To the Blueberry!

Right after Christmas this year, I got into a pretty bad car accident. Travelling back from home to make it to Ann Arbor for work is a three hour drive that would have been greatly compounded by an intense sleet storm, but most bosses (mine included) wouldn't care that I had decided to spend an extra day with my family for the holiday, I was supposed to work.

And this was a place that didn't close on Christmas, if it helps to paint the picture in your imagination.

As most moms would have, mine forbid me to head out with the storm pelting half-frozen sludge on the windows, but I assured her, guiled her, got angry at her, and finally convinced her to let me out of the front door.

Yeah, I got about ten miles before I hit a patch of ice and swerved off the road, hitting the ditch after having spun 180 degrees to face the direction I had just been traveling in, like my trusty car knew where I was supposed to be headed: home. How ironic.

I rolled and crunched down the steep ditch bank (if you've never visited rural Michigan, here's a human for scale...).

Seriously, they're huge. I got this picture from the Nature Conservancy where they have a special project set up just to level them out. The one I drove into was a bit larger.

Before I hit the point of being upside down in my car, my only thought was, "S&*#, I should have listened to Mom...." Not exactly the last thought you want to have on earth as a conscious human being, but there it was.

Thankfully, I walked out of the wreck with a sore back and minor bruising across my shoulder--Always wear your seat belts, kids!--but the passenger side of the car was smashed in, almost every window had been shattered, and I would be shaking shards of glass out of my hair for the next couple of days. Without having to take a second look at it, my step-dad knew the car was totalled. Also, I lost my Blind Melon CD. By far the greatest tragedy of the night.

So for the next couple of months I was on the market for a new car, just like every other driver in Michigan who experiences the snowy roads of death. It was slim pickings and I had almost resigned to wait until later spring to purchase a new car, not ideal, but more practical. Then I stumbled across the new Fiat... Oh, what a beauty. I knew I had to have one. I had never been a VW Bug fan, but something about the Fiat 500 struck my fancy in a strong way. Maybe it was the excellent gas mileage, or perhaps the cute as hell design, or more likely, it was the most unique compact car I had ever seen.

The long of the short, after weeks of research, haggling, and convincing my family, particularly my step-dad how safe it was and how easy it would be to park in the city, and how the gas mileage was amazing and how by golly, I am an environmental major and just doing my part to save the planet, I purchased my new car.

The ultimate kick was when I took it home and my step-dad drove it and came out admitting it was a cute little car, and probably well-equipped for city living. Success!!

Most recently I have started working with a construction company. This is the beginning of my big-girl life with a full-time job. The past few days, I've been shadowing the crew on-site as they retrofit houses for new insulation and other energy-saving renovations.

Let's keep this in mind; my first day, I show up, a skinny little young girl hoping to fit in with many of these middle-aged burly men....and I pull up driving this:

Doesn't it just scream, "Take me seriously!" Look it's even all dirty and muddy and rugged.