RIP Bambi

Yes, that is a strange title. Actually it is the memo line on an e-mail I sent to the loving husband last week. Last Wednesday at around 8 in the morning while I was waking up with a nice warm shower the phone rang. Because such things usually occur when I am in the middle of rinse and repeat I take the phone in the bathroom with me. It is a lot easier to tell someone I'll call back than remember to see if anyone called while I was busy. Anyway the morning caller was Jim who informed me that he had hit a deer earlier that morning on his way to work. He last did this about 10 years ago with a different car. After asking him if he was OK and how bad the car was--like drivable or not--he wanted me to get him the numbers to report the accident to the police and insurance company. He had left really early that morning to catch a 5:30 am flight but I was still a little sleepy so I forgot that little detail and asked him if he was still at the airport. No, he was calling from Indiana and did not need info at that moment. Good, since I was not in a position to give it to him and did not want to tell him I was dripping wet with shampoo running in my eyes. I decided to get the number for he sheriff's dept. since the location he gave me was outside of both the Brandon and Sioux Falls city limits and then I found my insurance card and wrote down the policy number and Vin number along with the 800 number for claims and e-mailed it to him later in the day with the tag line "RIP Bambi" I also included a reminder that he was taking a vacation day on Friday and he would using it or bad things would happen. Later that evening I was getting ready to take Matthew to swim lessons and could not find the van keys. I looked everywhere. I went through pockets of three jackets, turned my purse, diaper bag, and gym bag inside out and went through the previous day's laundry. I finally came the conclusion that my dear husband had forgotten to take the van keys out of his jacket pocket the night before. The kids thought it quite funny to see mommy walking around the house muttering to herself and using bad words but sadly I could not locate the keys and poor Matthew sobbed his eyes out when I told him that we had to miss his swim lessons. I did try to contact Jim but he was busy and did not answer his phone. He did call later that evening when the plane landed to tell me that he did have the van key but had assumed I had the spare (I did not) and that he was expecting the sheriff's department to show up at the house shortly to inspect the damage. Surprisingly a few minutes later a Brandon City police officer pulled up to the house. He had been dispatched to do the report due to the county officers being busy. Of course Jim had not made it home yet so I apologised to the nice officer and tried to get a hold of Jim --no luck. He was on the phone with the insurance company at the time. The kids had fun watching the nice officer talk to daddy. The car sustained damage to the passenger's side headlight and corner. It could be driven but since it was missing a headlight it was illegal to do so. The next day I had to drive out to Jim's workplace because he forgot to put his license, registration, and accident info back in the car and he needed to take it over to the body shop later that day and pick up a rental. He ended up getting a tiny Kia something or other that I would not recommend to anyone unless they were desperate for a cheap car. On Friday I had my MOPS meeting and this time I got to stay for the whole thing because Jim had the day off and would be home to meet the bus. I also wanted him to mop the floor and pick a few things up since my parents were coming in later that day. I also had to take Carolyn to the doctor for her 4 year well check that afternoon so I needed him to do kid duty too. That was the reason I "reminded" him he was taking his vacation day and not running to the office to catch up on a few things. I drove the rental car and that was when I decided that I did not like it. I kept washing my windows every time I tried to back out of the driveway or parking spot. I hate it when they put the shifter on the floor. The insurance company called later in the day to inform Jim that the damage would be too expensive to fix so they were going to total the car out and give us a settlement. We had the choice of keeping the car for $300 less if we wanted to. We finely decided to let the insurance company have it and get a replacement. Even if we fixed just the headlight and continued to drive the car, it was getting up in miles and was soon to need more repairs and if we wanted to sell it the damage would make that really difficult. On Saturday Jim took my dad and Matthew and went car shopping. Actually he did a bunch of research on the Internet the night before so he knew what he wanted to get and how much he wanted to pay for it. We ended up with a 2001 Chevy Malibu. It is really nice and is a similar color to the Buick. I made sure that I was there to sign paperwork so I am listed as the co-buyer. For those who don't know, about 7 years ago when we were first married, Jim and I took a trip back to South Dakota from Michigan where we were living. I decided to drive from Yankton where we were staying with my in-laws to Rapid City to visit my parents, brother, and sister and drive back to Yankton a few days later. On the way over to Rapid City, the transmission of my car went kaput and I was stranded in Kimball, SD for about four hours while I waited for my parents to drive over and pick me up. Jim ended up giving our broken car to his parents and buying a replacement (the Buick) to take us back home. But because I was not there when the car was bought I was never on the title which made it almost impossible for me to renew the title or get new license plates. Now we have a very nice second car that I can use and if I need to go down and get it titled or deal with the insurance company I can. In case anyone is wondering about the poor deer, she died instantly Wednesday morning and no, we did not keep the meat.