Ups and Downs

Like I've previously mentioned, I'm very much a "glass is half full" kind of person most of the time -- but I don't kid myself that my life is that easy.  I'm a single mom when I never thought I would be.  I lose my cool too often for someone who has no backup adult around to back me up.  I've struggled financially these last few years as I maintain a home and taxes and childcare all by my little self.  But truly, I only let that all get to me now and then, as I forever work at seeing the good and the blessings and finding things to look forward to.  If I sat around thinking about all the things that scare me, I'd never leave the dark corner of my bed!

Keep calm and carry on, right?  I may not have the calm part down, but I've got the rest covered.

That said, it won't come as any surprise that I had a week of big ups and slightly big downs, and to me it feels fairly normal.

The big up is a big one for us around here.  I've landed a NEW JOB!  I started looking just over a month ago, and pretty quickly I was talking to three companies.  There were phone interviews, first interviews and we were just easing into 2nd interviews when my first choice offered me the position!  I was over the moon!  Not only is it in a whole new town in the opposite direction of where I've been driving for 12 flipping years, but it has an ocean view from the office.  Between that and a salary that will no longer leave me financially challenged, I feel utterly grateful that something good has come our way.  We needed that.

The offer came in on Wednesday, and I remember thinking on Thursday that things were going "too well."  While I didn't truly think something bad was coming, I did laughingly think that Murphy's Law would come into play somehow.

Friday proved me right.

I was driving to work, and after an hour in the car I was literally one minute away from my office.  In the right hand turn into oncoming traffic of a major downtown street, I was at at stop for a good 15 seconds, waiting for my turn to ease into traffic, when I was suddenly rear ended.  It was really loud, and I was so surprised!  I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a woman in a black car looking confused.  Not surprised, just confused.  I started to pull right over, but thought this was a bad place to block traffic, so I motioned to her that I was going to turn right into the next parking lot.  I turned on my signal and slowly pulled in. 

And she kept driving.

WHAT?!!  It would almost have been funny to watch my reaction.  "Oh no she did NOT just drive off!!"  I was yelling at the top of my lungs as I turned my car around and got back on the road.  Unfortunately, in the few seconds that this all happened I did not think to look at her car type, and wouldn't you know there were 3 different black compact cars in the section ahead of me.  I took a best guess and followed one for a few blocks, only to discover it was a man.  Darn it!

In the end she got away, and thankfully, the damage to my car is minimal.  Really, it's just a few paint scratches.  I can only hope that her car is much worse.  The worst of it is that I'm sore, but I imagine that will subside over time.  And thankfully I'm on vacation with the kids this week, so I have time to rest and take it easy if I need to. 

If you take nothing else from this blog today, take this: the next time someone hits me, the first thing I'm doing is stopping my car, getting out and taking a picture of my car, their car and their license plate.  THEN we can determine where to talk and exchange insurance info, etc.  But never again will I trust that the person who hit me will do the right thing.  You shouldn't either.