My Horrific 2020

Last year was crazy! When I say crazy, I mean crazy. I know it was crazy for everyone, but our 2020 was just the icing on the top! Covid-19 wasn’t the beginning of our problems! Our problems started the very first day of 2020! It was a normal day at first, but later ended with a BANG, Literally. My husband had to get up and go to work. He picks up an Amish co-worker, and then heads out to their job sight. My husband and the guy he works for (James) are Timber/ Lumber Jacks (Loggers).

Like I said the day started out normal…………..

I said my goodbyes and he was off to pick up James, then to the job site. I was doing my own thing cleaning, when around 9 am my husband called.

“Don’t worry, we are fine, but I think I just totaled the truck. Some stupid idiot ran into an electric pole last night and didn’t call it in. I just hit the line and blew the truck up… Hang on. I got to go, the state patrol man is calling.”

I didn’t get a chance to say a word! He had to go, and all I could do was worry. I didn’t know what happened! Even though he explained a little bit, it had caught me off guard! I prayed… I paced… I tried my best to give him time to call me back, but it was taking him a long while. So I called my in-laws to see if they had heard and got any more information. I was really worried that he wouldn’t think and got out of the truck. The electric, it could still be there and electrocute him! He told my in-laws about the same information, and then he had to go. My mother-in law told me she told him not to get out, but he told her he was already out. I tried to relax… It wasn’t happening until I knew he was 100% ok. I began calling him but he didn’t answer. Then finally he called me back, and told me more details of what happened. So try to picture this…

Someone had hit an electric pole the night before and didn’t turn it in. More than likely they were driving drunk. A live wire still attached to the poles was hanging down above the road. My husband didn’t see it till the last minute and wasn’t able to slow down before he hit it. The live wire rubbed up onto the hood of the truck and got caught on the antenna. The wire pulled the antenna off the truck and bent it, in an odd way. Then the wire rubbed across the top of the cab and when it got to the back window it busted into pieces. The left rear window busted out as well. The live wire had so much of an electric current, that it bent the metal that’s supposed to hold it in. This is no exaggeration! I wish I had a before and after photo but I only have the after photo. It put some marks into the seat as well. My husband didn’t know if the electric shock would have fried anything internal. He assumed it was pretty much totaled.

Malachi (my husband) told me that he got the state patrolmen lost. That’s why he didn’t talk to me much the first time. The dispatcher was lost so, therefore, the state patrolmen were lost. They couldn’t find him. They had to keep calling him to ask him again about where they were at. It was funny because Malachi could hear them going up and down the road near him.

Finally, they found him. The state patrolman told him if it was a serious case, that they would have been done for, because he couldn’t find him. The officer said once you have my dispatcher lost, I am lost. Once the state patrol got there, he knew my husband didn’t hit the pole himself. There were tire marks in the grass to prove it wasn’t my husband.

I am so happy my husband was safe, nothing serious happened to him and his co-worker. My husband did say though that he could feel the electricity when the wire passed over him. I am so thankful that the Lord protected him. Our insurance took care of the truck and totaled it out. It wasn’t worth fixing. The truck got paid off and had a little extra. With the extra money, we went on a truck hunt.

So everything seems to go back to normal...

We found, as we thought, a good used vehicle, new to us.

One of my husband's friends lost his job. Malachi told John (his friend) he could work with him and James till he could get another job. So John did, he began working with them. They all traveled in my husband’s truck, because the Amish don’t drive or own any vehicle and John just had a car. The job they do, they need a truck to hold all their chain saws and equipment in the bed.

A few weeks later:

Long story short, one day, my husband had an appointment. Malachi didn’t go to work, but John and James did. After the appointment, my husband and I decided to go to the store. As we are heading home, Malachi got a phone call.

James had an accident… He was out, about to cut a tree, when he sees a loose log rolling toward him. He jumps out the way and loses his balance and started rolling down a steep hill. His foot gets caught on something and he said it felt like it broke. John isn’t with him, so he’s all alone in the woods. Thank goodness he had a dozer out there with him! He crawls up the hill into his dozer and drives out to the landing. His foot was turned too much to the right. He needed to go to the hospital. John was out by the landing so he drove towards him. John helped him in the truck and they headed to the hospital.

As if nothing else could go wrong…

The new truck we just got, shifted down to 1st gear on the highway. John pulled over and the truck wouldn’t move... We got another call stating what just happened. We picked up James' wife in my truck and headed to where John and James were. Once we finally got there, my husband and I, was gonna try and drive the “New” truck home, but it wouldn’t move. We left with John, James and his wife. We dropped John off and took James (the Amish guy) to the hospital. We waited… and waited… Finally, we got news! His foot was out of place and the little bone that holds the joint in the foot together had broken. He was going to be out of work for months! This was only February.

To top it off, John quit. It’s too dangerous to work by yourself logging, so my husband couldn’t work either. He began looking for work. Then Covid-19 began… Everything began to shut down. My husband found a saw mill job and he worked for a few days, then he was let go. They didn’t have enough work for him. To top it off even more, my truck decided to quit working too! We were out of a vehicle and no money. Before we knew it, no one was accepting applications… We were getting desperate, then we got the relief package! We got the relief package just in time! Thank goodness we was able to apply for unemployment!

For a while, we went without a vehicle. We had my in-laws take us places or borrowed a car. We thought everything would get better soon. By June, My husband's truck got fixed... So we thought... only about 2 days, and it broke down again! Then my truck got fixed. It lasted a little longer maybe 3 weeks to a month...

Yes, I know... Geez what else right? I tried to work my summer job with the Amish, but my truck didn't last. Something else went wrong with it.

By August, again, our vehicles were fixed. We drove them a little bit and did just fine. My husband was still trying to find a job. His Amish co-worker was better and they had to look for land to cut. They had lost the land they were working on from the beginning of the year. Covid didn't help anything. People didn't want to sign a contract. Then, once again... My husbands truck broke down... We had gotten a bad truck! It was used and abused! To this day as of March 11, 2021 its still in the shop, needing to be worked on. Although, that's our fault, still trying to catch up to what we lost from last year. We just don't have the funds to get it out of the shop. But we are stupid and got another vehicle in December, to hold us over, this time from a buy here pay here.

Early September, I decided to put my truck in the shop again, because the power steering was going out. Not only that, my truck didn't seem to have good power. We hoped to get it out soon, but the shop took awhile and we ended up not having the money anymore. By October, the Amish season was completed, so, I wouldn't have a job. We told the mechanics to take their time fixing my truck.

I do have some good news! My husband and his Amish co-worker finally found some land to work on! My husband has a Job! He used his parents truck to get there and back.

The year ended good. Even though we were slowly getting by, we made it, very roughly, to the end. We got the second stimulus check, right before my birthday, in December of 2020. We spent it mostly on bills and the rest my husband spoiled me for my birthday. We were spoiled together, though, because we haven't been able to do anything that whole year! It was a wonderful ending to the most dreadful year!

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed reading please heart the story. There is also a tip option you may tip me if you like. If you can tip me it will give me more of a boost to keep writing, for knowing 100% sure my stories are catching attention.

May the rest of your day and week be great!