the basket that almost took my life and other tales of the weekend

This is a sad tale to tell. In fact, I'm getting a little choked up writing about it. Mostly because I lost a dear friend, my beautiful CR-V.

November 9th (Friday) it seriously rained and snowed all day long. Driving down the canyon to my classes that morning I seriously felt like I was in a hurricane! The wind was blowing so hard and the rain was falling so fast and hard that I couldn't see 3 feet in front of me. When I got to class, I was soaked from walking in the rain to my class. After my lab, I looked outside and it was snowing and kept snowing all day.

That night Josh and I went to Costco because we literally had no food since we just moved into our new house. (YAY! NEW HOUSE!) As we were packing up the car, a little old lady walked up to Josh and said, "Do you espeak espanish?" Josh, of course, said yes and then after finding out what she wanted, asked me if we could give her a ride. This made me think of the time I made my mom stop on the side of the road one day and pick up a rather large woman who I claimed was "Rosalinda" when in fact she was not. My mom thought I knew her so we gave her a ride and when I actually had no idea who she was mom was surprised she actually picked up a hitchhiker! haha ANYWAY, so this lady at Costco wanted us to take her to a bus stop which was on state street. No big deal. So we get on  State street and pass about 10 bus stops. She is just chatting away with Josh and I kept interrupting, "Is this the bus stop?" So finally she said it was on 800 North. When we got to 800N and State street, there is a bus stop so we of course stop. She yells, "NO NO izquierda!" So we turn left. Then we drive all the way to the freeway, down some dark roads, and I was beginning to get worried. She then asked us to stop in the middle of the street and let her out. So we did. We also gave her one of those mormon.org cards and Josh's phone number because she claimed her nephew could work for him.

On the way home it was dark and snowy. All that night it snowed. The next morning, Josh got up to do snow removal and I laid in bed. It was the perfect Saturday. Then I remembered I bought a Bountiful Basket and I had to pick it up at 9. I got up and just as I was walking down the stairs, Josh comes home, says, "Be careful its really icy". I get in the car and start to go. This whole year I have been dreading the snow coming because of where we were going to move aka on a mountain. There is a really steep curve that we have to drive down to get anywhere and I was scared of it to begin with. So, I get to the top of the hill, stop for a second, then proceed with caution. Or so I thought. The next thing I knew, I no longer had control of my car and I was sliding down the hill turning sideways. I had a split second to react and could have ran into a guy's yard/house or into a small (apparently huge) light pole and a street sign. I guess I chose the wrong thing because my beautiful CR-V is now totaled. Gone forever.

The guy who lived across from where I slid off the road came over to help out when Josh got there. He said, "Don't worry, at least 5 or 6 people do that a year and usually end up in my yard!" Through my tears I said, "Well, you're welcome." He said, "Oh, actually I built up my yard so that if someone does end up in it, there's nothing they can really do damage to and they can usually just drive out or get pulled out." Thank you kind sir for telling me that. It would have been helpful 10 minutes ago...  Josh picked me up and drove me home. I spent the day crying, literally I couldn't stop all day. I thought I was in shock, but Tuesday when I found out all the damage I'd done to my car and that I was never going to see it again, I started crying again. I really really loved that car!

I don't really remember that much about those 10 minutes, however, I do remember freaking out about something. I couldn't get out of the driver's side because there was snow jammed up against my door, so I climbed over to the passenger side. When I got there, there was a pink weird looking bag thing laying on the seat and against the door. I had no idea where it came from and wondered if the person who broke into my car and stole stuff two weeks ago left it behind. I kept trying to pull on it but it was stuck in the seat somehow. Finally I realized it was the air bag that came out from the side of the seat. haha So if you're wondering, my air bags were pink.

ok, back to the story, I was obviously crying away, Josh called the insurance people and took care of everything. He was originally told we didn't need to contact the police so we didn't. Then Monday, he called them because he was told he needed to. I was in class all day and got several calls from an unknown number. Josh text me and told me it was a sheriff and he needed to talk to me. So, I checked out google and sure enough, I could go to jail for fleeing the scene, not reporting the accident, ect. I once again, started crying. at school. Its been an emotional few days ok? I called the sheriff and luckily got off with a warning. phew!

Oh, and the basket I was on my way to get? We still got it, don't worry. Do I wish times a billion that I had just stayed home that day? Yes. Was trying to possibly save money buying our fruits and vegetables from a co-op worth it? No.

Good news is, I'm totally fine, and the accident actually cleared up some back pains I was having a few days before. Accidental chiropractic care I guess. And, although I was a wimp and had to ask my 80 year old neighbor to drive me to church the next day since Josh was working, I worked up the courage and drove to school Monday morning like a pro. Or like someone who didn't get in another accident... I am happy to be alive and happy that even though my car is gone, my husband doesn't care because I am not.