Serendipity

Yesterday it was Halloween. A mild autumn afternoon, we carved pumpkins, planned our zombie and witch outfits and made spooky cakes and biscuits for our kids-and-parents party set to take place at nightfall. I love those days with the girls, when the three of us are working away at something, chatting, laughing, helping one another out.

While we were making our dead-finger biscuits, having a cup of tea and discussing the relative merits of green, black or purple nail varnish, someone was outside in the street vandalising our cars.

My beautiful new shiny BMW now has a gouge right the way across the bonnet, down to the metal. Likewise across both panels of the roof, and the passenger door. The Alfa got away relatively lightly, with the same damage to the bonnet only.

Apparently this is a popular way to celebrate Halloween in the 21st century, going about ruining cars. Also on the list: shooting at passers-by with air rifles; standing on motorway flyovers and chucking stones at vehicles; tying fireworks to the tails of cats and dogs; pushing lighted pieces of paper through letterboxes. What a world. The police were clearly already having a terrible day and it was only 4pm.

Normally I'd have been angry - very angry - and upset. I have worked hard to be able to afford nice cars and I treat them with respect. The gouge on the bonnet of the BMW is raw and shocking, like an open wound. Neighbours and people walking by were stopping and looking in horror. It will be expensive and inconvenient to have the damage rectified, and to my perfectionist eye, the Alfa will not look right if only the bonnet is resprayed. The other panels will have faded from the original after all this time, and I'll end up getting the whole car done, I just know it.

But here's a really odd thing. Only yesterday I had been reading a fellow blogger's post on damage to his car (even more oddly, looks like the same Alfa as mine....I think it was after a Halloween party....how spooky is that?) He talked about the way he dealt with a similar incident, his philosophy on life and its ups and downs. It was a well written, thoughtful piece and I'd been pondering it anyway.

And now here I was, facing the same situation. I decided to try out the philosophical approach - here's an issue to be dealt with, don't let it tip me overboard. I stayed calm, phoned the police to get a crime reference number, checked the other cars in the road to see if others had been damaged (no, just mine). Did not rage, shout, weep or gnash my teeth with frustration. Sorted it out then carried on baking, tidying up the house, chatting with the girls. The most notable thing that happened was that He was also much calmer, we didn't whip each other up like we might usually have done. He sulked upstairs because I wasn't angry enough, but I didn't take any notice of that. I had a nice friendly chat with the policeman (not his fault, after all, so no reason why I should yell at him just to let off some frustration, right?) And the afternoon was not ruined, the party went ahead, a good time was had by all.

Coincidence? Serendipity? Synchronicity? Call it what you will. Funny how someone can be a positive influence from 100 miles away and 4 years ago.