A lesson learned

You must know by now that crazy things always happen to me and my family. We are the ones who will almost miss a flight, the ones who will accidentally lock the baby in a 19th floor hotel room, and the ones who will panic over everything. We are Greek, and overly dramatic. We are our very own comedy show.

One New Year's Eve, while leaving the hair salon to go to my parents to get dressed, I hit a car. I decided to continue driving home, because getting out of my car would mean I'd be late and more importantly, ruin my hair. (Don't hate me. I was much younger then, and it was a minor accident!) Also? It's a known fact that New Year's Eve in this city is the coldest day of the year. I got home and as I was running upstairs to get dressed, I sort of told to my parents that I sort of hit someone's car.

Then, the doorbell rang. 2 police officers were at the door, having looked up my license plate number.

My mother and grandmother greeted them at the door, festive music playing in the background. I came downstairs to talk to them. I explaned how I didn't stop at the scene of the accident because I didn't want to ruin my hair, since it was New Year's Eve and all. They laughed. They were offered some kourabies,(Greek sugar cookies) and after they ate them, told me to be more careful next time, and they were on their way.

Things like this always happen to me.

Like last Christmas Eve, Dimitry's first Christmas. We were at my parents house, and Dimitry was taking a nap in the crib upstairs. He woke up, crying. I rushed into the room and noticed his leg was stuck in between the crib rails. I tried to get his leg free, but it would not budge. He was really stuck. He started crying even more, and my panic level began to rise.

"Call 911!" I yell to my mom.
"His leg is stuck! We need some help!"

My mom, panicked herself, calls 911 and tells them what's going on. In the meantime, I somehow managed to get his leg free.

"Never mind! He's okay! His leg is okay!"

My mom told the 911 operators that everything was now okay, however, because the call was placed, and because it involved a young baby, they dispatched emergency workers anyway.

Within minutes, the fire fighters arrived at my mom's house. Imagine Christos's delight to see a shiny red fire truck in front of his grandparent's house on Christmas Eve! It was like an early present.



The fire fighters came in, and again, we offered them some food, since that's what Greek people do. After our short visit with the fire fighters, and after all the craziness, we sat down to our Christmas Eve dinner, laughing about the the experience we just had.

Lesson learned? Always have yummy homemade food prepared in case emergency workers come to your house during the holidays!