The good, the bad, and the ugly

The good: Everyone is okay. Our little clan is happy and healthy and at home.

The bad: On Wednesday, Lily had her first tumble outside which resulted in a knot/bruise/scrape on the right side of her forehead. She also has a considerable abrasion on the right side of her nose. Luckily, she had her pacifier in her mouth which I think is the reason that we avoided a busted lip as well. Lily has been walking everywhere and crawling is becoming a less frequent way of getting from point A to point B. With this in mind, I thought that I would let her stand next to my car while I got our bags out for school/work. Mistake. She took approximately 5 steps and promptly face-planted on the concrete. She is a tough cookie though. She cried for about 15 seconds and then was over it. Putting on the ice (and later that night, the peroxide) on the boo-boos was far more traumatic to her. Even though I know that more incidents like this are sure to follow, it is still hard to forgive myself for letting this happen (especially right before Christmas pictures!).

The ugly: Last night Lily and I were in a car accident, not a fender-bender, but a full-out accident. I was waiting to turn right onto a very busy road, and there was a car coming down that road with the right blinker on. The car slowed to turn into the area that I was turning out of, so I proceeded to go, and the same time, the driver of the other car changed her mind and decided not to turn and proceed straight. Ultimately, the front left side of my car collided with the front right area of her car. Like all accidents, it happened in an instant. Fortunately, it was a very cordial experience. The other driver, a middle-aged woman, and I immediately hugged when we got out of our cars, checking to see that everyone was alright. She had an 18-year-old daughter in the passenger seat that was pretty shaken up and asked if I could give her a hug to calm her down. An odd request, but it worked. Lily was entirely unphased by the entire process. She very calmly sat in the back seat in her carseat, looking around and smiling when the other driver and her daughter came over to see her. We were very close to home when the accident happened, and Carl came to pick us up while the car was towed to a nearby auto shop. We won't hear back from the insurance company for a little while about the ultimate fate of my car, but I think that the odds are against the car being repaired. My 1998 Pontiac Sunfire, while having been a very reliable and good car to us, does not have a lot of monetary value anymore, and the car has some pretty significant damage. (The entire front of my car is pretty much toast. Even though the hit was to the driver's side, I could not open the passenger side door of my car). So, it looks like the car that we were planning to get in March may have to be moved up to January. We may end up getting a different car than we were planning on since we potentially have $0 trade-in value, but we'll see.

It goes without saying that I am very thankful that the only things damaged were the cars. I have played this accident over and over again in my head, imagining the 101 ways it could have been avoided and the 101 ways it could have been worse. Ultimately, it is what it is, and I am grateful that it was nothing more. I will take this experience as an opportunity to remind myself that during this season of hustle and bustle, I need to slow down and remember what is important.