When life hands you hardships, grab your favorite mug, sip a strong, calming brew, and write a blog. This has been my motto for the last week, which I can honestly say has been a nightmare. For the past year, I have been in a constant state of anxiety and stress because of the hailstorm life has thrown down to obliterate the path I’ve laid out for myself. To give you attentive readers a taste of the alarmingly sharp twist of fate I’ve encountered, I must first warn you that I could not make any of this up even if I tried.

My week started out the same as usual, the simple and most times painful balance of school and work. I was trotting along fine, just trying to make it to the long-awaited weekend. The days were flying by, and I had made it to Wednesday. I had gotten out of my last class early because my professor has taken habit in giving fifteen-minute lectures and just leaving. I’m paying thousands of dollars for a quarter of a class. Isn’t that fantastic? I still had about forty-five minutes until I absolutely had to leave for work, so I sat on campus in my car, catching up on the readings for class the next day. After biding my time, I reluctantly revved the engine, and began the trek.

With sunglasses perfectly placed on the bridge of my nose and the gentle hum of the bass, I rode to the exit at the top of campus. Patiently awaiting my turn at the always busy intersection, I noticed a lull in traffic patterns. With no traffic coming down the hill and a car turning onto campus coming up the hill, I went. The next moment hit me like a two-ton car … literally. Yes, readers, you guessed it; I was in another car accident. I would like to point out that this woman that hit me had her turn signal on for quite a while as she was coming up the hill. Ladies and gents, the only take away I have from this obstacle in my life is that apparently signals mean nothing when it comes to traffic laws.

However, signals mean everything to me. This situation is the perfect metaphor for mixed signals in a relationship of any kind. Don’t lead someone on if you’re not serious about the commitment. This woman lead me on with her turn signal. I was convinced that she was going to make that commitment and turn onto campus. Instead, she shattered all my expectations and crumpled my brand-new car. If you’re wondering, this is one of the many reasons why I have trust issues because do people really mean what they say or do? How can I be sure anymore?

While you coffee addicts contemplate that heavy rhetorical question, let me segway into the next unfortunate event. Recently, my brother came back to the states on a short stint from his military life to receive a form of Lasik surgery. Literally blinded by the light and in excruciating pain, my brother spent about a week in the wonderful city of Monroe, OH, doped up and longingly waiting for his sight to return. My mother and younger brother, made the trip as well to take care of him after his surgery.

Thursday night, with only an hour and a half of sleep under my belt, my phone rings, jolting me out of what I’d like to imagine was a delightful dream. I answered the phone in a trance to the sound of my mother’s labored voice as she tells me that she’s in pain and must call an ambulance, and that I, being the closest to her, must drive the four hours to take care of one blind brother and another with a strange, unidentifiable facial rash. I thought I was dreaming, and looked up at the drop ceiling of my bedroom wondering, “Why, God why?” My poor mother was stuck with one blind child and another underage and itching terribly. However, she made it to the hospital and discovered she had a kidney stone, and all was well with the world again.

I did not have to make the drive that night, but I will never forget this incident because after it happened, I had the perfect comeback for my mother. You see, she scared me half to death with that phone call, and every time I complain to her about a medical issue or extreme fatigue, do you know what she tells me? She calmly says, “Take some NyQuil, you’ll be fine.”

The moral of the story here is that every hardship in our lives happens for a reason. I still haven’t figured out why yet, believe me, I’d like to know at this point. At least I find comedy in the aftermath of my series of unfortunate events, and a cup of coffee, of course.