Just when I was starting to feel lucky

I think there is something to that ying-yang thing. With the good there is always bad and with karma, what comes around goes around. But still, I was starting to feel lucky.

Although you love all your children the same, it is impossible to treat them the same because they are all very different people. And I think I am lucky to have them be so very different from each other. I take that as a sign that I helped them pave their own path to fulfilling their own dreams, no matter how much I would want something else for them.

I also think there is something to the middle child syndrome. Most people I know have the most trouble with their middle child and mine is no exception. My troubled child's problems are complicated by diabetes. No matter what I will always worry about her medical condition. In the past few years she's totaled two cars while driving with low blood sugar. Luckily for her, no one was hurt and she doesn't remember a thing. She hasn't had a car since she totaled the last one almost two years ago. Since her lousy job pays crap, she can't afford another one and we're done helping her out - or so I thought.

Then something good happened. My employer offers their fleet cars for sale when they start aging. We get an e-mail listing the cars available. They sell them at the price they would get if they traded them in which is very low compared to the blue book value. You put your name in and on a specific date, they draw a name from all those who want it and then you have seven days to come up with the cash and the cars are sold "as is." We got the e-mail and there was a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee on the list. The blue book value is almost $5K and the asking price $1500. I didn't even ask to look at it or whether there was anything wrong with it, I put my name in. I was pretty excited about the opportunity to get Bailee a good car cheap. And a big car that would protect her. And if there was anything really serious wrong with it, at the very least I should be able to sell it and get some profit out of it. The gas mileage didn't really matter because her work is less than a mile from home. But she would finally have some independence that would help her self-esteem.

My excitement waned when I found out there were 12 other people who wanted the car. Fat chance of drawing my name. As I whined to my coworkers about my chances, one of them discreetly said she would be happy to help me out and double my chances. So she put her name in for the car. Of course we told no one. A week later when the e-mail announcement came out and she won I just about flipped. I was so excited, it was hard to contain myself and our little secret. She wanted no one to know so I discreetly gave her the money, she paid for the car, signed over the title and handed me the keys. Wow, just like that. I am so grateful.

I brought the car home and Bailee jumped up and down for two days. We made a deal that she would have to get the insurance on her own and pay me $200 a month even after the car is paid off. I want her to build up a maintenance fund in case it needs new tires or service and at the same time she can learn the value of managing money. She's been giving me money on a regular basis so I can keep it in her "car fund" so I have $700 of her hard-earned cash. The crack-head ex-boyfriend has ruined her checking account by stealing all the money out of it so now she doesn't even have a bank account. I am her bank account. I told her we would do a maintenance overhaul and that money would be used to get the car in the best shape possible. It may need shock absorbers so I warned her about that. She keeps saying, "Good things come to those who wait!" I guess she was right.

So things are looking brighter for her for the first time in a long time. Since she dumped her loser crack-addicted boyfriend, she now has a new boyfriend who treats her nice and has a real future (see The Old Man post). When she called for insurance, she got decent rates, so the price isn't going to suck the life out of her measly paychecks. And she has the freedom to drive without begging to borrow a car. She is ecstatic.

So today my oldest daughter Jen calls me to say she was just in a car accident. She is OK but her car is in bad shape. And there is a problem with one of my mother's lungs. We still don't know when she will be going home from the hospital. And my classmates are arguing about our final project that is due tomorrow. And the pendulum keeps swinging....