A Little More...

When the van hit our house, the 3 year old was "driving". I have no idea how he wasn't hurt. It was the first weekend after a series of exhausting photography jobs where I was finally going to get to sleep in and I was so excited. So, about 6:45 Saturday morning, we awoke to an enormous crashing sound, followed immediately by screams of terror. I must have been in deep sleep, because I was completely confused.

Johnny ran to Hope's room, because hers was the first and loudest scream. I stumbled out of bed and called, "What's going on?" Johnny replied, "There's a van in our house!" I had no idea what he was talking about until I made it to the end of the hall. I turned my head and saw exactly what he had said-- a van in my house.


The neighbor lady who birthed the kid was hysterical. "Oh my god, oh my god. I don't even know what to do... how can this be happening... what am I supposed to do?"

I was entirely annoyed by her. Um, I'm the one who just lost her house for months, and whose kid will be afraid to sleep in her own bed for weeks to follow because you left your toddler in a running van, parked on a hill, with the wheels turned toward my house. She is not my favorite person. I have a history with her. She's the neighbor who loves to leave all her windows open, and SCREAM at her kids non-stop. She is also the neighbor who lets this toddler play in the road, ducked partially behind a parked car, and sits on the porch and just yells over and over at him to get his you-know-whatie-what back up on that porch. At this point he is immune to her screams.

Anyway, it was definitely inconvenient, but we knew we could get a new door and frame and all could be well again. Then, the fire department came and let us know that he busted a water line... oh, yeah, and crushed all of the front electrical work in the house. So no we have exposed wiring and gushing water.... getting worse... upon closer inspection, he hit the main supporting wall in the house, so we were instructed to collect the "necessities" to live from inside, because it was likely that once the van was pulled out, the front of the house was going to collapse. Oh, and yes, our vehicle was trapped inside the garage, whose door was buckled and unable to be opened.
Once we got all of our things outside, it began to rain. It was completely like a bad movie. The fire marshal deemed the house unlivable, and we found ourselves without home, vehicle, or treasures. It was terrible. We lived in a hotel for some time, which may sound like fun, but eating fast food non-stop and existing in a one room box is less than ideal.



So, to finish this VERY long story (I apologize) our house did eventually get fixed and insurance covered it. It definitely could have been worse.

That kid still plays in the road.