Sunday I learned my friends daughter lost her battle with Melanoma. She was diagnosed in May and she is already gone. Would you please pray for my friend Kathy and her family. Friday will be the funeral and Friday evening her grandchildren will be moving out of state to live with their father. I can't imagine burying my daughter and then feeling like my grandbablies are being ripped from my arms as well.
I don't have one single Christmas present purchased yet. I have no desire to shop for anyone either. I wish I could just write a check and send it to a charity. The grandkids have more than they can possibly wear or play with. I'm leaning towards a trip someplace when it gets warmer and I don't have to worry about driving in the snow or ice.
I'm paranoid about driving my van on icy roads. About 6 years ago I went to our office Christmas party. It was at our office managers home way out in the country on some rarely traveled road. About midnight I decided to head home. As I loaded the crockpot containing left over meatballs into the back of the van I almost slipped. We had recieved some freezing rain, which meant I was going to have to drive really slow.
About 5 miles down the road I hit a slick spot and the van started fish tailing. I couldn't get it under control and I spun in a complete circle and somehow the vans back tires slid off the road and the entire van landed upside down in a ditch.
As the van was spinning I did notice I was in front of a house. When the van finally came to a stop I took a breath and determined I was okay, and then tried to get out of my seat belt as I was hanging upside down. It would budge. Probably because all my weight was pulling on it. I reached around in the dark and managed to turn on the dome light.
I could see my cell phone laying out of my reach, but beside me was my purse with a long strap, so I began trying to lasso the phone. It worked and I pulled it to me.
I should have know it wouldn't work. Getting a signal when you are out in the middle of nowhere is difficult, but when you are upside down in a ditch its impossible.
I kept honking my horn hoping the homeowners would hear me. And I kept praying. I wasn't sure how much longer my coworkers would be staying. I was sure someone was getting their coat on as I was going out the door. Surely they would be coming down the road and see my lights.
I was starting to get cold. Then the thought hit me. What am I going to do if I have to go to the bathroom. Of course thinking about it makes you have to go, so I started praying harder and louder. I was even calling in all my favors from my dead ancestors.
40 minutes later I heard a car door and a voice holler "Is anyone in there"
"Yes, but I can't get out"
The next thing I knew a man had jumped into the ditch and was beside my window.
"Can you open the window?"
I had power windows and evidentally in my upside down cofusion instead of turning the engine off I turned it to accessories. The window opened.
The man laid on his back and was able to reach in and while I held myself up by pushing against the steering wheel, he was able to unlatch the belt, get out of the way, and then I dropped down.
My van was full of all my real estate files and when the tow truck pulled the van out of the ditch it looked as though I had wall papered the inside with my purchase agreements and other legal documents.
Durning the night we had a fresh snow. After church I went to the yard where they had towed the van so I could retrieve my belongings. A very nice man walked me out to the van.
The papers were still stuck to the windows and it looked like I had every paper ever written in there. It was a mess. As he opened the sliding door on the passenger side, something fell into the snow. It was big brown clump resembling a turd. The man looked down and when he lifted his head his eyes were about to pop out.
It's a meatball!" I said. "I was carrying a crockpot full of meatballs."
He started to laugh "Whew, For a minute I thought you had a dog in that mess to!"
1 comment:
I keep reading things that I never knew about. I keep thinking 'geez I should have known this'! For example, you mentioned an apartment a few months ago. I didn't know you moved! I suck as a relative!
We rolled our van almost exactly the same way. We ended up sideways though, so my seatbelt did give way. Den was in the back seat and not wearing a seatbelt so he was tumbled around like laundry in a dryer. We had no jackets as we'd been shopping in Traverse City and it was freezing. When we finally made it home Den was stark white. I was worried he'd go into shock. he was not very coherent either. I made him sit in his chair and I gave him brandy. He finally started chatting, but he was still ghostly white. I gave him more brandy and fixed him something to eat. I mean food cures everything right? His pallor didn't improve and I was thinking that I should perhaps take him to the doctor. I cupped his face in my hands to ask if he thought he should go and when I drew my hand away he had a rosy palm print on his cheek! I'd bought all my things for Christmas baking while in TC and one of the many bags of flour I bought had burst in the roll and he had a fine film covering him! We still laugh about that! He said he knew all along and just wanted the food and brandy!
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