About a year ago, I had my first accident, and though everyone walked away from the crash, it was a pretty dramatic incident.  Both cars were totaled and we completely blocked the road in the aftermath.  In the more long-term aftermath of the event, though, I learned to really important things, which it does me good to remember (and what a blessing that the only repercussions of the event are the lessons below):

1. life keeps going

For some reason, when I was younger–even a teen and college student, I thought that if something semi-catastrophic happened, my life would end.  I would truly die of humiliation, I would be grounded for life, I would just shrivel into nothingness.  I’m sure I read too many Grimm’s Tales.

The morning after my wreck, I still had to go to work.  The sun rose, and there were meetings to attend.  I had no car and my husband was out of town, but friends drove me to work and back again. I had plenty of food to eat in the fridge and cupboards, I could still walk the dog and complete those things which needed doing–even without a car!  My husband came back from out of town, we started to search for a replacement car, we filed with insurance papers, we weighed our options.  Life just kept on going, same as always.  This was an immense comfort.

2. There is such a thing as grace, as generosity and unconditional love.

This was by far the greatest comfort, though.  I felt so untrustworthy, and yet, on Sunday, friends eagerly loaned me their daughter’s car while she was abroad.  They just handed over the keys, apologizing for the condition of the trunk–I was gobsmacked.  How could they apologize to me?  How could they trust that I wouldn’t wreck their car too?  My husband didn’t lecture or yell at me once, he didn’t even have a cross word; he truly only cared that I was all right. When I most-felt unworthy of grace, love, and generosity, it was all around me.

top photo taken while riding to get my new car; bottom photo is the first picture of my new-to-me car