January

When 2023 ended I was filled with regrets. I guess that's how it goes? One regret was that I hadn't written as much as I would've liked. I have post ideas often, but not the time or energy to do them. Just today I was out, taking a little breather on my own to run some errands. I got into that flow state, in my mind by myself, thinking about things and feeling motivated. I was thinking about that thing of not having written much last year, and then I decided hey why not write Once A Month. Whether you have something or not...well, you make something! Isn't that what it is? The more you do it, the more you do it. And I have to start somewhere.

That blissful flow state of a walk by myself was immediately interrupted as soon as I opened my door. Some kind of issue with the soon to be 10 year old! (Oh that boy!) And mentally, my dreams were dashed.

But then, with the three gone later, and Joey in bed early cause he had no nap...Simon took on our late dinner and told me to go and write. So here I am.

I write for work, it's not like I don't write. You should see my emails! Newsletters. Maybe this is another reason I don't do it here anymore...it seems like...work. But something has been missing. So here I am. I'll try. I'll do.

An easy way to start flexing those writing muscles might be to just tell a story. So, let me just tell you about my Christmas Day! We had a few "Christmas Days", actually. And those periphery ones were great. But on the actual Christmas Day, well...

We had Joey only. It started off quiet, a bit lull-ish. Cause we'd already done most of our present opening, and were going to spend the day just the three of us chilling out before picking up the other three from Matthew's and driving down to my dad's in the States. 

The lull-ish was ok, because we were worn out. We wanted to just enjoy one another's company, good food, get some rest, and prep for more family time. 

But see then Simon and I got in a huge fight. A carry over from the night before. A carry over from some other thing that had been a carry over from something else. The problem with me is I see how so many things are connected! (hahahahahahahahaha) 

Is that a problem?!

I'd love to bore you with the details of that huge fight, but I won't. We both said and did things that were completely undignified (speak for yourself, Megan!) and, well, it ended up being The Worst Christmas Day EVER In My Life. And yeah, I made that clear. 

Hey we don't have doozies like this all that often, but when we do we do it up. How about you?

This is when you think about all those sad Christmas movies. Or those movies that aren't actually Christmas movies, but Christmas is kind of lurking in the background. I love those kind of movies! It's ok if sometimes Christmas is crappy and all you can think is cynically and all you feel is your family is a disaster and all you want to do is get it over with. 

I didn't have that this Christmas season. Just (mostly) on The Day. 

Anyway. So it was the worst. But Joey was super cute and sweet as usual so there's that.

As the late afternoon came, I had to leave the house. I had to go and get our car for our trip. Getting our car for our trip involves getting another car, and then driving that park-anywhere-one to the place where the park-only-here-one is parked, the one I had booked for our trip about a couple weeks prior. I'd booked this new van! I almost went with the usual van, but saw there was a 2024 model near to that one so well why not? Live a little! 

My only concern had been that the van was apparently parked in some parking garage, and that kind of situation always gets me a little anxious. Like, will I find it? How complicated will it be to get into the parking garage, especially on the quietness of Christmas Day? But I took the leap. Megan come on live a little it's not that big of a deal getting a van out of a parking garage hello.

I got there. It had been pouring rain all day. 'Twas the weather for The Worst Christmas Day EVER In My Life. But I found the parking garage quite quickly. It was easy getting into it, too. I held off on my other anxious parking garage thoughts about who might be loitering nearby and suddenly assaulting me, scary movie or TV show style. I mean, the thoughts were there, and I hadn't brought my mace, but I pushed them away. Come on Megan, it's just a parking garage people use these all the time. 

So don't worry, everyone. I didn't get assaulted on Christmas Day!

I did, however, NOT see my van! 

I peered up to the next level. It was a small parking garage. Thank goodness. But: no van. No co-op van in sight. 

This had never happened to me before, in all my years using car shares. I thought maybe I was imagining it. I checked my confirmation email again, to be sure I was in the right place. It had been too easy finding this spot so maybe I was wrong! 

Nope I wasn't!

So, I phoned the co-op. I had booked this van for 3pm, and it was now 5pm--cause we realized we needed to leave a little later...it should've been there. Something was wrong. 

The guy on the phone, after waiting on hold a bit, told me the van should be there, that the last person who'd used it had returned it--according to their records. I'm like, "Well do you want to FaceTime me? I'm standing right here and I don't see it." After this way too long of a call, considering what happened on it, the call dropped! Cause I was in a creepy parking garage! 

