Christians, Start Your Engines

It's a good thing that we've been feeling the love around here this weekend, because we had a little incident at church yesterday. More like a little accident. In the parking lot.


Everyone is fine -- we weren't even at the car when it happened -- and I know the whole episode is destined to become a vague memory of aggravation, but that doesn't help the poor crumpled hood of our van today.

After Mass, I went down to the church hall to sign The Boy up for "church school" (sort of like a Sunday school kind of thing), and when I came out, I saw Rob talking to a woman, gesturing at the front of the van, and writing in our little insurance portfolio. Now that's an ill wind that blows no good, my friends.

Here's the rundown (ha!): The woman parked in front of us had done a "pull-through" to the next space when she parked. We pulled in behind her and, in a funny turn of events, were sitting directly behind her at Mass. Since we are encumbered by three dawdling children, a pregnant woman, and seventeen-odd bags when we go to church, we are usually the stragglers out to the parking lot. We have been known to serve as impromptu greeters to the attendees at the next Mass, that's how slowly we move. One the flip side, we usually miss the Grand Prix race that is the church parking lot after Mass. We don't have to jockey for position or make an illegal turn out of the entrance. It's much more calm by the time we arrive on the scene.

Except for yesterday morning. Apparently, the woman threw her Jeep Liberty into Reverse instead of Drive, and the rest was history. And as is usually the case, her car shows little to no damage, but ours looks pretty sorry for ever having parked there. I can understand the mistake at the gearshift, honestly; we've all made bonehead mistakes in the car (admit it!). The thing that gets me is that it seems like she was trying to get out of there like a bat out of Gehenna, because she didn't just roll backward and bump our car. She stepped on it. Plus, she didn't want her husband to find out because she had just run into their garage. Well, let's just say that horse has left the barn, my friends, since we told her we would be going through the insurance companies for this.

The silver lining in all of this is that, having just come from Mass, Rob and I were more inclined toward a calm and forgiving attitude than maybe we would have been at another time. The information exchange seemed to be fairly amicable, at least from what I could see. Besides, I'm pretty sure it's considered poor form to be irate at a fellow parishioner in the parking lot right after you've just received the Body of Christ. There was a lot of deep breathing, but not as much stewing. At least not on my part, which is how I know that grace of God is working in me. I'm a natural born stewer. Rob, however, averts his eyes whenever he goes out to the garage because he says that looking at the van bums him out.

Let's look on the bright side: maybe we'll get a hot little sporty rental car when the van is away getting a face lift. Think of how much hotter it will look with two booster seats, a car seat, and a pregnant woman with inch-long gray roots driving it. Yowsa!