the aftermath

So it's been 5 days (or so...guess it depends on how you count) since the accident. I feel like I've learned a lot in those days. Let's see if I can collect my thoughts long enough to share.

1. Most people (family, friends, co-workers, and strangers) are extraordinarily kind. I guess that's kind of a paradox-- most people can't be extraordinary, right? But they are. Matt and I have been overwhelmed by kindness and generosity. I am so thankful that we live near Matt's parents (and, for now, all of his siblings!)...they took SUCH good care of us the day of the accident, bringing us every meal, picking up Lola and taking care of her for the day, bringing us movies...it was wonderful. Our wonderful friends the Gurleys and the Moores provided us with entertainment and comfy couches and sweet babies and good food all weekend. And they let me play my "I was hit by a TRUCK!!!!" card as often as I wanted, for any reason. :) On Sunday morning, I called my parents and told them I missed them. They changed all of their Sunday plans in order to drive up here (two hours away) and spend the day with us. My co-workers and bosses have been so understanding and wonderful...mostly insisting I stay home as long as I needed and more or less telling me I was ridiculous to keep checking in and worrying about the things I was missing at school. When I went back for a half-day yesterday, they made me "rest" for at least half of my "day." And...as it turns out, they were right...I was a little over-ambitious to go back yesterday. I didn't make the same mistake today (obviously!).

Anyway. This is quite a long bullet point, but we've just been overwhelmed! On a related note...

2. People all want to help you. This is evidenced by every single person who wrote on my facebook wall or photos, saying "let me know if there's anything I can do." And some of these people live in different states! On Friday, I started thinking about trying to take up every single person on their offer. As I laid at home by myself on Friday, I really wished I had a puppy or small dog to sit in my lap (sorry Lola, you're too BIG!). I thought about calling up someone who had said "let me know..." and asking them to go get me a puppy. Let's see if they can really walk the walk, right?? Just kidding. Although I will still take someone up on the puppy thing, if you have one available. And if it won't require any further investment of money for the duration of its life. Keep me posted.

3. So far, all of the three insurance companies I've had to deal with have been very pleasant. I just felt the need to say that because I know that insurance companies usually get a bad rap, and I'm usually the one giving it to them. I guess being the victim makes people feel sorry for you or something, because everyone I've spoken with has been very helpful and kind. Of course, once I find out what my settlement is going to be, I might start singing a different song. Ha, we'll just have to see.

4. I am not a stay-at-home-alone kinda girl. For real. And while I still have great ambitions of being a stay-at-home-mom (or retired by the age of 30)...I just can't do it when I'm all alone, with nowhere to go, and not feeling great. Surely it's different when there's someone else to take care of, right?? But this staying home, laying on the couch thing...it's not for me. It's why I convinced myself I could go to work yesterday.

5. An F-750 (like the truck that hit me) weighs, on average, between 20,000 and 37,000 pounds. A Pathfinder (like mine) weighs 4,000 pounds. Thank you Matt for digging up that useful tidbit!

6. Matt is the best husband ever. I might have to save all my tales of how wonderful he's been for a whole 'nother blog post. This one is getting long enough. But take my word for it-- he really is THE best.

I just realized I uploaded pictures to put on this post, but forgot to do it. And now I'm so tired that it seems like way too much work. Maybe later.

So I'm home for another day, trying to get stronger. My main goal is to be strong enough (and un-bruised enough) to enjoy the wedding weekend ahead of us. I have a bachelorette party Thursday night, the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner (and other assorted activities) all day Friday, and the wedding on Saturday. At this point, I can't imagine having the energy or stamina to make it through all of that! So hopefully I'll get a lot stronger between now and then. I'm also guessing that I'll be buying a car at some point (or needing to, anyway) and the thought of that is so overwhelming I just try to not think about it.

Also, my hyper-organized couponing notebook (three ring binder containing various other folders inside) was in the car with me when the accident occurred. It did not fare well. We recovered most of the pieces (sheets of coupons), but the organization is completely shot and there is virtually no way to put it back in order. I am completely overwhelmed looking at it. This is almost four months worth of coupons (and I buy two to four papers every Sunday!) and they're pretty much useless at this point! I had to go to Publix Sunday and buy groceries with NO COUPONING and it almost killed me. This is one of the tasks I thought about calling up someone for. "Hey, so you said if you could do anything to let you know...well, I have about 48,000 sheets of coupon inserts...if you could just figure out how to organize them back by date, insert, and which paper they're from (ie: 8/1, RedPlum, AJC)...that would be great, thanks!"

Ugh. Thinking about that has me totally stressed. Time for my morning nap. Goodbye!