I left the parking garage and phoned them back. Stood in the alley under some slight awnings to try and stay out of the rain. Waited on hold for what seemed like a long time, and then had to explain the whole situation again, to a new person. This person then put me on hold over and over whilst trying to locate the van I had booked. Apparently that GPS on it wasn't working and no one knew it was gone? No one knew where it was?

At this point it started to dawn on me that I just needed them to book me a new vehicle. But I kept being put on hold and could barely get a word in. At this point, too, I was cold and soggy and starting to get upset at how my trip to the States was being more and more delayed. I would still need to get this van home, have Simon put the car seat in, pack the car, go and pick up the other kids from their dad's. And then drive 3.5 hours! In the dark rain at night! This really was The Worst Christmas Day EVER.

Anyway, eventually this lady on the phone realized there was no point trying to find the van I'd booked, so she tried to book me a new vehicle nearby. She kept suggesting sedans, though! By now I was crying, saying hey I need a VAN with enough seats for 6 people! That's why I'd booked a VAN!

I was losing it. It had been such a day.

So, she does it, she books me a VAN! The one I usually book. I guess, the one I should've just booked in the first place. Come on, Megan, why'd you try and get fancy with the 2024 van and the parking garage? The lady saves the day for me, but it already feels much too late, as I was an hour into this drama by now. She tells me yes go get that next van, it's all ready for you, you'll be able to get in. She apologizes for the inconvenience, which seems like much more than an "inconvenience" at this point. I ask her if there's anything else we need to discuss (realizing she's just listening to me cry), and she says no it's all sorted, and so we get off the phone. I'm walking in the rain, practically no one is out, and I'm sobbing.  Just devastated at how this day has been. I phone Simon, who I'd been keeping posted via text this whole time. He clearly feels awful for me. Our fight from earlier had disappeared into the background, with this new trial to get through together. And I was starting to feel some relief knowing I'm a few blocks away from my van. 

The van! I get to the van, it's parked where it always is, right there on the street nice and easy to find!  But when I get to the windshield and put my fob on it...it doesn't open. Must be my imagination. I do it again. I rotate the fob. I check the time. Isn't this my van? 

I phone the car co-op again. I get someone else, some other poor sap having to work on Christmas Day. Having to deal with me. I tell him the short story, just that my booking won't open. He looks into it. Says it doesn't look like this van is booked in my name! Someone else has it booked! (Then why is it parked in its spot????)

Ok so then I have to give him the whole run down. I beg him not to put me on hold! He doesn't (for awhile). 

While he looks into it, not putting me on hold thank you very much, I stand there in the rain, luckily there's a bus stop at this spot that I can sit and be under cover at. I stare into the drizzly street, sparsly trafficked, and think I must be dreaming. This can't be real. It's too bizaare.

I'm not a weed smoker, because the handful of times I've tried it I just get paranoid. On it I feel like maybe I've died and am going to be walking around in this paranoid bizarre way for eternity. Or, I feel like the person I'm with is probably going to murder me. No matter how well I know them. 

This felt like that kind of ridiculous situation. Like, this is so horrible and bizarre it just cannot be real. This cannot be happening to me.

The worst was feeling like the people who were helping me on the phone merely thought it was an "inconvenience" they were dealing with. "Apologies for the inconvenience." They were not treating it with the urgency and care I felt it needed! They seemed just so fumbly and inept and disjointed and like their hands were just thrown up in the air like that one emoji!

To make a long story a bit shorter, this guy does finally me a van. After not realizing I need a van ("We have a 5 seater sedan at...", "No!"). After hinting that he wasn't even been looking IN THE WHOLE CITY for a van for me, that he was only looking within walking distance of where I was and coming out with nothing! Hello! I just need a van I don't care where it is just scour the city I know you have lots of vans!!! It's Christmas Day and I'm thinking I have to cancel my trip and then I have to let down 12+ people! I booked my van well in advance where is it???

At one point the guy tells me they may have found it--my 2024 van. They may be able to get it for me. There's no other van for my time frame available...so, ok great! So where is it, my 2024 van? How much longer will I have to wait? "Like...is it IN VANCOUVER?"

