Life Lessons

I did the stupidest thing when I was 15.  My parents had an old car sitting in our driveway, and old brown Ford sedan that had been my grandparents.  It was unregistered, uninsured and I wasn't licensed.  But the keys were in the dresser drawer.  So one day, I went on a joy ride through Ogden to impress a stupid boy.  As things tend to go, Stupid Boy's Mom called to tell my Mom what I had done.  As a result, I didn't get my drivers license until I was 17 ½.

When I was an older teenager/young adult, I earned the nickname "Destroying Angel."  I was a good kid but had a few too many incidents where there was damage to one of my parents cars.  I always tried to tell my Mom first because she would be "softer" than my Dad would be.  For my Dad, it was always about what happened to the car.  The car was more important than whether I was OK or not.

I made a conscious decision as a grown up to always make sure my kids knew they were more important than a thing.  On Friday, I got to make a quick decision about how to handle this very situation, I'm glad I had already had that learning experience to help me.

We've only had this car for 5 weeks, we paid cash for it.  I said to Mat a couple weeks after we bought it, "We did good with this one! This is a great car!"  Our last used car experience was horrible!!!  This Corolla was perfect for Mat's commute.

Maddie had plans to spend the weekend in St. George meeting her boyfriends family.  She dropped Mat off at work in Riverton and headed to Ephraim.  I would pick him up after school and head to our ward campout.  As she was driving Friday afternoon, she went through a stop sign she didn't realize was there and was T-boned.  The car was towed to a junk yard in Manti.

I was the first person she called.  The people in the other car called 911 (a Math professor from Snow College).  She said hysterically "Mom, I was just in an accident!"  Before I could get more information, she said she had to go because the police came.  So for a few agonizing minutes, I had no information.  When she called back, I asked if she was OK, if everyone was OK.  I was relieved to hear everyone was, and could face what we needed to do next.  She was shaken and emotional.  Other than a small area on her arm, airbag burn, and a sore back, she's just fine.

Events like this make you think about how fragile life can be.  It only takes a split second for things to change drastically.  Thankfully, most of us get through each day without drastic things happening.  It makes me grateful for the good relationship we have.  Each of my family members hear every single day that they are loved by me/us.  Every single person gets a hug every single day.  And while we have imperfect relationships we're working on in our family, I'm grateful we're working towards making things better.  No regrets, people.


I have to share this too because I was so stunned when she came!  My friend Sharla called Friday to tell me she had something for me.  I assumed it was a bucket of paint!  When she got our of the car, she handed me a belated birthday cake.  She's so creative and artistic.  Check this out!  Edible succulent chocolate cake planters.  Oh.  My.  Heck!  Sharla, you totally made my day!  Thank you for thinking of me!