Wrecked...well, only sort of

It all started this past weekend. I received news of three different deaths of acquaintances through my job. What terrible tragedies each of them were. I was so saddened by all this news, and reflective of how our lives really are just a "vapor" as scripture teaches us. On Sunday night, I headed out in the cold wet rain all the way to Whitehaven to go to one visitation. I always feel so awkward at those things. What do you wear..dressy or just a step above jeans? Is it okay to laugh in conversation? How long is long enough to stay? Do I have to look in the casket? Not being Catholic, do I need to kneel in prayer or stay for the Rosary? Regardless, I went and I'm glad that I did. Monday came along with more rain and another visitation. At 5:00, I pulled into the funeral home, hopped out in the wetness and made my way inside. Again, awkwardness ensued. I headed back to my car to make it home to fix dinner. As I started to pull out of my parking space, cars lined up waiting to take my spot, I heard a terrible grinding sound. I looked behind me again, nothing. I put the Honda in park, got out in the rain, waved the cars to go on and looked in the front. I noticed a large, thick piece of plastic sticking out from underneath my front bumper (the piece that you hear scrape whenever you park too far over the curb...I only know because I did that once. Or twice.) I was so embarrassed because it was terribly loud. I just knew I had disrupted the somber visitation going on. I tried to pull the thing off my car. If I left it, I would be dragging the thing all the way down a main road, and surely have an accident. So, naturally, I called the husband. Love of My Life was laughing. I was not. Here I was, at a funeral home, in the dark, in the rain, in my WHITE coat, up to my elbows in bumper grime that also made it's way under my neatly manicured nails. Ugh. Somehow, after about ten minutes of prying and twisting and pulling I bounced that sucker right off my car and threw it in the trunk. It's still there. Hopefully my bumper won't just fall off while I'm driving.

But, after what I did yesterday, it just might! I had my very first wreck ever (well, sort of wreck). And it was my fault. I thought she was pulling out and I took my foot off the brake...crunch. Poor Honda. As if tearing off her parts wasn't enough, then I had to smoosh her against a maroon van. (Maroon! My least favorite color because of my very first car...a maroon Lumina with maroon interior. Gross) The woman got out of her car, I got out of mine, fearing the worst (really thinking, "LOML's gonna love this"). But in her European accent, she said to me, "Do not worry. Oh, it is nothing. I see nothing." Thank you, Lord. Now if I could just get that bumper part put back on...maybe we can squeeze in a visit to the dealership between LOML's MRI on his knee today and my 29 week doctor appointment tomorrow! And since I don't have enough on my plate, we still don't have a name for our baby. Little Baby No-name. As I tell my students, and to quote High School Musical (I'm not above that), I need to "get my head in the game." whew.