And now, the end is near...

The holiday season is almost done and it has been interesting. Christmas Eve dawned with an ice storm and blizzard; our oven went out and we got stranded in a parking lot for 2 hours as we tried- in vain- to dig ourselves out. Of course Dakota had to go to the bathroom while we were digging and there was no place around but the great outdoors where it was 12 degrees and snowing/sleeting with a north wind at 50 m.p.h. Remember that song 'You don't tug on Superman's cape, You don't spit into the wind'? Guess what else you don't do into the wind- especially when your mom is standing near you trying to block the view.

We gave up on the car when at last 2 guys in a monster truck pulled in to help us. As my Christmas gift to you I offer a laugh: conjure a picture in your mind of two short, overweight, middle aged women trying to climb up from the ice without a ladder into a monster truck that was taller than the second floor of our house.

We made it home where we stayed. Christmas day began with the usual opening of gifts and the requisite 'ooos and ahhhs'. Dinner was cooked in shifts as we alternately trudged and gingerly crossed the ice to use our neighbor's oven. We decided to shower before heading out to retrieve my car when we discovered there was no hot water. Then began the suburban version of an alpine inn as we showered at another neighbor's warm house then ran out into the crisp sub-freezing air- not much different than sitting outside in a hot tub surrounded by a picturesque winter scene- well except for the trudging through the snow with your hands full of hygiene products, wet towels and dirty laundry hoping you don't land on your backside as you reach for your underwear which dropped from your arms and are flying down the street.

Despite all that there were many things to be grateful for and proud of. Dakota handled all of this very well. He stayed in the car while we were stuck and helped as much as he could- except for the frequency with which he said "We sure are stuck, huh Mom?" I believe there was a direct correlation between the frequency of the remark and the level of my temper but it could have been coincidence. And as luck would have it Lewis, the man with the truck, was a plumber and he had given us the name and number of the company he worked for, which we dialed first thing Monday morning. He happened to have this gigantic 1989 monster truck/life saver because his brother had given it to him out of gratitude...gratitude because Lewis had given his brother a kidney when his failed. And here was Lewis out using that truck to help others. We were not the first nor, as I found out when Buddy's plumbing sent Lewis to our house on Monday to fix our water tank, were we the last that he helped that day. He wasn't going anywhere or doing anything so he thought he would just go out and help anyone who needed it.

Was all this fate, luck, serendipity or coincidence? Who knows -but isn't that the mystery that is Christmas? And when people ask me what I hope for Dakota, from now on I can say 'I just hope he is like Lewis' and then tell them the story.