My first "American" car

Yes, as we all know, I've been having some car trouble lately! My trusty Mazda has been with me for almost seven years. We've been on many an adventure together and seen each other through many fun and challenging trips - most notably the horrible blizzard and 17hr drive from Ottawa to DC in 2007. Sadly, my little Canadian car didn't take too well to the heat of the south and has decided that it was her time to go and my time to look for a new companion for my next series of adventures and road trips. So this weekend I bought a new car.

People have asked me how I could decide on Thursday that it was time to buy a new car, and then drive exactly what I wanted off the lot two days later. I don't know that there is any specific answer that I could give. I knew what I needed (a new car), I knew what I wanted (the Nissan Versa) and I went and got it. That's pretty much it. Getting it is the interesting part.

Friday night I went to the dealership and test drove the car I wanted (although it wasn't my first time driving the Versa - I had rented one a few weeks ago in Ottawa). After the drive I talked to the salesman (my new BFF) but told him I wasn't ready to buy and that I wanted to come back Saturday and drive a different model. I went back on Saturday and drove the fully tricked out model they had on the lot and then asked him if he had the one I really wanted (not the fully tricked out one) in his inventory - he did. With the help of a good friend playing 'bad cop' and the new BFF (Mr. Nissan Sales Guy) running to the manager a few times a pretty good deal was reached. Next step - into the business managers office to settle up. The mountains of paperwork were going pretty smoothly until it was time to determine the interest rate of the loan. Apparently it takes more than 3 years to build up good enough credit history here to get a decent interest rate. You'd think that credit history would cross the border with you - it does not.

Despite the astronomical interest rate (which I will be re-financing within the year at another bank) I got the car I wanted and my trusty little Mazda can rest in peace knowing I am in good hands with my new sporty little Nissan.

Let the new adventures begin!

Not your typical Tuesday

So the day started off without a hitch - no delays on the metro ride (I don't take the red line so was not impacted by that horrible crash), I got lots done at work, it wasn't raining which meant that I would actually get to play ball after work. All good right??? Right......

The ball game was a pretty easy check in the win column as the other team didn't have enough players to field a team but since both sides wanted to play for fun off we go. The game was actually going pretty well, although neither team was as 'into it' as we normally would be. A hard hit ground ball bouncing into the face of the girl playing second base brought the game to a screeching halt in the third inning and a broken nose to the second baseman. After helping get her all sorted out and on her way to the hospital we all packed up and headed out. Who could keep playing after that?? Especially in a game that didn't count anyway.

My teammate and I decided to grab some dinner before going home to chill for the evening. As we are turning onto Duke St. doesn't the stupid car (my car) just die. I mean it completely quit. All the lights on the dashboard started flashing, the engine stopped shifting properly and it just stopped, right there on the side of the street. Now, in and of itself this may not seem the worst thing that could happen. But this car has had the alternator replaced (twice) and a new battery installed all within the last month. Now it is dead on the side of the road and I am more than slightly annoyed. I have no idea what's wrong with it and I am tired of spending money on it - but I need to get it off the side of the road. Only thing left to do is have it towed to the mechanics (and no, I don't have AAA or anything else helpful). After the car has been taken away, the driver has been paid and another friend has come to pick us up we're finally starting to joke around about the joys of having friends (namely me) that can find a crazy adventure to entertain people with in so many unexpected ways - I mean, a broken nose, a dead car, a tow truck, lame diner burgers and fries for dinner and frantic calls for a road side rescue all in one night - come on - good times!!

All I have to say is thank goodness for friends willing to drive all over the place just for the shear entertainment value of what could happen next. Which in this case was me realizing I had forgotten my house keys in the car.....figures!!

Love, Loss and Life

I know I haven't posted in what seems like ages and I know there are things that people have been hoping I would write about - my 30th birthday - my trip to Greece - general adventures in and around DC. Those things are going to have to wait, and truth be told probably never get written up. Today I have lots of other things on my mind. Too many to really put into words. Today I want to touch on the beauty that is a family in grief. I know that sounds odd, but that's really what grief is - beautiful. It is a pure and sincere expression of love that guides a departed soul on it's journey back to God. And that was never more apparent to me than this past week.

Last Saturday my grandmother passed away at the age of 82. This was not unexpected but was still not easy for any of us to take. She's been fading away from us for about 7 years but she is the center and the rock of our family, even still. She was a woman who could see incredible beauty in the most worn out, run down things. She could turn a bag of ripped up sheets and cloth into the most amazing quilt you've ever seen. She was thrifty and not afraid of working hard and she taught us that the results were always worth it. She loved unconditionally and would sacrifice anything she had to see a smile on the face of someone she loved. She gave to everyone around her and understood how important it is to look after others. She believed in doing and teaching us to do the RIGHT thing, no matter the perceived cost. She taught us how to listen, how to learn, how to survive, how to be compassionate, how to work hard and mostly how to love fiercely.

My gran leaves behind an INCREDIBLE legacy in her 9 living children (and our beloved Auntie who she is with now), 22 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. In this day and age it may be hard to believe but we are one big crazy close, loving family. We would lay down our lives, and go to the ends of the earth for each other and all because of how much she loved us. My gran touched the lives of so many people in so many ways and although she lived, worked and loved in a very small Canadian town her influence has been carried around the world - more than once. Standing in the funeral home at her visitation one had only to look around the room to see the depths of the love and devotion in the faces of her family. We were grieving, very much, but we were also sharing memories and thoughts and stories of the happiness and the craziness that she brought into our lives. There was just as much laughter in the room as there were tears.

That's what I mean about the beauty of grief. Losing our Gran was definitely hard but it was so incredible to see the love that she inspired in all of us. We are all better people because of what our mothers and fathers learned from her, what we learned from them (and her) and therefore what we will be able to teach our children. Without her insistence that we all stay together we would surely have drifted off as so many families do as we grow up and move on with our own lives. But we're not, we were all there... all 58 of us. We were all hugging and crying and laughing and praying and eating and singing together, and we always will be.

I know with all of my heart that my Gran is in a better place. She's happy and smiling and laughing. She's probably dancing with Auntie, cursing out Grandpa, and figuring out how to wrap up the world in a warm, loving, homemade embrace. At the cemetery my aunt spoke of her mom and how she touched all of our hearts, my sisters sang her on her way to heaven with a strength only she could have given them, and my cousin's little boy looked up at his aunt and said of his GG - "I am really going to miss her". Yes, Connor, we all will.

Love you Gran!! Watch over us and kick us in the arse now and again!!