Smash!

 

On March 21, 2011, Emma and I were in a head-on car collision near Gibbons, Alberta. We were driving to my Grandpa's place,where we were temporarily staying while our lawyers were working hard on making our condo deal was going through (it was supposed to go through on February 15th). Stupidly, we gave notice at our apartment in Oliver for the end of February (expecting that everything would go smoothly) but, alas, life loves to throw its' little curveballs to test your resolve, I suppose. Anyway, here's some photos of my busted up CR-V. Frankly, I'm surprised that we came out the way we did, as that dude totally swerved right into our lane and smashed the crap out of my vehicle. Our injuries are basically: I broke my ankle in 2 spots and tore some ligaments which required surgery and 3 months off my leg entirely plus some bruising here and there. Emma suffered a cut above her eye, a minor break on her nose, a stuck rib which produces some chest pain which she's working on with a physical therapist and generally bruised and banged up as well. I'm just glad we had airbags or Emma and I probably would not have any teeth right now. Also, I'm super impressed that the windshield remained intact, but I don't think I'll ever drive on Highway 28A ever again. Sorry, 28A our relationship is over. Highway 825 and I are now buds. I've never had any issues on that highway. Plus, the last time I travelled on you, about a week after the crash, there were other cars in the ditch and I think I was having a bit of a panic attack. Maybe one day (not too soon) we can patch up this relationship, but don't count on it. Also, it's not like you'll miss me much anyway. I rarely travelled on you as it were, and not having a car will make that even less frequent as I'll have to rent a car when visiting my parents. And I've told them that I will only visit them in non-wintery seasons or perfect driving conditions. Sorry parents, this accident has made me one hell of a paranoid driver and passenger. You've probably already noticed this with my constant wincing, and occasional shouting at other cars, "Slow down, you jerk!" *Note "jerk" is not the actual word used, as I have a the swearing abilities of Al Swearengen from Deadwood (minus all the racist bits, of course)! 

Best Birthday Present Ever?!

***This is a post that I wrote on Monday, March 21st  about two hours before Emma and I got into a head-on car crash that broke my ankle in 2 spots, requiring surgery and 3 months of staying off it entirely. Besides that Emma had a minor fracture on her nose, a cut above her eye, pulled some ligaments in her knee, and generally we're just incredibly sore, bruised, banged up, and VERY LUCKY! Any changes to my original post have this beside them: ***

Finally! Today w heard back from our real estate agent and lawyer that the condo that we had been waiting for since late January is ours! *weight lifts from shoulders

Cambridge Lofts here we come! Look at it! Isn't it pretty!?

Now this might not seem like a long time to wait for a new home/condo. I'm sure may people have 60 day waiting periods for houses, but we were not sure that we were ever going to get it as the seller had a mortgage shortfall AND was unable to clear the property title because of a loan that still listed the property as collateral. He said he had it paid off but since it was a "personal loan" the seller had to track down the person he borrowed money from and get them to clear the title on the property. If this were an episode of Property Virgins, it would have been a good one! Because the seller didn't give any indication that anything was going to go arwy for the original possession date in mid-Februrary, so we gave notice at our apartment for the end of February - thinking that this would give us tons of time to move all of our stuff from one building to the next. When the deal fell through we were pretty devasted (being first time buyers we had no idea what to expect) but we extended the closing date to the end of March (right around my birthday) and moved out of our apartment to my Grandfather's house just outside of Gibbons. That's right, Gibbons - the town of my youth. Not that I say that proudly. Gibbons is an okay place, it's just not where I want to be for an extended period of time. Plus, my Grandfather just passed away in December so being in his house without him is still a bit raw. There are so many memories in that house that it's hard to not feel sad when I'm there and he's not.

Also, I'm a city person. I like being in the heart of the city. In fact, when we lived in Oliver we felt that it was just a bit too far from the downtown for us. (yes, I know this seems ridiculous. I've told people this before and they usually just shake their heads and probably think I'm crazy). Plus, Emma doesn't drive and this is the only residential building in the city that has the LRT literally in its' basement. The pedway is also a huge perk - it basically allows us to avoid winter in Edmonton! Isn't that every Edmontonians dream? Minus, when it's a nice winter day and you'd like to go sledding. Yes, we do have to take our dogs out on walks but they are tiny dogs who HATE the cold and we have a massive patio that we can let them do their business on (and then clean it up, of course!). We'll just chase them around the condo for exercise. We've even solved the parking issue at Cambridge. My employer provides a parking pass for the parkade on Rice Howard Way. Done and done! (***My car is a total write-off. Having no car solves our parking issue, I suppose).

So goodbye Gibbons! Goodbye 12-13 hour workdays (I start work early and Emma finishes work late)! Goodbye 2 hours of commuting/day (***a commute that literally could have killed us)! Goodbye 6am wake-ups! Goodbye NOT spending our weekends hanging out with friends!

And hello...5 minute indoor walking commute to work! Hello spending lunches with our dogs since our condo is so close to our jobs! Hello massive patio! Hello hanging out with our dear friends on weekends! Hello finally making a space exactly how we want and envision it! Hello the hustle and bustle of the city! Hello underground pedway that connects to movie theatres, restaurants, our banks, the YMCA and all that other great downtowny stuff!

This will be one of the best birthdays ever! If this deal falls through again in a couple days...well, there will be a post probably along the lines of: I hate birthdays or maybe just a sad face:   :`(      

***Despite being in a car crash my birthday was surprisingly okay - think I was mainly just happy to be spending it in our new condo and with my lovely wife! So, maybe not the best birthday ever but definitely not the worse, either!