I've always had a very loose affiliation with Inner Peace. It's like we know each other well enough to say "hi" in the halls, but beyond that we have absolutely nothing in common.
Where Inner Peace is all aah and ohm, I am more GAAAAHHHH! and ACK! And CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME?
Hrmph.
So. I've been a little stressed out this week, what with my job that requires me to go to it, and my house that requires me to clean it, and my children who require me to cherish them, and the soccer practices and soccer games and team pictures, which require me to fill out a document the length of the Magna Carta and answer mysterious questions such as "Other information you want on child's picture?" Umm, his face? I don't know. It's a photograph. What other information is there? Give me multiple choice.
Oh, yes, and it was "Week of the Young Child" at the boys' school, where we are supposed to pretend like every week isn't already "Week of the Young Child" and dig through the hamper each morning to cobble together costumes for the boys to wear because, hey, "Let's Luau!" and "Be a Sports Hero" and "PAJAMA PARTY!!" for which I forgot to send sleeping bags and flashlights, which made my 4-year-old feel "very sad."
And then I forgot to send in the check for his cap and gown. Yes, you heard me correctly. CAP AND GOWN ... because he is 4 years old, and he is GRADUATING(!) from PRE-SCHOOL, and they needed to photograph him in his cap and gown six weeks before the ceremony, which they did, except that now I'm told they have to schedule a re-shoot because his hair was sticking up at strange angles (read: gross negligence, bad mother, shame, etc.)
(Cleansing breath.)
And then! And THEN!
I crashed my car.
I was on the interstate headed to work, mentally prioritizing the items on my to-do list as Managing Director of the Galaxy, when I heard the screech of breaks behind me followed by the dreaded crunch of two cars colliding. I glanced in my rearview mirror just in time to see a car hit me from behind and knock my car into the vehicle in front of me.
Because it's not enough for me to be a wreck; I must also be in a wreck. The universe has to spell it out for me in crumpled bumpers and shattered headlights. JUST TO BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR.
And yet, sitting there without a bump or a scratch on my body, I felt calm for the first time all week. Calm and lucky, without a care in the world.
Inner Peace, is that you?
Wow, I thought. The two of us should totally hang out more often.
When the insurance adjuster looked at my car the next day to assess the damage, he was quick to declare it a total loss.
But from where I was sitting? That loss was my gain.
Originally published in Her Nashville Magazine, June 2009
Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash
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