A couple days ago I wrecked my car. This is a frustrating event under any circumstances, but it is exceptionally inconvenient for me because I’m supposed to be making the two thousand mile drive to Seattle a couple days from now. Well, initial inspection placed my car in a “drivable” state. I was even able to drive it from my apartment to my parent’s house where I could park it until I figured out what work needed to be done. While the hood and one of the side panels were crumpled, it looked as though all that absolutely had to be done for it to be ready for the drive was to replace a broken headlamp assembly. Yesterday, though, when I tried to drive to a local junk yard to look for replacement parts, my car refused to start altogether. In the end, I decided that trying to figure out what was wrong with my car and fixing any major issues would cost more money than I was willing to put into such an old vehicle. This was made especially true by the fact that I was already hoping to replace it within the next few months. I finally decided to fly to Seattle instead. My hope is that I can quickly find a replacement vehicle once I’m there.

About a day and a half has passed since my accident and, while I’m still frustrated that it occurred, I can now see the silver linings surrounding the event. First, the way the accident occurred is something to be thankful for in itself. I was only traveling at twenty or so miles an hour, and I ran into an unattended parked car. I was going to pick up my mom so we could run some errands and I wanted to clean off my passenger seat because it was covered in papers from school and old packaging from fast food restaurants. I wasn’t paying close enough attention to where I was going and I rear-ended an SUV parked at the curb. While this is an embarrassing story to tell, I’m thankful that I wasn’t hurt, and that there was nobody in the other vehicle to be injured. I was able to locate the owner of the other vehicle without too much trouble, and he was very gracious about the whole thing, as was the police officer who responded to the accident report. All-in-all, things went about as well as an at-fault teenage driver can expect at the scene of an accident.

Now of course, my car is now out of commission (It’s an old vehicle, so I only have liability insurance), and my plans to purchase a replacement need to be pushed up by a couple months, but it isn’t like I was planning on driving it for terribly long anyway. Fortunately for me, the friend I’ll be living with works in the same building as the one I will be in, and we had already discussed carpooling, so getting to work shouldn’t be a big problem. The public transit system is also apparently pretty good, so I think I’ll be able to get around without too much trouble.

So where’s the silver lining? If I hadn’t wrecked my vehicle, none of these things would have been an issue anyway.

While that is true, there are other things that are less apparent at first glance. First, I had already been having issues with my car that made me nervous about taking it on a two thousand mile road trip. Oil leaks and a flaky battery were my main concerns, but there were also about a half dozen smaller issues that my mechanic had told me I should fix, but that I hadn’t had the money or time to deal with. I’m not really the worrying type, but several friends and family were concerned about me making the trip with such a clunker. This accident makes me wonder if perhaps they were right, and this was God’s way of telling me I should fly instead. Now, I wouldn’t have complained if he’d let something less destructive and less embarrassing convince me, but I guess that’s not the point. Now I can rest more easily, knowing that my on-time arrival is much more likely to occur.

Finally, flying to Seattle has other advantages as well. Avoiding a 32 hour road trip means I’ll be arriving two days earlier than originally planned, so I’ll have more time to get settled before I start work full time next week. I’ll also have that much more time to spend with Tony and Jackie Ferrell, who I’ll be staying with during the summer. They’re great friends who I’ve missed, so I welcome the opportunity to see them sooner.

The biggest draw back in all of this is that I won’t be able to see my aunt and grandma on the way out. I was looking forward to stopping to visit with them for a little while, since I was going to be driving right past their home, but perhaps I can do so on my return trip instead.

At any rate, that’s what’s been going on with me recently. What’s up with you?