Lesson from Big Mama

We have been car shopping lately. Because I feel the need to justify buying a new car, let me tell you about the one I'm driving now. It has been a great car. It is a 1998 Chevy Monte Carlo. Nick bought it brand new when he was a junior in high school because it is red, sporty, and a two-door. I'm sure it was a great car for him when he was little, but we're big kids now. His ten year reunion is coming up (or was it last year?). We're having a baby! And I REFUSE to put a car seat in the back of a two-door car. I REFUSE. Not to mention that it has 130,000 miles on it. It works fine now, but any day now it could die. I guess any car is like that, but still. It's time to have a newer, reliable family car. Have I made my point yet? Oh and to top it off, I just read an article that that car has been recalled because it can catch on fire. Seriously? No thanks.

Anyways, so I decided that I want a Chevy Impala. I got spoiled from all those years I spent driving my mom's lincoln. I really like having a nice big, roomy car. And I like the little antelope-looking thing on the side. Nick had all these requirements (year, miles, engine size, etc) so we've had a hard time finding the perfect car. I'm sorry, this is turning into a really long post just to make a stupid little point. So we went to this dealership in town to the lady that Nick bought his pickup from a few years ago. I asked him why he wanted to buy another car from her, and he said "she's crazy". Doesn't sound like the best reason to buy a car, but what do I know?

Turns out she really is nuts. She remembered all sorts of details about Nick, all from meeting him once five years ago. She had man-like features with a deep smoker voice. She was also very friendly and SO funny. Her name was Karen. She gave me her business card, and it said
Karen "Big Mama" Last name.
Not even kidding! Apparently everybody calls her Big Mama. Her real last name was on the card, but I got stuck on the "Big Mama" part, and I don't think I ever looked at her last name. They had a brand new Impala that was way too much money, but we decided to pretend like we wanted to buy it and took it for a test drive. She was asking about how we met and blah blah. I told her how we had been friends for several years before we started dating. Then she told us about a friend she had when she was younger (I think she is probably in her late forties now) that she was really close to. She said she often thinks about what might have happened if she had married him and what her life would be like now. But at the time, all she cared about was buying drugs and how much alcohol she could drink before she passed out.

After we left - without the car - I was thinking about what she said. It made me think about the decisions I've made, and wonder if I will still regret them in 20 years. Overall, I think I've made some good decisions. Don't get me wrong, I have made my fair share of stupid mistakes. But they were all things I learned from and moved on. At times I wondered if I made the right choices about going to school, but I really feel that I was in the right places at the right times. And if I hadn't moved to Boise, then I wouldn't have met Nick. And I'm glad I did :)

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I am very grateful for the resources I have to make decisions, like prayer, teachings of the gospel, and my family. It's very comforting to know I don't have to do it alone. I'm not smart enough to make all the right choices by myself. And I don't want to be selling cars and wondering "what if". Not that selling cars is a bad thing. Neither is wondering "what if" for that matter. But I like to be able to wonder how things would have panned out, and still be very happy with the way they did.

I hope this all makes sense. If it doesn't, there is one more point to make.

Don't drink or do drugs. Or call yourself "Big Mama".