LOL! This is really true. This year has been so tough for me mentally, and this season in particular. Usually Christmas is my favorite holiday. As The Ghost of Christmas Present sings "Wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas." This is how I feel. But, like I said, this year has been tough. Mentally, financially. You name it.
But...
Let me tell you a little story. Christmas eve has come, and there are gifts under the tree (modest gifts, but gifts, nonetheless). We've eaten our traditional rib roast. We have company over and we are watching our traditional Christmas Eve movie: White Christmas.
Morgaine calls to tell me she's just over an hour away from home and to be looking for her. Life is good. Five minutes later...FIVE MINUTES...I get a phone call from an unknown phone number. I answer and it is Morgaine, crying. She has wrecked the car and is calling to tell me that she's sorry. I ask her if she's ok, and she mumbles "yes" and apologizes (again) for wrecking the car. I tell her I don't care about the car...I just want to make sure she is ok.
Mom and I get in the car...Pat and Steven stay home and see Frostie (our guest) off. Just outside of Mesquite...now in the state of AZ on our way to Utah, the Utah Highway Patrol calls my cell to tell me that Morgaine has had an accident and that they are transporting her to Dixie Regional Hospital in St. George, UT. About 30 minutes later we arrive there and they are just releasing Morgaine, who has a concussion, whiplash, and some bruises, BUT IS OK.
By this time it is officially Christmas in Utah, and by the time we get home, it is Christmas. What Morgaine remembers is this: she saw something in the road (an animal? we may never know and she says it gets foggy when she tries to focus on it) and swerves. She overcorrects and goes into the median, which is a big V. At this point the car starts rolling and ends up on its roof in oncoming traffic. Luckily the people coming towards her see her in time and stop. She manages to get out of the car by unhooking her seatbelt and crawling through the back. The people who have stopped get her out of the road and wait with her until UHP gets there. She used their phone to call me.
UHP decided no one was at fault, so there was no ticket issued. She had to stay up all night because of the concussion (why can't you sleep if you have a concussion?). Her eyes were all screwy until about 24 hours later, and of course she had a massive headache.
UHP, First Responders, and Emergency Room Doctors all told her that she is extremely lucky to be alive.
Which is my Christmas present. My daughter is alive and I am so incredibly grateful. And grateful is all I can feel. Part of me keeps thinking I should feel awful about this...just another straw on the camel's back. But all I feel is lucky and grateful that my daughter is here and safe and alive.
So our modest Christmas turned out awesome. Every time I tell someone how great my Christmas was, I get this look..."oh, how awful!" But, they just don't get it. I almost lost her, but I didn't.
Thank you for that, Powers that Be...
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