S0 last week was going pretty well -busy as usual. Until Tuesday morning on the way to work. I was sitting in the merge lane on I-70 trying to get onto the beltway. The kids were all dropped off to school, and Tom was at work. Usually my lane is slow moving and the other two lanes are backed up heading north on the beltway. Today our lane was at a standstill. I had just stopped and was trying to figure out what was causing the delay when I heard tires squealing behind me. I knew right away that someone had not stopped in time and I immediately swerved my van to the left, into the middle lane to avoid being hit from behind. Sadly that was not the case. The next thing I knew there were two big bumps and I could hear all the traffic noise coming into my van. When I turned around I could see that I no longer had a back end to my van. All the windows were broken and the back of my van was in the rear seat. I could not believe it. Fortunately, no one was in the middle lane, and all the traffic had stopped. I also did not have anyone in front of me either since I swerved, so the front end of my van was fine. I called Tom right away while people were running all over, asking me if I was OK. Tom thought I should try to pull my car over to the side of the freeway, but I told him I didn't think my van was going anywhere except with a tow truck. I crawled across the front seat and got out on the shoulder side. After hanging up with Tom I called the insurance company. There was a white lexus behind me and a woman was trapped in the front seat. A man was sitting in the car with her while she held a cloth to her bleeding face. Looked like the airbag had broken her nose. The last car was a big, red SUV-a Dodge Durango and the engine was pushed up into the front windshield. There were about 5 young kids(19 or so) sitting and standing on the shoulder and two had bloody faces. All their airbags had gone off. The police, state troopers, fire trucks and EMTs began to arrive. They shut down the I-70 for over an hour while they loaded all the other people into ambulances with neck collars and placed them on gurneys. I think the I-70 was probably backed up all the way to Frederick, about 30 min drive from our house. I spoke to the state trooper briefly. Gave him my info. He told me he could not take the time to exchange information because everyone had to go to the hospital. But he told me I was not at fault. Tom in the meantime had arrived to pick me up and took some photos. I snapped a few shots on my cell phone and called work to let them know what had happened. I thought I could go into work that afternoon but found out it was not a good idea. The EMTs wanted me to go to the hospital but I felt well enough to go back home. Regardless, they said I should be seen by my doctor since I could be hurt and not realize it. I was already sore-my neck, left shoulder from the seat belt, my back and knees. We waited until the tow trucks came-mine was hoisted onto a lift and we pulled some items out of the van before it left. Everything in the back was wedged in so we couldn't get to it. I also had to alert the state trooper that they had left someones purse and wallet on the hood of my van before everyone left and they towed the cars!

Tom brought me home and I spent the day trying to get a doctor appointment and attempting to contact our insurance agent from Progressive that was assigned to our case. He left a message before we got home, but I never got through to him the whole day. I also could not get a doctor appointment until 11pm. Instead, my doctor prescribed some muscle relaxants and strong ibuprofen. I picked up my prescription at the local CVS that night. I also took a nap. That evening I was feeling well enough to take Allison to a Girl SCout choir event. We were having our end of the year meeting and singing at a local nursing home. I had already promised we'd be there so away we went.

I had finally made a doctor appointment the next morning, so I went in late for work. My doctor had recommended I stay home the rest of the week, but I was already behind in my documentation. OUr computers went down last Friday and I was still trying to get caught up with billing. And I only worked a half day on Monday because I volunteered at SCott's school for the used uniform sale.

I also worked a full day Thursday which was a bit of a struggle I found out. I was having trouble reading the computer screen. I think I had a small concussion from the whiplash. My eyes actually felt swollen and it was hard to focus on the computer screen. But I made it through work. Before I went in though I called our insurance agent again. Two days had now gone by and we had not yet heard from him. Tom wanted another agent, and I spoke to the night shift who gave me the name of the office manager. When I got her on the phone I was rather irate to say the least. She kept making excuses for our assigned agent. That he had tried to call all day for two days and our answering machine was full. I told her I sat at home all day Tuesday and called his number all day also and never got through to anyone. Not to mention they had my cell phone and there were no calls on that line either. Amazing that the doctor's office kept calling all day to keep me informed of any openings, and the state trooper was able to call me. Plus our phones always show missed calls and his number was not on either line. Then the office manager told me she could not reassign our claim to another agent. She said once it was assigned, that was it and then an excuse about them all being too busy anyway. I was livid. She finally agreed to start our file and asked if I had taken any photos that I could email to her. Since I had some on my phone I sent them to her. After she saw the photos she understood why I was so upset that nothing had been taken care of in two days time. She said I could have died and that the Toyota saved my life. I told her I already knew that!

