A Slow Motion Replay

A couple less U-Turns is all it would have taken to avoid losing my car. I had just purchased my 2000 Volkswagen Jetta about 5 months ago. In that amount of time I genuinely loved it as much as someone should love a material possession. Mr. Darcy wasn't even used to his name yet before the inevitable happened to him. It is funny how little decisions could have changed a lot, but what happened happened and one just has to accept it. Here is my account of the story.

My friends, Alisa, Lis, their mom Sue and I were shopping in Maple Grove yesterday afternoon. We were headed back to the freeway to go home when it happened. It was a traffic light, there was a separate right hand lane to turn right with a yield sign. I was going to turn right onto Hemlock from Elm Creek Blvd but the light changed and I didn't want to gun it to make it in front of the cross traffic. I slowed down and came to a stop, a second later we were all thrust violently forward.

I was hit. I sat their in disbelief staring at my car radio that had popped out of its case. A car horn was blarring and I wondered why the person was still honking at us after the fact. I looked to see if everyone was okay and I we all got out to see the damage. There was a large white SUV behind us and a man got out and opened his hood. His horn was broken so it was blaring and he was trying to figure out how to get it to stop. Everything after that was sort of a blur. Alisa started to call the police. They were their so quickly that I knew they must have been close by.

The damage was horrible, the back window was shattered and the trunk pushed in. Most of the damage was done on the right hand side. At first I had an overwhelming sense of guilt, as if I could have done something different to prevent it. I stopped, cross my arms on the top of my car and laid my head down on my arms. I could not cry but I stood there with my head down. Lis came over to give me a hug. I was so glad I wasn't alone, although I didn't like to have any of my friends go through that.

A tow truck arrived seemingly to come out of no where. The police were asking questions and getting all of our information. I asked everyone "there was a yield sign wasn't there?" I was worried that it was my fault, but no, I was not at fault there was a yield sign and I was simply obeying the laws and yielding to traffic. We started to gather all of our belongings out of the car.

Alisa had just bought some supplies at the pet store. "Do you want the rabbit hay in the trunk?" I asked her, "Oh yes!" she replied. One of the policeman heard a part of the dialog and exclaimed, "you have a rabbit in your trunk?" We all laughed at the thought. Alisa said that you don't put animals in your trunk.

We were trying to get stuff out of the trunk by opening the back seats. I told the policemen that we had a t-shirt press for my dad's business in the trunk. They decided they were going to get it out for me and they went to work. I wasn't paying too much attention to what they were doing. (I was trying to make sure I didn't leave anything important in the car.) Sue told me later that she thought the men had a ton of fun using a crowbar to open it up the trunk and to pry the press out. All our belongings were put on the side of the road.

Oddly enough I remember to look for my Scotland window cling. It came a long ways to be on my window, I looked back at the pile of glass by the turn lane. Alisa saw it and went and rescued it for me. For some reason it was important to me to have.

We were a pretty cheery bunch for what happened to us. After knowing everyone was basically okay it wasn't hard for us to make jokes and keep it happy. I still wanted to cry, the car that I had waited prayed for was a mess. I managed to hold it together. The police told me that they were going to send for an ambulance come by to check me out.

My Dad was out of town so our friend Mike came to pick us up, he gave me a hug and I then I felt my emotions overwhelm me, I just wanted to be gone from that place so I could cry. The ambulance got there so I stepped in and they took my vitals. Everyone else said they were fine. Our stuff was loaded into Mike's car while I was in the ambulance. I shook the policeman's hand, told thank you for his help and then walked to Mike's car and got in with everyone else.

I told them I wanted to cry, and then I did. But it didn't last too long because I realized two other great things to be thankful for that were quite humorous. I thought it was a great thing that I didn't get an oil change that day, and I was talking about getting a car wash for a week. Both services would be quite wasted considering... Haha. Thank God for that.

I am so thankful to God that everyone is okay, we have some soreness and a few bruises but no major damage. Alisa and Sue had some glass they had to empty from their clothing. No blood, always a good thing. I am so thankful for how comforting my friends were.

Well I am back to how it was last summer. No car and I will have to embrace the bus Metro Transit bus system for a while. Hopefully people won't mind picking me up occasionally. I am praying that the insurance stuff goes through quickly!

My poor car! Mr. Darcy! I wanted him to die from old age. Alas, it was not meant to be.




(So I was slightly embarrassed about the two bags of garbage I had in the trunk.)

Flight NW117 to Phoenix- There's palm trees outside folks!

I don't think I have ever had such an uneventful trip, as my plane ride to Phoenix Arizona. Unless you count as an event the man that wouldn't wake up to allow me passageway to the lavatory. But eventually we had some turbulance and he woke up. (Thankfully) But that isn't that exciting. I got into the airport checked in went to my gate and took off. I was excited to see my friends Erich and Danneth Hofmeister but was encompassed in a book as I flew. My plane arrived 24 minutes early (when does that ever happen?), but it was still late. 11:24pm, 12:24 my time.

I didn't realize how accustomed I had become to seeing snow. When I arrived and looked out the window it didn't looke like a frozen wasteland. Instead I saw palm trees and greenery, the last palm tree I saw was in Scotland. Not that I expected to see a blanket of snow outside, but it still was odd to see a different landscape.

