I love my insurance company. I've been with Amica on some level since I started driving, and I will shamelessly shill for them whenever I can. They are awesome! But... I could use some time away from them.
Flashback: summer 2025. I find a local contractor to take care of some odds and ends around the house. Can you replace this glass? Can you reattach this drawer face? Can you install this new drain plug? Oh, while you're at it, a couple of bathroom floor tiles have popped loose. Can you, you know, just pop them back in?
No?
You can't?
The entire bathroom floor is rotted out?
Super.
Flash forward to August, 2025. Yeah, Amica? We need to file a claim to fix our bathroom floor. It should take a couple weeks, and you'll relocate us? Awesome. Okay, third party agency in charge of relocating us? Here's what we need: two bedrooms, full kitchen, and pet friendly. Okay, I'll wait to hear from you.
Reading the email with what they found. No, a suite with two beds in the same room and a kitchenette will not work. In fact, it's missing two of our three requirements. Here, I found a place. Residence Inn in Franklin. Check it out.
Oh, hi, bathroom contractor obtained by our insurance company (who, again, is awesome!). What's that? The subfloor in the kitchen and hallway is also rotted? And, even though you've ripped the bathroom down to the studs, you can't continue until this new problem is fixed? Okay, I guess we'll stay in the hotel a little longer.
It's not awful. They have breakfast every morning and a pool. That's... okay. Horatio loves swimming. I mean, I'd hoped to be home by my birthday in October, but, hey, we have a place to stay, right? It could be so much worse. Okay, we'll talk to contractors to fix the new problem. In the meantime, can you extend our stay here? Cool. Thanks.
Okay, we found a contractor. He can do the work in December. I mean, we'd hoped to be home by Horatio's birthday and Thanksgiving in November, but, hey, we have a roof over our heads, right? Hey, cats, stop putting claw holes in the curtains, will you? What's that? December is too far out? Have we checked with other contractors? As a matter of fact, we have. Contractor number one is booking into February and is triple the cost. Contractor number two suggests we just tear the house down and start over. So, yeah, we're going with this guy.
Okay, mid-December and the subfloor issue is fixed. Yay! Now we just have to put the bathroom back together and we can go home! Maybe by Christmas? Hey, bathroom guys, we're good to go. When can you get to it? Sunday email: we're kind of booked right now, so not until January. Monday email: never mind, we're not coming back. We're having some paperwork issues, and our lead contractor doesn't want to commute that far.
And on the happiest Valentine's Day possibly ever, we are home again. After our two week stay becomes almost six months, we are home again. Is the new bathroom, which looks wonderful, worth it? Honestly, I'm still not sure.
The kicker: last Sunday, less than two months after we are back in our house, as Horatio and I are driving home from the circus (we were "wowed by Ringling!"), the fates decide I've been out of touch with my insurance company for too long (by "too long" I mean "two months"), so they send some deer in front of my barely-two-years-old-to-me car. Horatio and I are fine, but the car is totaled.
Still, three deer with one midsize sedan has to be some kind of record, doesn't it?
Have I mentioned how much I love Amica? Kind of surprised they haven't dumped me yet.
Hey, thanks for reading this far. Here's a picture of Horatio.
