Starting the New Year with a Bang! (Literally...)

Well, I would say it is always good to start the New Year off with a BANG... though not the kind of 'bang' I had tonight! After our wonderful company left, I was off to pick up my Nan. Though her memory is fading, January 1st is a day that she never forgets and one I do not like her to be alone on. On January 1, 1943 she married my Grandpa Jonasen. Always the romantic, he wanted to start a new year, and a new life together and what an amazing life they had... but I digress...

I picked her up in our little cruiser to go to my folks', while Jeff took the kids in the van. We had a nice evening. It was full of laughs and hugs and even some mentions of her beloved Artie- and of course many references to how 'old' she is and how she gets 'so confused' and (with a smile) how none of us (besides my dad and Jeff of course) would be here if it hadn't been for her... At about 8:00pm, I got her into the car and we were on our way home. Though she was complaining about her 'confusion', she was in good humor and for that I was glad because as I was waiting at a light to turn left, suddenly I could see the reverse lights of the car in front of me go on and as I laid on my horn, I heard CRUUUUNNNCH!

It wasn't long before a man came out of the truck. Thankfully he was very nice and apologized left and right for backing into me. The car in front of him had broken down and he was reversing to get around it and didn't see me (or my headlights).

We drove to a parking lot not even a block away and I quick called the person you call when you get into such fixes... MY MOM! I had no idea what to do and on top of that, I had a 90+ year-old confused lady who was up past her bedtime!

My mom told me what to do and that she'd be up to get my Nan. I called 911 and apologized because it was not an 'emergency' but told the dispatcher I would need a police officer out to make a report.

It took a while for the police to get there so I had a nice chat with my new friend, Jim. Jim (obviously) was the man who hit me and he was so apologetic and so nice. Though it was cold out, we sat in our cars with the windows down and chatted it up for an hour! I learned all about his life and he mine. We talked about child-rearing... my kiddos, his grand kids... I learned about his life growing up as a single dad and he learned about mine. He was so nice and was so sorry for hitting me. I forgave him (multiple times) and told him that that is why they call them 'accidents'. I felt so sorry that he felt so sorry but was glad he wasn't some nut- because nutty drivers and nutty old ladies do NOT mix!

One of the highlights of our conversation came when he learned how long I had been teaching... how many kids I had and he said, "How old are you? I thought you were in your early 20s!" Now I should say here that my friend Jim was not drinking and had a clean driving record. He was only in his early 50s so far from senile and his vision seemed just fine! I told Jim that he had made my night with that comment and though I hadn't planned on spending the evening chatting it up with him in a parking lot, I did enjoy our conversations.

And so my New Year did start out with a bang- but if there is one thing that I have learned in my 35 years (though I only look 25), it is that when bad things happen, you can still make the best out of them!

Jim, wherever you are, again I forgive you. If there was someone who was going to hit my car tonight, I'm glad it was you! (Though Oprah hitting my car would have been pretty cool too... we would have probably had a good conversation and she probably would have bought me a bigger car... this one isn't quite big enough for our crew (and besides now it has a dent that will need fixing... in our spare time... whenever that will be!)!