bought brand new and drove it a lot, I owe more than it’s worth. I haven’t settled up with my insurance company yet but I’m looking at owing $5000-$7500 on a car I can’t drive.
Talk about nothing going as planned! Now here I sit, I need to start work as soon as possible but no car to get to work in. My darling grandma said I could drive her old car so that will get me by for a little while but I have no long term solution here and it’s driving me crazy!
I’m a planner! I plan and organize how things are going to go. And now here I am, with two months to work before baby is born, a career that doesn’t guarantee hours it’s really up to who’s sick and if am I the one they call, and driving an old and unreliable car on a long commute on bad winter roads. All while going through the lovely joys of being pregnant and trying to get all the baby things we need.
I’m trying to follow my brother’s good advice from last summer “Freaking out won’t change the situation so why do it?” I had my meltdown and now I have to just sit back and hope things work out with no plan of action on how to make it so.
So here’s a toast to you life! You sure got me good. Now will you be nicer?
I’m so sorry for your accident. I hit a deer today too on the hiway at 108 km/hr with a niece in the car but everything went as good as can be expected in my case so far. We’re all fine, no airbags and it was a gentle controlled stop rather than a worst case senecio. But it was a big deer and there is lot of damage! I spent a lot of time worrying about this for the 18 years of my driving career but it really is all fine when it happened (I’m a worrier). I’m okay, your okay, my niece is okay and your baby is okay! One little change in either case and we both might not be able to say that! A lady in front of my brother in law hit a buck years ago and it flew through his windshield imp-ailing him in the neck with it’s antlers. He spent two months in the hospital after that as a young dad. Another time my fiancé’s friend hit a deer and well that’s free meat to a Canadian so he loaded it in the trunk. Turns out the deer was just stunned and he had to shoot through the trunk of his own car! There’s never a great time to hit a deer and we’re both Canadian so deers happen. Financial stuff will work it’s self out in the end, it usually does or you’ll recover from it eventually. Other things could have happened to either of us that would be so much harder to recover from. I’m 6 months into my new to me car, why couldn’t it have just been my old one worth less than $1000? Also maybe the neighbour I sold it to will sell it back to me?
I’ve been told by my insurance company that it’s not my fault legally if I hit and animal and my rates won’t go up, I’m in Nova Scotia so it might be different for you. But think of it this way had you hit someone else and it was your fault you would have paid that $5000 to them anyway over the next 7 years in premiums. Ask your insurance company and your lender if you have gap insurance which is just for the loan/value situation you described. It’s pretty common that your lender has it to protect them in this case, they might get the pay out and you’re off the hook. Maybe they can put that amount onto a line of credit or something now that your nearly graduated or extend your student loans since you’re not over the line? You’re not the only person who has been in this situation so perhaps there’s a solution you don’t know about yet. I’m a planner too and this was not in my plan either!
I don’t know if that’s helpful at all but at least know you’re not alone this week in this. Or at least have a laugh that the first thing I saw when I got out today was deer poo splattered all along the now rippled side of my car, and I did get some on me! It went down hill from there. Also are people asking you about the welfare of your deer? Because I give zero ducks (with an f) about the welfare of my (and your deer) for right now, and I’m a vegetarian!
Sending positive energy your way!
Your deer friend
(too soon?)
Isn’t it the worst? Your brother in laws story is so scary! Animals are a real hazard when you live in a wild place like Canada. No one asked me about the deer but I live in a rural small town where everybody hunts. There were questions about how many points he had and whether he was a white tail or a muley but that’s it. Ha ha!