Anyhow, we were on the phone for over an hour. Of course I was late for work. But things started happening. I didn't actually talk to our personal agent until Saturday, and that is because I called him. I also had to update him on what had been taken care of since Tuesday. He sat and took my recorded statement. After 5 days had passed! He said he had an emergency and was not available. His own boss said he was off for the day-they didn't even know what he was doing. Tom sent off a nasty email to the district manager. Of course no response from them yet.

At least Tom was able to speak to the manager who actually did some work. They gave us an estimate after moving our van to a salvage yard. Progressive also has a discount car buying service with Toyota, so we went out car shopping this past weekend. We were just planning on test driving mini vans. We tried out the Honda Odyssey on Friday-I thought the suspension was a bit stiff. Felt like driving a truck. On Saturday we went to look at the new Toyota minivans and were quite impressed with all the upgrades they have in the 2011 models. Needless to say, they had one on the lot, in the color we liked, with all the bells and whistles and the price we could afford. So we ended up buying a new mini van on Saturday! Now I am nervous to drive it!

We showed off our new van to our neighbors on Saturday night. We had scheduled a dinner date with them at a local restaurant the week before. After dropping Allison off to a birthday party and Scott off to their house so he could hang out with their son, we all went in to Olde Ellicott City to a recently opened Italian restaurant. Tom told the waiter we were all celebrating our June Anniversaries, so we all had complimentary champagne. Yum!

Tom and I also had a preplanned date night on Thursday. Back in March we won tickets to a dinner show at Scott's school fundraiser gala dinner. However, there was only one ticket in the prize! I thought that was a bit odd, so I said so to the committee member in charge of donations. She agreed, and was able to pick up another ticket for us. We ended up seeing the Happy DAys musical which was alot of fun. And before the show, the theatre has an all you can eat buffet. Tom and I were pleasantly pleased with the food and the show too. We sat at a table with fellow catholics whose son just graduated from 8th grade parochial school, and the husband was a fellow boy scout and a mechanical engineer who worked for the navy. Tom was very familiar with their work in the DC area. The wife was a civilian secretary on the base. We also swapped some very entertaining boy scout experiences(and SCott has not even been a scout for a year yet!).

We still had a few programs to get the kids to as school winds down. Allison is still having piano lessons. Scott missed his last gymnastics class, but he is going to gymnastics summer camp. And he already advanced to the second level for gymanstics so he was very happy. He did get to his last swim lesson, however since there was a t-storm SAturday morning and they had to empty the pool. So his last lesson was cut short. He had a full day of school on Monday, but Tues and Weds were half days. I had arranged for our old neighbor to pick him up and drop him at home when Allison got back from school. On Tuesday, she picked him up in time for our neighbor's son's birthday party, and then Tom dropped him off at his End of the School Year Swim Party and afterwards, he had a Boy Scout Award Ceremony/Party at his scout meeting. Weds he spent the night with his friend and the boys had a blast playing all day Thursday together. So he survived 5th grade and came out with A's and B's on his report card. Yeah. Now we are going to start working on some merit badges.

Allison was just wrapping up a few projects in school. Next week she will prepare for her finals. Allison and I also volunteered to assist with the RElay for Life Cancer run by selling luminary candles. The bags are prepared in someone's name that has died from cancer or is a survivor. Last year we volunteered as a family and made all the bags(over a thousand) and received free Disney tickets for our work. This year just Allison and I showed up at the walk to help sell the bags. The woman in charge got an early start this year by preparing the bags the week ahead of time. So Allison and I did not have as much work to do this time around. We put the bags out that were already prepared, and sold a few to walk ups. Then the sky was getting dark and I thought Allison and I should leave before we got rained on. The woman that runs the station hoped it wouldn't rain since they did not have a back up plan. However, as soon as Allison and I got in the car it started pouring-sideways! We just made it to Allison's piano lesson. I heard later that all the tents at the event blew down and all the luminary bags were ruined. How sad. They usually light the bags at night during the walk so they missed out on this. I don't know if they can find some type of waterproof bags or containers to use next year just in case of rain. Of course, the bags are not too expensive but the committee did take the time to cut out wood blocks that just fit into the bags and hold the candles in place. Quite the project.

I also had to take Pika back to the vet for a follow up visit. They ran extensive blood tests on her, mostly checking out her thyroid. Looks like she is still healthy although very skinny. They thought she might have a slight bladder infection so they gave her an antibiotic injection and did a follow up assessment. They decided to give her one more round of antibiotics, so I will have to take her back in another two weeks.

So I am including some shots of the van. What is left of it and the accident scene.

I will keep you all informed of any updates for sure! Kathleen