The end of a relaxing vacation

Well I would use the term relaxing loosely in this case. I have been a bit of a wreck all week because of one situation or another. Do I dare say I will welcome going back to work because it is controlled craziness? No way. Have you ever had the feeling that you should not leave the house? Well that was my feeling yesterday but obligations dragged me out. I had a birthday party for JoanMarie to go to that was over an hour away. On my way there I remembered there was a neat Russian grocery store that was right around the corner that I thought I would be able to find...well not so easy after all.

That area of New Jersey is VERY busy, lots of crazy drivers, lots of weird jug handles (or U-turns because in NJ you can almost never make a left hand turn), the signs for businesses are small, and quite frankly I probably did too much driving this week. Where I live and were AM lives are completely opposite in so many ways that you would never guess they are in the same state and within an hours drive of each other. As I was driving through a parking lot looking for the grocery store I hit a parked car...Yikes! Thank goodness I was going at a snails pace but there is some damage to both cars.

I parked my car woke up Anna (yes she slept through it all) to get out and look at the damage. After a call to 911 I started to look for the owner of the car. After the fourth store I walked into I found him. I told him what happened so we all walked out to wait for the police officer. When Anna saw the car she started to cry, I mean a full on sob. She was so upset about it being broken and worried that we would not be able to take it home. I thought that was an interesting reaction. I am sure now the man thinks we are crazy. He told me "I am still in shock that you stopped, called the police and came to find me." I was thinking to myself "I am shocked that you are shocked I did." Is that what our world is coming too?

Could I have left...well I guess so but what does that say about me? I do try to show my daughter right from wrong. I was wrong, it was an accident and accidents happen. About 20 minutes later the police officer showed up. He asked what happened and I told him then he says "I am shocked you called the police and even tried to find the owner." Really?!

When the police officer showed up Anna started to cry all over again, worrying about me and the car. I reassured that it was okay and that the officer was not mad at me. While the police officer was filling out the report I put Anna in the car to sit until he was done. Anna found the cupcakes I was bring to the party and proceeded to eat the icing off each one which I thought was very cute. The owner of the car that I hit was very nice and I pray that when I am in his situation I can be as kind.

So we scrapped the idea of finding the Russian grocery store and instead proceeded to the party. We stayed for about 2 hours and I could see Anna was getting hungry. She has been so fussy with her eating lately, nothing at the party was something that Anna would eat so back to that crazy area where I had the accident to find a pizza store for a quick dinner for her. We sat we ate, Gerard called to check on us, and I scooped Anna up to put her into the car to drive home. I drove most of the way home on a non-toll road and the rest on the toll road. It was at the first toll that I realized I was missing my purse. Yup you guessed it I left it at the pizza store somewhere between AM's house and mine.

So last night I called the insurance company as well as the bank to cancel my ATM cards, and all the credit cards that I think were in my wallet. Today I will drive up yet one more time and find that darn Russian grocery store that will most likely be closed, and hopefully find my purse. I know yesterday could have been so much worse but I am thankful today is a new day.