Black Friday

Well, I don't have the pictures from Sara or Kaitlyn yet, and Friday's story was wrapped up today, so I'm going to skip over Thanksgiving meal for now, and move on to the aforementioned Black Friday.
It started when Angela and I woke up at 3 AM, to be at Jonas' to meet Shirley, Nicole, Sara & Kaitlyn at 3:15. When we arrived there we realized the Cornell van parked in the street had been broken in to over night and the window was shattered. We arrived at Kohl's at 3:30 and waited in line for the store to open at 4. This was the first time I'd done the whole early-morning-day-after-thanksgiving-crack-of-dawn thing, and an experience it was. A nice, orderly line had formed outside the door, but at about 3:55 some people decided to stand close to the door to be able to budge in when the doors opened. Well, Shirley Jonas would have nothing of that, and directed the entire line to shift to budge out these cheaters. That might the first time I'd laughed that hard that early in the morning. When the doors opened, the worst of humanity came out in the crowd and there was pushing and shoving, and even some pinching I would bet. I was thankful that we were able to laugh at the insanity. I got a couple things at Kohl's, then we moved on to Best Buy, which was insane, and then Starbucks opened, and we were in dire need of caffeine. I got some great doorbusters at Herberger's and then we ran to Target. It was a little past 6 by this time, and I was absolutely amazed how many people were out shopping, and how well organized the stores were. These people were pros.
While shopping with Kaitlyn, an announcement came over the load speaker: "Would the owner of a Red Toyota Corolla, license plate XVI 421, please report to the customer service desk." I told Kaitlyn that was my car, and began walking toward the desk. Sara was somewhere else in the store, but recognized that it was my car, and came running out of an aisle yelling, "Kristin! What happened to your car?!" She went with me to the desk, where a very scared teenage boy stood with two Target police officers. With a very shaky, and still apologetic voice, he explained how he hit my car in the parking lot. I felt so badly for him, and thanked him for coming in and telling me. I got the insurance information, and finished my shopping. (Insert sweet part of the story. He got up early to go get his mom's Christmas present! How cute is that?) We were home by 8:15, when we ate breakfast and then went to bed. I slept until 2 in the afternoon and felt great about it.
As is typically the case with me, each story has a back-story, and this one is no different. About a year ago, I pulled out into the street and hit a car. I've been procrastinating getting it fixed because the idea of spending so much money just so my car looks good was hard for me. But now with the kid hitting my car, I needed to get it fixed. I brought the car into the shop today and explained to the body shop manager that part of the damage was from a previous accident, and asked him to write two separate estimates - one for the boy's insurance company, and one for what I would be responsible for for last year's accident. The manager called me this afternoon and said there was $1,700 worth of damage, but that it was all due/tied to getting hit on Black Friday. What does that mean? I don't have to pay 1 cent to fix my car. I can't believe it! This would cause Grandpa to chuckle, roll his eyes, shake his head and mutter, "Kristin Nicole, these are only things that happen to you."
So I guess the moral of the story is if you hit someone and are responsible for paying for the damage, procrastinate until someone else hits you, and then their insurance company will take care of it for you. Who knew?