Bad news that could have been SO much worse

I've received some bad phone calls in my life. I mean really bad phone calls. The one that took the cake was the one where Mom answered the phone, and we'd found out my older brother had died. That sucked. Then there was the one I received a few years ago at work during which Chase told me someone had shot at him - a shotgun was actually fired at him. (Thank goodness God had prompted Chase to pop the shell out of the shotgun earlier in the day...) That one wasn't much fun at all either.

Last Monday when I received two calls from Chase where he didn't seem to be there, I wasn't all that worried - I figured it was a classic butt-dial. On the third call (which I almost didn't answer), Chase was on the other end, and he sounded slightly shaken. He told me that he'd wrecked the car. I asked if he was ok and he said he was perfectly fine, but the car was likely totaled. He also explained that he was the 3rd in a 3 car pileup, and had been going about 40 when the accident happened. Everyone was ok, and a cop was on the way. He seemed to have things under control, so I hung up and turned to my boss and coworker who were in the room.

I looked down at what we were working on and continued with the task. They both looked at me. My boss asked if I was ok. I said yes. He asked if I needed more time to process or anything. I said I was fine. It was odd really. Probably had I seen the damage, I would have been more worried, but the damage was done and my husband was safe, protected by his guardian angels from just one of a million things in a day that could kill him. At that moment I was just so thankful it wasn't as bad as other calls I'd received, I was ready to move on. We'd deal with the car problem later. Looking back, it probably would have been more frustrating if Chase had lost his phone - that would have made me more worried because it would have cut off communication with him. Anyway, it was about an hour later when Chase texted me a picture of the damage:



Not pretty, and not really what I wanted to see, but I was just so glad he was safe. It was kind of a long wait from 3 or so when it happened until both he and I got home that night at 6:30. Thankfully Pat, one of Chase's coworkers picked Chase up and brought him home safely to me.

Then started the debate about what kind of a replacement car we would get. We had a 2005 Hyundai Sonata that we both thought we'd have for a number of years to come - obviously not anymore. But our bank account isn't exactly bulging, and even if it were, we have other plans for money we save up. So we had to find the balance between beater and beemer... at least we tried to.

Between the two of us, Chase and I probably spent more than 25 hours last week online looking at cars on every website we could think of. Craigslist, Cars.com, Vehix.com, Kelley Blue Book, NADA, local used car lot websites, Ebay, you name it, we visited it. I think we were both struck by how difficult it was to find what we were after. I mean seriously, how many used, cost-effective, under 100,000 mile, automatic transmission, sedans must there be in the DC area for sale? I don't know. But I do know that to find ones we were interested in, within our price range was EXTREMELY difficult. We've always been spoiled before with my dad and Chase's dad and Chase's brother who have found the cars we wanted (and checked them out to make sure they weren't lemons) without us having to shop for them really.

Friday night we walked through a number of car lots around where we live and found nothing worth going back the next day to test drive. Saturday we extended our search to to car lots in neighboring towns that had cars in our price range. It was so difficult and stressful! One car we liked was previously a smoker's car (a deal-breaker for me), another had some body damage that we didn't like, another was just a smidge out of our price range... We eventually found what we wanted toward the end of the day. It's actually a type of car Chase has wanted for over 3 years now...

Yep. It's a 1999 BMW. I really feel like God saved this car for us. It had just come on the lot, and someone had nearly bought it the night before. It was the only thing like it we'd seen all day. While we were filling out the paperwork, someone else came in and asked if it was sold. We could afford it. It's nice to drive. The interior is really well cared for, and it's a car I think Chase will drive for a number of years because it's what he really wanted. (You can see in the picture how happy he is!)

One of my friends pointed out that Chase has really had a very good fall - we moved closer to his work (and mine too); he got a new, huge TV (that I enjoy too); and he now has a beemer (that I will drive too). Life is never what we expect - which is difficult for a planner like me - but somehow we adjust, and good or bad, always make it through. It's almost like there's Someone Up There, a Big Guy in the Sky, who's got our back, who's watching out for us, and who's sent his guardian angels to protect me and my better half.

Thanks God, for taking the car. It's replaceable. Husbands aren't so much.