For over a year now, we’ve been dealing with the aftermath of the accident on Valentine’s Day, 2011 when our daughter and her boyfriend were in a head-on collision. The person who hit them had been dialing his cell phone when he crossed all the way over the center line. Both vehicles were going 45-50 when they hit. Ali’s wrist was shattered and her boyfriend had three broken ribs, a broken leg, and more. Fast-forward 13 months. After months of good-faith negotiations on the victims’ side, the insurance adjuster for the guilty driver told Ali’s boyfriend that if he can’t be a chef anymore because his leg is so badly injured, he “should just go be a greeter at Walmart.”

That was the last straw. Her boyfriend hired an attorney. This week, our daughter hired the same attorney (after the settlement she was offered by the insurance company wasn’t even enough to cover her past and future medical bills) and I went with her for the meeting. I admit I’m not a fan of ambulance chasers. You know the type – the lawyers with the flashy suits, twinkling white teeth and shiny hair who appear to be staring back at you from every other billboard and every public bus stop bench here in Florida. I usually don’t pay much attention, barely glancing at the billboards and then, admittedly, looking away in disgust. The courts are so abused by scammers now and frivolous lawsuits abound. But, even I admit these guys can help when you’re dealing with a real jerk at an insurance company…who’s probably getting a bonus for every dollar he does NOT pay for your care. But, that doesn’t mean we have to LIKE these cheesy ambulance chasers, right?

We arrived at the law firm and the sign on the door looked vaguely familiar – something I’d seen on TV perhaps? I didn’t have long to think about it. We met with a female attorney first, filled out a ton of paperwork, answered a few hundred questions (or so it seemed), signed a few dozen dotted lines, etc., etc. She was very serious, and had a no-nonsense personality. No smiles from her. Just business. I liked her. She’s just the type of unfriendly, stern-faced (okay…SCARY!) person you want arguing for you.

Then, the guy who’ll actually be representing our daughter glided into the room. He had on a very colorful, flashy suit. Few men can pull off wearing THAT many colors and actually look fashionable. His teeth were impossibly white and perfectly straight and his hair was so shiny I thought it may have been plastic – like a vinyl doll’s molded hair. He smiled, said all the right things, and added a clause to the contract saying he’d only take a percentage of what our daughter gets OVER the original settlement offer, which seemed fair. He had a lot of attitude and, okay, I admit it. I liked him. I liked him a lot. He was professional yet humorous and he made our daughter feel much better – not so much like a victim – more like a fighter. She was actually smiling and that’s something she never does when she’s talking about the accident.

We finished up and left and, on the way back to our daughter’s house, she turned at me and said, “You know what? That lawyer’s picture is on a bench at the bus stop by my house.”

This week’s Masonism:

Max and Mason were watching a documentary about dolphins last week and Mason LOOOOOOVES dolphins! I said to him, “You can train dolphins when you grow up if you want.”

He replied, “No. I want to train them now, while I’m 5!”

Big hugs to all,
Angela

P.S. I want to “follow” you!

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HOW TO REMEMBER, WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR LIFE STORY! by Angela Hoy
Using Angela’s MEMORY TRIGGERS, recall memories that have been dormant for years, and record those memories in chronological order in your memory notebook. Using the memory notebook as your outline, write your autobiography! **Also works for biographies and memoirs.**