The Year I Grew

On December 26, 1979 I experienced a moment that defined the coming year. And yeah, my life hasn't been the same since.  My younger sister, Laura and I were involved in a car accident on State Street in downtown Salt Lake City. It was my fault, but lucky for all involved we all walked away basically unharmed. My car spent a month in body shop at Rick Warner in downtown Salt Lake City.
Soon after getting my car back, my dad died. Yes, it sucked losing my dad at 21 years of age. and I still miss him. But he is okay and I am basically okay too. 
A month later, I had another accident as I was driving home to Idaho. It spent another month in a body shop in the Mini-Cassia area. When I got the car back, I lost my job at Rick Warner. Yeah, that really sucked too. I got two weeks severance pay and a week’s worth of unemployment pay, which is a lot less than a week's worth of regular pay. I found another within the month, but I took a cut in pay. At least my new paycheck was more than what my unemployment check was. I did meet people in that job that I would not have met otherwise, so I did have doors of opportunities that opened for me. Somewhere in the drama of the changing career event, I found out my Grandma Boice had brain cancer. My mom went to LaJara, Colorado to take care of her parents. While she was there, my brother Mike took care of Jay and Laura, who were middle school age. Over the July 24th weekend of 1980, Mike drove his younger siblings and me to Colorado (but not Mary, who was raising a family in Washington state and Steven, who was on a mission.) We visited with my Mom and some of her family. It was sad to see my Grandma. She couldn't talk, but she could understand us. She had no hair. Before labor day, we all said good bye to Grandma. It had to be hard on my mom losing her husband and her mom in a six month period. I think she drew on the strength her mother taught by example.
When I was driving home from Christmas 1980, I heard Barry Manilow on the radio singing "I made it thru the rain" and it hit me. I made it thru a difficult year. I grew in unexpected ways. I had experienced trials before like death of a cousin, uncles and a neighbor before that awful year, but not this closely related. Looking back at that year, I realized at 22 years of age that I didn't want to go back to the life before December 26, 1979. Life before had it challenges, but none that had strengthen me like 1980 had. I learned what having faith was. And I am still learning about faith.
Now in 2012, I look back and I cry for the young adult who had to experience that difficult year. It wasn't fair, but that if life; it throws foul balls at the spectators. But I also look back at that young adult self and I realize I wasn't alone. My family, my friends, my church were supporting me in my time of need. I could not have faced that year without their love and support. I knew God was watching over me and loved me. Jesus had and still does wrap his arms around me. I have been blessed with a strength to carry on. My dad loves me still and so do my grandparents. There is hope in the midst of life's storms. (Sometimes the foul balls aren't that bad. A younger Jared got to keep one that hit him. The guy behind Jared thought it was only fair that he did and Jared thought it was awesome that he brought home that baseball.)