It just adds… character?

Friday afternoon, Sterling and I headed to town to track down more pallets for him to work with. We traded vehicles with Blaine, and took the pickup to follow up on a couple ads for free pallets. Blaine’s truck has its old-truck issues, the passenger door lock being one of them. We fought with it, and joked that we’d better not break anything on the old “girl”

I bought Sterling lunch. It’s not often I have just one kid with me. I wanted it to be fun. We stopped quickly when another car stopped in front of me. Sterling’s french fries went flying to the floor. We were discussing their salvageability when we were rear ended. His Dr Pepper drenched the fries.

Just that fast, our afternoon changed and Sterling had instant celebrity status among his siblings for a bit. None of them, save a five month old Liberty, have experienced a vehicle accident. So many questions flew at him when he got home.

We’re fine. The pickup is a 1988 and solid. The bumper is sad and the frame is bent. One side of the bed is very dented. My foot was still very firmly on the brake and we didn’t hit the car in front of us. By the time the police came and did their report, the free pallets were gone.

Such a bummer. The pickup had already seen better days. My sister owned it many years ago and rolled it. It boasts a mismatched door. It’s hauled gobs of wood, goats, chickens, mulch, and manure. It has far more dings and dents than beauty and grace. But it runs well – still does –  and is reliable as the day is long. Towing a trailer might be an issue. The guy who hit me said he’d just fixed his car and got it back on the road the day before. His insurance policy was hours old. The company was vague but it sounds like they may not cover the accident.

There’s so many things to be thankful for. We were sore but fine. We drove away. It wasn’t my van. I didn’t have all of the kids with me. It wasn’t my fault.

But if the guy’s insurance would step up and this could be squared away without issue, that’d be great.