I say” jigsaw puzzle” because I’m amazed at how events and happenings fit together seamlessly, as if they were supposed to happen as they happened.
I believe that anyways, but the past few days have been a really good example of the “there are no coincidences” theory.
Late last year, I set aside time for a ski trip, which would have commenced today, Jan. 16th, about a week ago (actually, more like a month ago) a series of chain-reaction events occurred that stopped that from happening, and although this may sound unfortunate it is actually a very, very good thing.
Back in September, two of my friends and myself planned on going to Canada for a ski trip. For them, it was to ski, but for me, it was to finally learn how to snowboard.
(Sheesh, 41 years old and just learning that damned dangerous sport! There’s a recipe for injury and disaster.)
At that time, I was close with only one of said friends. Let’s call her Middle, because she is the bridge between myself and the other.
Middle has an elderly mom that lives with her who, upon hearing that Middle was going out of the country for almost four days, begged and pleaded for her to not leave her alone and be gone for so long.
Middle is extremely close with her mother, and is her mother’s sole source of comfort and support. Middle is very mindful of her actions and her whereabouts, and what it takes to care for her mother.
Naturally, M cancelled. She told the other that she couldn’t go, the reason why, and offered to pay her portion of the trip. This did not go over well with the other. They had a huge falling out, this particular event being the straw that broke the camel’s back. Who knows if they will ever become friends again.
For the trip, that just left myself and the other to go. We aren’t that close. I don’t know her that well at all, and her daughter was going, too.
Meanwhile, my car had been having some electrical issues. I had set up an appointment for the following week to take it in and have it looked at. But then the problem escalated and the car was completely unsafe to drive. I had a friend follow me down to the dealership in the dark, to cover my back end as the lights weren’t working back there, brake or otherwise. At this point, I thought it would be an easy fix. I still looked forward to the trip, even though the main reason for me to go wasn’t going anymore.
(Plus, I had committed my dollars to the trip and I wanted to hold up my end of the bargain)
I had set up child care for my son with my ex for that weekend, checking to make sure that it was his weekend and that the boy was also with him for MLK day on Monday. Although it was his weekend, he was going to be out of town at a friend’s bachelor party in Vegas and had employed a trusted friend to spend the weekend with the boy, since both of us parents were going to be out of town. He called a week beforehand to confirm the plan.
Back to Other and Middle.
The fallout between the two women continued to escalate, as did the increasing cost of fixing my car, which turned out not to be a small electrical problem, but a series of HUGE problems totalling nearly $2500. I was not relishing the idea of spending money on the ski trip, but still I was committed.
Then, a stroke of small luck for me. Other texted me that she was “so upset with Middle that she couldn’t go on the trip, she didn’t feel right about it.”
And that was that, I was off the hook!
Then another stroke of luck, they would finish my car on Thursday! The service guys were still under the impression that I was going out of the country on Friday, so I just went with it and counted my lucky blessings.
A few hours later in the day I heard through the grapevine that other was actually going… just without me. So much for honesty.
Since I was going to be in town this weekend after all, I found some things to do on Saturday night and Sunday day. I was set. I’d have my car, some time to myself, and I’d be home if the boy really, really needed his mom.
I left work at 4:12, returned the rental car at 4:35, and took the world’s fastest cab to the dealership lickety split, and was there by 5:20.
And this is where I realized that things were STILL going wrong.
Just before arriving at the dealership, I got a text from the ex asking me if I had the boy because he was out of state.
Ummm…. NO!! I was under the impression he would be picking up the boy and passing him off to the trusted friend. I texted him back that I would take care of the situation and be sure that he got to where he needed to be. Fire #1 was out.
The next obstacle in my way was the car. The dashboard lights weren’t working, and the car stunk of burning oil worse than when I had brought it in. All the service guys were gone for the night, so I’d have to bring it back in the morning. I drove home carefully, as I couldn’t see how fast I was going, taking back roads and side streets.
I sensed that something was wrong with my back lights when people behind me kept flashing their lights at me. I just knew my lights weren’t working, and sure enough, they weren’t.
I made my peace with the apparent reality that I would have to send the car back, sent a very professional email to the service department regarding the problems I had and demanded (in a very nice way) that they provide me with a loaner car until it was completely fixed. We settled in for the night. I helped my son with some words he was studying for his very first spelling test ever, we read a book and watched the rest of “The Empire Strikes Back” and then got ready for bed.
All was quiet and right with the world. For the moment.
Around 11pm as I was finally ready to doze off, a little person came through my door, in tears.
His head was hurting around his ear, which had some fluid buildup behind it.
This news did not bode well for my slowly dwindling weekend. I knew it was over. I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything that I wanted to, because I knew he was going to be home. I couldn’t send him off to anyone sick! What kind of a mom would that make me? So, I cancelled his time with the trusted friend for the day, with the option of him going to her place the next day, although I knew the chances of that happening were pretty slim.
A few hours later she returned my call, stating that she couldn’t take him at all if he was sick in any way, because she was scheduled for surgery and was advised by the doctor that any exposure to illness could compromise her success on the table, and she would be bumped if exposed at all. She has had numerous health issues dealing with cancer the past few years.
Bottom line: if I had gone on the trip, she would have been watching a sick child and would have been bumped for surgery, but the universe conspired to keep that from happening.
It’s just too perfect.
