Yesterday was a long day, not only at work but on the way home. I was heading home last night, going the back way because of traffic, when Eric called me to say he’d been in a car accident. The phone call went something like this:

Eric: Hi, I just got in a car accident.
Jona: You OK? Was it your fault?
Eric: Yeah, I’m fine. This girl just ran into me. I almost hit a fire hydrant, but I’m OK.
Jona: You want me to come pick you up?
Eric: I think I can drive the car home.
Jona: I’m on 99W already so I’ll just come where you are.
Eric: Ok, I’m on First and Lincoln in Newberg.
Jona: On my way.

So I drive there and when I get there the girl that hit him was there and another girl and guy. It looked like it was a “fender bender”. Eric got hit on the front right of his car, hopped the curb and just barely missed the fire hydrant and a metal pole. He did take out the one-way sign though. I was so glad he appeared OK.

Apparently the girl that hit Eric works for an insurance company so when she got in the accident the first thing she did was call this guy from her work and he was there in just a few minutes. I asked Eric if he’d called the police so that we had an incident number. He hadn’t so I had him call. They said the craziest thing. Apparently unless you’re hurt or your car isn’t drivable, the police don’t respond. I thought that was nuts so while Eric called our insurance company I called the police. It went something like this:

Jona: Hi, this is Jona Titus, my husband was just in an accident on first and Lincoln. Can you have an officer come so we can get and incident number for our insurance?
Dispatcher: Is anyone seriously injured, or the car un-drivable?
Jona: No.
Dispatcher: We do not respond to simple accidents. If everyone is Ok and the car is drivable just exchange information and call your insurance.
Jona: Seriously?
Dispatcher: That’s the policy of the Newberg police.
Jona: Um…. OK, I guess.

I could NOT believe it. I mean neither Eric nor the girl got any immediate medical attention because it wasn’t a “serious” accident? There was no police to take an official statement? I was so floored. It was then that I started taking pictures of everything, including the one way sign Eric hit when his car hopped the curb. Good thing I’m a scrapbooker and pack my camera everywhere. I couldnt’ help thinking how wrong the whole situation was and honestly how the city of Newberg opened itself up to liability. I mean, what about Eric and the girl and any pain they may have due to the accident? What if a person goes the wrong way on the one way street?

I was peeved to say the least at the city of Newberg.

Eric drove his car home slowly while I followed him. I was so glad I’d gone down to his accident because the though of his car having issues and breaking down on the way home was not something I would have wanted. It took a while to get home, but we made it.

I was worried… but now I’m even more worried about Eric today. I drove him to pick up the rental car this morning and then he headed to work. He worked until about noon and then went to the doctor because his neck was hurting, he couldn’t concentrate, and wasn’t feeling “right”. The doctor looked him over and told him it was a result of the accident. He’s now on some muscle relaxers, doing a lot of sleeping, and trying to feel better.

Crossing my fingers and hoping Eric feels better soon.

You know there’s nothing better than spending time with friends you haven’t seen for a while.  Tonight Eric and I met up with our friends Eric and Natalie at Toro Bravo for dinner.  It was such a nice time. We all had some AMAZING food. Thanks Eric for ordering the Paella because that was the bomb!

What’s even nicer is that the four of us talked about all sorts of things; politics, greenhouse emissions, farming hemp, American history, and more. It’s so nice to have friends that are well rounded and able to hold conversations well.  I always learn so much from Natalie and Eric each time we get together.  It’s fun too because I can share the things I know a little bit more about too.  Thank you both for a great night.  We need to do it more.

After dinner and after dinner drinks Eric and I headed to southeast Portland for the infamous Whiffies Pies that I’ve heard about from people I follow on Twitter.  All I can say is YUM!  I had the marionberry pie and Eric has the pineapple pie. They were both so tasty, nice and warm.. and well… just good.

I snapped a picture of Eric with his pie.

Well, today both Eric and I went to the gym for the first time. The first time you come to the gym you meet with a personal trainer just to get some info on eating better, exercises for you specifically and things like that. Eric was there at 10am this morning and I came in at 11am. We both got a butt kicking! I worked out with my personal trainer and was so embarrassed by my lack of physical fitness. I kept apologizing to my personal trainer. I didn’t work but a bit and my muscles felt it. Man, I’m out of shape. One of the things they talked about was personal trainer sessions. It’s not a bad deal basically it breaks down to $25 a session for each of us. Eric and I are seriously thinking about it for next month. We could spend $200 a month on personal trainers and meet that trainer onces a week. That seems like a lot but we’re both committed and by meeting the trainer once a week we can taper down to less and less until we’ve developed the habit. Wish us luck…

Oh, I did find out something interesting too. I knew I was overweight. I didn’t know that I’m classified as obese based on my percent body fat. Let’s just say, I need to loose 22% body fat to fall in the fitness category. Man, I’m going to have a long way to go. I’m going to have to be disciplined and get in a routine. I hope I can do this. I know I can, it’s just a matter of DOING IT!!!

Eric and I are still in Ellensburg. I took tomorrow off so we could have a good long weekend. Eric’s mom made us all waffles this morning. She’s so nice. Every time we come she makes breakfast and takes care of us. It’s not like we expect it she’s just so nice. I appreciate it so much. I often offer to help clean the dishes and things link that but she takes care of it or we convince the boys to do it. I love Julie.

I love Eric. It’s funny to think that we’ve been together for almost a year and a half. About a year ago we moved into together. How different was that. I remember then being excited and yet and the same time nervous, nervous that I was going to do something to totally screw things up. We’ve had little bumps along the way but I can really say I LOVE ERIC. Every day he does something little that makes me love him even more. He’s so good for me. He keeps me sane and level headed. he brings so much into my life and then to try and put that into words is beyond hard, it’s near impossible. It’s funny, we tell each other alot “I love you” and yet those three words are so small but mean so much. They’ll never capture the degree that I love Eric. OK, I gush too much.

Today Julie and I went to Othello to see my mother and raid her house. I collected all the photographs she’s got and I plan on scanning them all and burning them on CDs. I really want to make sure to capture them all and organize them now so that maybe I can use them in scrapbooks and things. When we were in Othello mom took us to Eagle Creek Lodge, the new lodge on radar hill. Julie had never been there before. It’s got a beautiful view of the area, even better when it’s not overcast. We happened to run into Josh’s friend Gabe. I guess he’s a cook there. When we were done we went back to my mom’s and I started collecting all the photos. What a project. It was sort of cool though I found a bunch of my grade school photos. You know, the ones with the lame background of the clouds, or something like that. She had them for every year. WOW… I even remembered some of the clothes. One of the pictures I had this dress that my mother made me. I was so happy. I had a smile from ear to ear. I really need to copy those pictures and scrapbook them. Won’t that be a HUGE project….