"Hang on, let me find that out," he tells me. And does put me on hold this time. 

Ummm yeah like why wouldn't you have checked this before getting my hopes up?

The van 

Is In Whistler.

Just what I'd thought from the beginning...someone stole it. I'd never had this experience with this car co-op before. Never ever ever. So I just knew it had to have been stolen.

Anyway, like I'd said, this guy does finally get me a van. A van available for the duration of my planned trip. I just have to get another short term car and go downtown and get it.

I get it, drive home, we do all the stuff, and we pick the kids up at 9pm to head to the border. We get to my dad's Christmasy haven by 1:00 am and then have the loveliest 2.5 days of The Best Christmas Stuff. No fights, just the good kind of Christmas movie stuff. 

It turns out to be a good story, doesn't it? And, a week or so later the co-op credits me $140. This guy tells me they have protocols to deal with this kind of thing and the people clearly didn't follow them. They should've worked to get a me a new van right away. They put me on hold way too much. He says he listened to the calls (3 hours worth!) and at that at some points he just "couldn't listen anymore" hinting around how awful he felt for me. I remember how much I'd sobbed on the phone. Snot dripping out my nose, tears streaming down my face. I wanted to give my kids this trip for Christmas. They love going to their Grandpa's. I had felt so unimportant. Unworthy of help. Money doesn't fix it, but it sure helps! (Let me tell you, too: at first they implied they were merely giving me a $20 credit! Ha!? So, YES money does help! Once they upped it I knew.)

It doesn't end here, though. So leave now if you think it should. 

After the blissful Christmas Periphery celebrations with more family, we headed back north. Still feeling bad that I hadn't visited my old friend from university on the way home from our summer trip, I suggest we stop by when we pass through Seattle. Simon does mention how great the traffic is, how we're making such good time...maybe we don't mess with it by stopping? But I'm trying to prove to myself that I can be spontaneous. That I can pop by like old times and visit a friend! Surprise her if she's home! I mean, didn't people used to do that kind of thing? Simon's fine with it, so is everyone else. Hey maybe this means we'll stop for food (they're thinking)?

I don't remember her exact address, and I don't want to phone her and spoil the surprise, so we pull over somewhere with wi-fi (I'm not paying for data on a Canadian plan in the States!) and get it from an old messaging thread. We then drive over, easily finding it cause I'd been close already in my intuition. The street is one of those narrow Seattle ones, with parking on both sides, so if two cars are driving through one has to wait. No one else is driving through, though, so I keep going. I almost pull into a parallel parking spot (I'm good at this kind of parking, having lived in Seattle many years with a car most of that time) but I decide hey don't risk it in this new 2024 van that's kinda large anyway, just pull in behind that car up ahead, in the spot near a driveway so there's no one behind me!

I pull in. Scraaaaaaaaaaaaape. Crunch. "Oh shit." I try backing up out of this mess I'm in, only to hear the van and car I'd just side swiped pulling in to this LARGE SPOT WITH PLENTY OF SPACE scrape and crunch some more. No way to reverse without hearing that awful noise. I do so, then reposition myself to pull in to the LARGE SPOT WITH PLENTY OF SPACE properly, this time. The damage had been done, though.

We look around, to see if anyone is out and about, or if anyone is coming out of their home yelling. Simon gets out and checks the car I'd scraped. A piece on the front bumper had been bumped off--and the van has some slight scrapes on the side. Thankfully they look less-so as we buffer them clean with our hands. Are there slight dents too? There should be, from the sounds of it. 

Still, no one has come out. I consider going and knocking on doors, but there are so many tiny houses on this street, I have no idea. 

Instead, I do what I'd intended and go to find my friend. I knock a few times, their lights are on, their dog is home. Yes!! 

But no one answers. Alas, all my live-a-little,-Megan has gotten me is this trouble. We should've kept driving; Simon was right. 

He doesn't say so (that much)...but I sure do!!

Still no one has come out. I don't have any paper to leave a note, I know this, but inside I'm thinking that's what I should do. Also inside I'm thinking well hey no one is coming out, we've been here 5-10 minutes...my friend's not home...the van's marks are minimal and maybe no one will notice?? So, we leave.

