Celebrate Good Times: a Hiccup

So, that embarrassing moment I was talking about?  It was quite the set back and the embarrassment was more because of the stupidity involved than anything truly humiliating.  So, here's the story.  I awoke Friday morning before the alarm, excited to leave for the beach by 7 AM.  The car was mostly packed, thanks to a late night pulled by Chris and Brendan.  We hauled the last few things to the car, woke the girls, made beds and tidied things a bit.  In the process of straightening, I came across a compact I'd bought.  I fumbled with it and dropped it on the floor where the tiny mirror broke neatly in half.  The threat of seven years' bad luck passed through my mind but since I'm not overly superstitious (though I do avoid walking under ladders and stepping on cracks), I decided not to go fearfully back to bed.  Bad decision.  Ten minutes later (at 7:15), we pulled out waving madly to Grandma and Paka and stopping briefly at the end of the drive to put away a few stray bikes.  Chris arrived back at the car holding my green back pack.  I asked joyfully, "Where did you find it?", very glad I hadn't left it behind because it holds all of my electronics--my ipod, computer, camera equipment, cords, you get the idea.  Chris' rueful look said it all, "I think you ran over it."  This is the embarrassing part.  I did indeed leave my back pack close to the side of the car, waiting to put it in when I climbed in the passenger's side.  Instead, I took first shift driving, forgot about the back pack and clipped the side of it as I gleefully headed out to the beach.  My ipod touch was shattered beyond belief.  I wish I'd taken a picture of it before Chris tossed it.  In the moment, that was the most devastating to me because I had put together a special play list for the beach.  Other casualties included the distance lens for the camera, our main ipod that holds our full library and of course, my computer.  We still aren't sure about the extent of the damage to the computer but are hoping to salvage it.
So--the positives.  Number one--I did not run over one of the kids.  I can be absent minded and distracted enough that that is not entirely out of the realm of possibility.  I know it has happened to some families.  Thank God for guardian angels.  Number two--incredibly, my camera was not in the back pack.  It always is when I am not using it but for some reason, Friday morning, it was sitting safely on the floor between the front seats of the van.  Thank God again.  I am all the more grateful for the great shots I got at the beach.  Number three:  my laptop is old as computers go, purchased in 2006.  It has worked well enough for me but we were in the market for another computer for home schooling anyway.  Thank God it wasn't brand new and that I have a very generous brother in law who is working on retrieving our data.
We calculated our losses at $2000+ but the incident did not ruin the week or even the day for me or Chris.  I had already decided to take time off from blogging and was able to borrow an ipod for running.  In fact, I've run with Madeleine's a few times since that fateful Friday and have discovered songs new to me that I never would have heard were it not for that mirror and my bad luck.  Or good luck.  It's hard to say.