Like a lion

In November of 2007, I bought a 2001 Chevrolet Impala LS from a used car lot in North Lima, Ohio. It was the first "nice" car that I'd ever bought, and the first one that I'd ever had to finance. Two weeks after I bought that Impala, a rotten tree near the driveway of my rented home in Johnson City, Tennessee fell over on a calm and clear night, splitting my car down the middle, and crushing it severely. It's luck has not improved since.

In 2008, a gearbox in the transmission shredded, and the entire thing had to be replaced. Luckily, I purchased a warranty with my car that covered the brunt of the damage to my wallet.

In January of 2009, I made the dumbest mistake of my life and attempted to drive home from a bar in Salem, Ohio in the midst of a drunken black-out. Thankfully, the police of Perry Township stopped me before I could do any damage to myself or anyone else and I was arrested and charged with an OVI. I was forced to forfeit my license for six months, during which the Impala sat and waited.

In the closing days of December 2009, I hit a large deer while traveling nearly 80 miles an hour southbound on route 79 near Weston, West Virginia. The deer exploded on impact. I didn't feel a thing. I didn't even move. My head never jerked, my foot never even moved toward the brake. There wasn't time for that. A deer in the lights. A thud. Another thud on the roof. A rain-shower of blood and guts and gore. Realizing what happened, I pulled off to the side of the busy highway. A concerned witness pulled off on the other side and asked if I was okay. I was fine. Thankfully, the airbag hadn't deployed and caused me to wreck. I got back in and continued down to the nearest exit to inspect for further damages.

Somehow, despite the considerable damage done to my grill, hood, and roof, the radiator and everything else remained in tact. The only fluid dripping from the car was blood. The only thing out of place was the heart of the deer, lodged behind my smashed grill, where it stayed for the rest of my trip.