We leave, filled with guilt. The kids are in the van too, I mean--you know that. But it's good to point out here. What Are We Even Role Modeling?! We all talk through it. We talk through the why we are just leaving. Oh hey I won't even mention it to the co-op, but if they bring it up I'll let them know what happened. Of course. But OFFER the info if it might not even be notice-able? 

Simon, though, mentions he has some paper, and a pen. We all know what we should do. So, after having agonizingly driven a few blocks away, we drive back. To leave a note with our contact info. 

Just as we get back to that street, and I'm pulled over writing the note, I see a guy standing right outside my window. Yikes that feeling was horrible! 

"Hi," I roll down the window, his face looks none too happy, but also ready to be civil. "I'm so sorry, we just came back to leave a note. No one was out..."

"Thank you for coming back, someone hit me in that same spot a few weeks ago and they didn't leave me any contact info. They just left. And I just got my car back from the shop for that..." he tells me. "Thank you for coming back!"

Turns out he'd already phoned the car co-op, cause some neighbour of his had seen the whole thing and taken pictures and sent him! (Hello! Why didn't this neighbour just come outside and talk to me and get him while we were there?? For like 10 minutes!)

Gosh good thing I didn't try and not tell the co-op...this guy had already reported it!

Good thing we came back. I sure felt better, and the kids saw what the right thing to do was. And how sometimes the gut doesn't want to do the right thing if we can get away with it...but how that would plague a person (it would have!) and lead to more problems. Just face it! From the get-go.

We get to chatting, exchange information. I tell him why we're even on his street--to visit these friends.  Turns out he knows them! Plays soccer with he husband, and his daughter babysits their daughter! 

Oh gosh good thing we did the right thing. 

When all's said and done we take the kids to get some food. Relieved at having done the right thing, but now kinda grouchy about the whole fiasco. "I should've never pulled off the freeway," I keep grumbling. Worried about money now. Worried about the nuisance I'd caused. Mad at my carelessness in pulling in to that REALLY BIG SPOT. (My only car accident in life was when I was about 17 and my parents were out of town and I decided to use the car anyway even though I wasn't supposed to and we also weren't supposed to have boys over but I was driving my sister's boy-FRIEND who she had had over back home at night in the dark and seriously we all almost DIED--and the front bumper got damaged...not my WORST almost died in a car experience...but the one I got caught about...hey, another blog post? Hey, I have teeeeeeeeeenagers! Eeeeeeeeek!!) We go to this yucksville fast food place, I don't know, perhaps to assuage our guilt at having been such horrible role models for the kids for those few minutes? (The irony.) Buy back their respect?! (hahahahahahaha)...ugh just the WORST place. Ok I'll say it: Jack in the Box. Brought back all my old memories of that being my first job way back when. The same frikkin' lay out and everything. Simon almost has a heart attack at how much the (hey isn't fast food supposed to be CHEAPER) food costs. And then he forgets the drinks as we drive away. (When did Greenwood get so scuzzy, by the way? It was like we were in a spread out version of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside! It was like we were in...VANCOUVER!) I did not eat anything. No Me Gusta.

My rule of let's not eat in the van, too, totally broken. As all we want to do now is get the hell outta Seattle. The hell outta the States. Home sweet home please!!!

You know, in both directions our border waits were basically non-existent. So was traffic. That is amazing, and did not go unnoticed.

The three big kids go back to their dad's that night, and Joey Simon and I take the van, which we still have booked until late into the night, to a shopping mall (ugh!) a good driving distance from our place, so I can use a couple of gift cards Simon had gotten me (for my birthday and now for Christmas). That was lovely. I hate shopping malls, but you know what I got some good stuff and Joey and Simon were so patient. 

Back at home, all is peaceful. The car co-op sends me an email about the "accident report" and I do all the things. Turns out they don't see any dents in the van, only little spots that can be rubbed out. They're not charging me anything!!

My friend messages me too, "Hey Megan, I heard you were in town."

Ha! Yes, yes I was. I made it. 

And I made it back home, too. We all did, safe and sound. 

The fights, the failures-not-failures of trying to stretch myself (live-a-little get that van, be spontaneous!), The Worst Christmas Day Ever that is kind of humourous, actually--the stories we all have together, and the beautiful visit with family all mixed in. Now, too, whenever I pull in to a parking spot I'm much more cautious.

Happy January! 

PS Natalie, I really owe you a visit. Next time I'll call and schedule it first?

 

(There, I did it.)