Navajo wrote the most beautiful diary yesterday but she did not know the whole story about the meetup as Vet would not let me tell you guys. He was afraid it would interefere with the Florida meetup. Now....that meetup was gonna happen but DaNang and Ole Hippie chick and Jax Dem can verify that It almost did not happen at the last minute. I am one stubborn individual and I was almost in tears 18 hours before the meetup but IRL the folks, even without knowing the whole story of what had transpared just a day earlier was there to hug me. I highly suggest you folks organize meetups. It may save your life and sanity.
Thursday morning, before I took the kid to school, vet had to go to the store. 1 mile or less up the road. He was doing fairly well for the past month or so. He went to grab a sausage biscuit before I left with the again only vehicle. Same vehicle. 97 Ford Lincoln. (old car). I waited and waited and I could see my little girl was going to be late for school. He promised me that after that last incident he would never drive further than the store and he has kept that promise. Now he won't drive at all.
Thursday morning, the phone rang and he asked me for our insurance info. I thought, I wonder if he was speeding. He could not find it in the glove compartment. I gave it.
He comes home and the whole front end of the car is smashed in.
I am in panic mode and ask him what happened and he was limping again. I send the little out of the room to get details from him of what went wrong. He told me that he had been a victim of road rage. He did not say it that way but that is what happened. There is a middle school not even half a mile from the house and he is careful to obey the speed limit of 25. Me...I must admit will speed some through there. 30 maybe. He calls me down if this happens. He is terrifed of hurting kids and feels it is too dangerous to speed with a school zone, double yellow lines, kids crossing and flashing lights along with a digital read out sign telling you your speed.
A guy got behind him and started blowing the horn. He was doing 23. He laid on the horn. Jack is very prone himself to rage if he feels like he is being pushed but he knew he was in a school zone. He taps his brakes. This guy is angry and goes around him on a double yellow line and passes while blowing the horn then stops short by slamming on his brakes. Jack hit him in the back. The guy who is about 6 ' 4 and 250 lbs and much younger gets out with attitude. This is until Jack gets out not happy and is wearing his shirt with emblems saying 101st Vietnam, etc. Jack says, 'YOU GOT A PROBLEM"? The guy backs down completely but apologizes and says I am sorry, was in a hurry, and this could have been worse, trust me. Jack calmed down and the guy didn't want to call the police since he said his car was not hurt. This was the beginning ......follow me below the squiggly
I think...Gordon has left from Virginia. People have cooked. We have rented a building . We have about 20 or 30 people coming in less than 48 hours and we have no car. DaNang has to be picked up at the airport and we have no car. I can't put that car on the road. Jack is now in terrible pain . The insurance company calls as the bully called the insurance company ( a car that has no damage) just a little to the bumper . The police were not called because Jack and he exchanged info and I think Vet was shook up pretty good from trying to control his temper and the actual wreck.
The guy had given him a phony name. The insurance company he has is the same one we have. The claims believed Jack's side of the story and I am talking to the Claims dept as well. Jack call his therapist. He knows how much this meetup meant.
He holds his pain and anguish internally but I did see through it. The insurance company gets me a rental and picks up my car. I have no clue where everything is on this vehicle and have to drive to Gainesville which is 130 miles round trip to pick up DaNang and get last minute details done including cooking.
DaNang and I both have been very angry about the stigma that follows PTSD vets. The insurance company now wants to know if he was taking meds, etc. He was not taking any to impair his ability to drive. I cannot say that for the other guy.. I don't know. Something was sure wrong with the guy to do that in a school zone.
I am sure the car is totaled. IMO, it is because it is not worth the repairs. The guy starts calling the house. I put a stop to that in a minute and call the insurance company and tell them they best advise him to quit harrassing or even contacting us. For what ever reason he is calling, he is upsetting my husband. They did. I said if he calls one more time I WILL file charges for harrassment. Now this guy claims all kinds of damages. Not physical but to the car.
First thing the guy told my husband was that he had a record for drugs in the past. Why? I have no clue why he did that. I sure as hell wouldn't be telling that but it may explain why he didn't want the cops called and I told the insurance company that I would have called the cops if I had just lost a headlight. Jack trusts too much and was proud I guess that he, himself remained calm. This proves that not all vets resort to violence. They do not! This is a perfect example of what DaNang and me have been saying about combat vets and the stigma.
I get the rental car, find the airport, and trying to find knobs and gadgets for air/defrost, etc. I am so glad to get DaNang as he had to find all these little things on our way home from the Airport because we ran into road construction that backed us up for awhile and it starts to turn cooler and windshied fogs so DaNang is good at handling all the button pushing. What should have been an hour trip has now turned into a 3 hour ride, especially when I take a right in Gainesville instead of a left.
We are finally in Inverness. DaNang and Jack hug one another but DaNang knows he is needed. Jack is not feeling well and and I told DaNAng on the way from the airport what happened just 24 hours earlier. DaNang starts getting Jack really acquainted with Mindfulness. ( The therapy used to help veterans and other trauma patients). That very night. That very night mind you !!! A vet we helped last year who did live directly across the street whose wife had been in a car wreck and killed..showed up at our home at 4 AM or so. Shall we say, a bit tipsy. We had not seen this guy in over 7 months and he just decided to stop in. ARE YOU Beleiving the timing? I did not know because I crashed about 12 and was exhausted. Jack would not let him drive home so he crashed on the couch. Now I have a person who is not supposed to be here and a meetup to go to. He helps load his truck and then leaves. DaNang met him as well.
After the meetup, Charlie comes over and what a pleasant time we all had and DaNang
is really working with Jack as he does with many veterans in his project. Charlie leaves and DaNang and Jack are very serious about getting some resolve in feeling better. At 4 AM after the meetup, another vet calls and Jack walks to his residence and talks him down. The guy is really bad off. DaNang saw first hand how involved we are with veterans locally.
I am so tired I am about to collapse but not from the meetup.. From all the drama that went down personally before, and after the meetup. I cannot figure out if I have a car, how much I have to pay on deductible, who the insurance company believes or what.
Well... the insurance got the costs to me..2500.00 worth of repairs. They extend my rental car. They tell me it might come to each dealing with their own vehicles but I am not happy about that as I may still go file an incident report. The one thing Jack does not do is lie and would never lie to me. Bottom line.... It was clearly the big guy's fault. I do not believe no fault accidents exist. Both the Iraq vet and the other Vietnam vet are OK and Jack and DaNang were there for not only each other but those two guys as well.
The diaries go up and DaNang has really taught Jack relaxation techniques. OHC gave him a back massage and JaxDem is holding his hand as you can see from the pics with reassurance, all is well. We are trying to avoid the wheelchair thing again.
Today I will find out more about the car and the adjusters and all that entails and all I have to say is if I can produce myself in a meetup with all of that hell, there is no excuse for folks not really trying to meet some of the finest people on earth. I have yet to totally calm down from the excitement but I know one thing......my life is better for Kossacks.
When we took DaNang to the airport, we hugged and hugged. All three of us. As Paul Harvey says, " And that is the rest of the story".