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Something’s are hard to let go of and something’s are a pleasure to give away. First the hard one. A few days ago I had a car accident. It was totally my fault and nobody was hurt except my pride. I made too sharp a right hand turn into a parking lot and two boulders jumped out in front of my car. With my car perched on top of these two rocks I couldn’t go forward or backward. I was stuck. It was mostly embarrassing but I knew it would also be expensive. (All car repairs are expensive.)
The tow truck came; I borrowed my son’s car to get home after my meeting; and then I started to feel sorry for myself. The garage said we would be without our beloved Honda hybrid for a couple weeks. Since we had proudly downsized to one car, I figured this would mean a stint of borrowing cars and rides from friends, organizing my errands more carefully, and maybe walking or riding a bike when normally I would have just jumped in the car. And what if it couldn’t be repaired? That would be a real tragedy since this Honda had been a real find and we were so pleased that it was a hybrid. After my pity party subsided a bit, Jim told me that our car insurance would pay for a rental car. I relaxed and thanked God for such things as insurance. The hard part was letting go of my pride and comfort.
The experience, however, got me in touch with the reality that many people are forced into living car-less. Coincidentally, a couple hours after the accident I saw a post by a fellow blogger talking about downsizing cars. I started following it and discovered the creative ways that many people have gone totally car free and what obstacles prevent others from doing the same. Hmmm. I don’t think that’s the route we’ll take in the near future, but it’s something to think about. Still, seeing the front end damage to our beloved car was hard.
So what’s the “soft” side of this story? Shortly after the car episode, I heard that a friend’s computer crashed and he lost everything on it. Now that’s a crisis. I’m no computer guru so I couldn’t think of ways to help – at least not technically.
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But then I thought about what I had wanted after the car accident – emotional support. If the accident couldn’t be undone, at least I hoped for compassion and not blame. I looked around the house to find something comforting, other than food. I found a very soft little home made creature. I’m not even sure what animal it’s supposed to be but it’s just so much fun and soothing to touch. I decided to give it to my friend when I see him at a meeting this week. Now I feel better.
