What I learned when my car got totaled

As you may have heard, my car recently got totaled. Don't worry about me, I am fine. And that is one of the things I learned. First, the story.

I agreed to drive all the way out to Palatine Il one evening, about 45 minutes (without traffic) from my apartment, about 45 minutes from my parents' house in the suburbs. This place is not close. The reason I went out there is actually a craigslist job I had found to attend the concert of a popular Chicago cover band and ask people at the bar to sign up for the mailing list. I showed up at 10:30, and the band didn't begin playing till 11:45, this was gonna be a late night. In fact, I left just about halfway through their set, banked the $40 I was promised and headed out. It was about 1:15Am.

I left the building, and it was pouring. I had no idea how long it had been raining, and I ran to my little mini cooper, safely parked in a nearby parking garage. The first intersection I drove into was flooded with water. It being the early morning, I could not see that well. Also, I have never driven into water so deep that my car couldn't get through it, so I forged ahead until my car decided to stop driving in the middle of the intersection. I tried to get it out to no avail and proceeded to call 911, unsure if this was enough of an emergency to warrant an emergency call. The nice lady who answered instructed me to get out of my car. I didn't want to open the door, so I opened the window and climbed out. Perhaps not the best plan, but you see what you do in this situation.

By the time the emergency vehicles showed up, two more cars were stuck in the same intersection. Had it not been raining like hell, I might have been able to stop them, but that wasn't possible in that situation. I approached the firefighter and asked him what I should do. He responded (verbatim) "Honestly, right now, you're fucked." Another person who got stuck in the intersection was a really nice kid who lived about a block away and invited me to his house to call friends/family and find a ride out of there.

So, on to the lessons.

1. I do not panic.

Upon hearing this story, a lot of people have asked me if I was scared. I have to admit, I was a little freaked out, but I would never describe myself as scared. Rather than worry about what was going to happen to my car, I focused on what I was doing in each moment to get myself to a dry, warm place. I didn't cry until the next day when my insurance agent told me that my car was probably totaled. After the whole ordeal, I was pretty damn proud of myself for remaining level-headed that night and during the following days.

2. I have amazing friends.

At the time this happened, my parents were out of town. As much as they were the first people I wanted to call, I knew that they couldn't do anything at that time (now about 2am) except freak out, and I wasn't going to do that to them. I called cab companies, and none of them were willing to go out to Palatine (most of it was flooded.) At 2:30 in the morning, I attempted to call one of my best friends from home. Sean seemed likely to still be awake at 2:30 on a Saturday morning, a time when I wouldn't bother most people. Sean was with our friend Kamil, and as soon as I got in contact with them, they began doing everything in their power to come rescue me. They had been drinking, but Sean was DD, so he was prepared to drive out to get me. They spent a good amount of time switching cars so that they could have an SUV to get through the puddles. It took them hours to travel to Palatine, since nearly every road was closed. At one point, somewhere around their 5th attempted route, they found a police officer and asked the best way to get to Palatine. He replied "Turn around, go to that parking lot, and sleep in your car." These guys did no such thing. They persisted, until they found the route that led them to me.

I am so lucky to have people like this who have my back. Everybody has flaws, quirks, eccentricities, but when you find people with this kind of dedication to cut their partying short and drive for hours on a rainy Saturday morning, well, I'm just gonna say they're keepers. I got home to my parents' house at 5am.

3. Never underestimate good insurance.

Not much more to elaborate here except: Thanks, State Farm. When they totaled my car, they really took care of me. I never intend to go without good coverage. I don't want to sound like a commercial, but seriously.

Alright, well I supposed that was as good a post as any for my maiden voyage into blogging.