Christmas Magic

There was a ton of awesome things that went down in the past week. Unfortunately, New Year's wasn't one of the memorable nights...I didn't get off of work until 12:30am. On a positive note, I the restaurant was only a block away from where they did a huge fireworks show in downtown Denver. I was running because I was working as a valet. Felt like I was in a war! Barely made it out with my life.

The day before New Year's Eve was great. There is an ice rink in downtown Denver that is free admission but you have to rent skates. Unless you own a pair! Check! It was perfect. There was a really slow snowfall that just made the whole experience magical. I love skating. I love snow. Put the two together with a great mix selection of music. Awesome. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if we could have kicked all of the little kids off the ice, got a couple of nets, sticks, and a puck and thrown down an amateur Outdoor Winter Classic. Maybe next year. Sidenote, the Civic Center is awesome every year!

Sunday was our annual post-Christmas family Christmas party. It's really interesting how the dynamics have changed. Maybe it's all of the big gatherings that naturally happen during the holidays that just wear out an introvert like myself. I can certainly hold my own in social situations, but I much more enjoy smaller get-togethers - impossible when both of my parents are from families of eleven children; and their children have children. If my math is correct (counting on my fingers and toes) I think there are fifteen great-grandchildren on top of an estimated fifty grandchildren. Not all of them were present, but a good number made at least an appearance.

Top story of the week: I was listening to KLOVE and they were talking about New Year's resolutions. In place of the usual "I'm going to get in better shape" or the like, they made a suggestion to pray about and choose a word on which to focus in 2011. That was a few days before December 31st. Well, on my drive down to work on January 1st, after I had thought about it for a few days, the word that came to me was "Service." Later that night, I got the opportunity to utilize my word. I was really upset because I was expecting to get off work at around 10pm; long story short, I didn't get off until about 10:45. In the grand scheme, not a huge deal. Beside the point. Anyway, about 2 minutes after I got on the interstate, I saw a car on the shoulder with its emergency flashers on. I was in the far left lane, and didn't decide to stop until I had already passed him. I was able to get over and parked on the shoulder about 100 yards ahead of him.

I ran back and asked him if I could help. As you may have guessed, he needed my assistance. He had a flat tire and was having trouble getting the spare out from underneath the car. In his defense, I had a lot of trouble myself as there was very little light to work with, it being 11 o'clock at night and all. I had to get under the car and guide the tool while he pushed it through the hole to hook it up to lower the tire. That alone took us 20 minutes because it was such a small space and, again, not a ton of light to work with. Our second obstacle came when we began working with the jack. The tire was so flat that the jack was too tall to fit under a strong contact point. I had to get the jack from my dad's car and put it under the axle (not an ideal spot). We used that one to lift the car up a couple of inches in order to get the other jack into a more stable position. Success! I included a picture of my shirt as a metaphor for how dirty and adverse this situation became. The rest of the process went along smoothly and we successfully switched out the good for the bad. Great teamwork between complete strangers. So awesome. A little icing on the cake, after the tire was back on, he got in his car, and the battery was dead. This was a much easier fix. I grabbed my jumper cables, hooked it up, and she was up and running in a matter of seconds. No problem. The man thanked me, "God bless you." He offered me his business card, saying that if I ever needed anything.

As I reflected on the occurrence on the drive home, I realized that all we had done together, there was no way he would have been able to do on his own. And it was COLD! So many people had to have driven past him without a second thought. I'm not gloating or self-righteous, but that is one of the problems in this world. I am guilty of it many times myself. We all ignore other people and the problems that they endure. After all, we have our own problems, right? Here's the thing: We all want other people to help us, whether or not some of us will admit it or not - guilty - well that's a different story. That's an important life lesson. People need to help each other out, and be humble enough to admit when they need help. None of us can do it on our own.

It was not until I was pulling into my cul-de-sac (which is an altogether too complex word to spell) that I realized the connection between my recent experience and the word I had chosen just 10 hours prior to define my 2011. Shivers up my spine. And it wasn't because of the cold, I had the heat on the entire drive home. In addition, the homilee at Mass the next day was about the Holy Spirit working in our lives. "There are no coincidences." There is not a doubt in my mind that my helping that man with his car was the work of the Holy Spirit; there was a reason that I chose my word to be service. I'm sure that my helping with that man's car was the first of many opportunities for me to serve the people around me - strangers or friends, no matter.