I realized once again that it is nice to have bright purple luggage. The Hofmeisters arrived shortly after I aquired my bags. They then took me on a wonderful unscheduled tour of the one of the shifty parts of town as well swinging through downtown Phoenix. Unscheduled a.k.a. - we took a wrong turn and didn't quite know how to get back to where we were going a.k.a. - we were slightly lost.

I will most likely be keeping up on my blog if anyone would like to continue to read. For those on facebook the main location of my blog is hilldancer.blogspot.com. I think it is nicer to read on there. It automatically transfers to the notes on facebook so you can check that out. I realize that this trip is not as exciting as previous ones. But I love to write so if you want to read I will try to provide.

I Always Knew I Was a Saint

Ali and I laughed when we saw St. Hilary's House right next to Allison's Bed and Breakfast. Both were spelled wrong. She said she would give me the extra "l" in Allison to put in my name. Then they both would be spelled correctly. Her building looked a whole lot better than mine.

I looked up St. Hilary of Poitier, it was a little disappointing to find out he had a cult started after him. But it was interesting to find out that the name Hilary means happy and cheerful. Also that it came from the world hilarious. I wonder if I live up to my name?

Afternoon Nap

This afternoon I decided to take a nap. However, my mind was running at such a rate that my attempt was made to no avail. I laid there for probably an hour and a half or more. I looked around the room a couple times and noticed two of my roommates asleep. We designate our afternoons in our room to sleep and study. I finally decided to be productive. I flipped on my bedside lamp, took out my book Jane Eyre, and started to read.

This seemed to cause a chain reaction in the room. Novia (pronounced Nova) turned her lamp on and later Ali stirred as well. We chatted for awhile after seeing everyone was awake. I told them my frustration with not being able to sleep. Ali said that she thought I was asleep from looking at me. She could not fall asleep either and was trying to lie quietly so as to not wake me. I laughed and exclaimed, "We could have been talking all this time!" For Ali and I love to talk to each other. Then Novia said that she too thought we were both asleep. She exclaimed that we looked so sweet in our slumber and she wished that she could have fallen asleep like us. But sleep had eluded her as well.

Therefore three of the five roommates of room 101 in Dalkeith Palace attempted a nap for one and a half hours, but none of them were able to achieve this envied state of being. I suppose we shall sleep extra hard tonight.

My dear friend Stasha

This blog is dedicated to my friend Stasha.

God really blessed me through her. One my computer I haven't had any Microsoft office programs. I have been using Word pad for all of my document needs and really it is very minimum about what you can do with it. No spell check and the way the paragraphs are laid out and everything is terrible.

We were at the lake house where we had spent the night. Stasha and I had our computers out on the counter and were doing computery type stuff together. I was complaining about wordpad and how I was going to buy office. She said that she just got it, I asked her if it was legal to let me use it. She said she wasn't sure. But then she exclaimed that she had an extra copy of Microsoft Office! And she just happened to have it with her. Somehow she had a mix up with her computer and received another one in the mail when she already had one. So I received a brand new unopened Professional Microsoft Office 2007! Thank the Lord!!

I would have most likely have had to buy it within the next couple weeks. I was so thankful to her and to God to have it work out this way. Because it saved me about $130, and that was just the student edition. I received an edition that was much better!

I love my friend she is so giving. I am glad I got to spend more time with her this week.

Thanks Stasha!!

Kudos

Kudos to good friends.

Wedding Day!

Science Museum

Yesterday was a fun day. Katy, Mike and I took the two boys I take care of, Jeremiah and Nathan Lucas, to the Science Museum of Minnesota. Here are some fun photos of us there.


All of us and the Dinosaur bones








Katy and I lounging on some couches and cuddling with some near by friends.

Nathan getting a kiss from a polar bear, and giving him a big hug.







Mike and the boys playing a xylophone



We found this on Grand Ave when we went to eat lunch.

A friend filled Valentine's Day

This Love Day (as my sister calls it) was one of most fun Valentine's days of my life. My friend Katy agreed.

I woke up blessedly late, and found the house empty. It was a beautiful morning of quietness, with lovely worship music floating through the house. I was a little on edge despite the calm- I was supposed to teach/preach at youth group that night.

Whenever I have a time I am supposed to share in front of people I have that "wonderful" feeling of unrest- like when you have homework that is due soon but you put it off and aren't fully done. That was my feeling. Although I had shared almost the same message the weekend before at the Young Adult Retreat. This was a different group and the God wanted to be shared wouldn't be the same.

My friend Katy two Monday's before had ankle surgery and this week was the week that I was helping to take care of her. It was something I really enjoyed. The night before was our first night apart. She stayed at her apartment and I went home for the first time in 6 days (I babysat Thur. night, had the retreat Fri-Sun, then stayed at her house Sun-Tues.)

Despite our distance that day we still managed to talk a lot. We were planning the night and wanted to make is special for the kids and have them know they were loved. It took a lot of phone calls and planning- approximately around 12 or more calls were put through. Some only minutes apart. I laughed every time her face popped up on my phone again.

The night was amazing- God moved and I got it all out!! We had to rush Carrie home (although it was late-poor dear) and then remembered that I had to buy contact solution.

Katy and I headed to Walgreens.

I for some reason thought that all Valentine's day things were on sale the day of. We discussed buying each other cards and writing mushy stuff for Valentine's day.

We arrived- I opened all the doors for Katy and her crutches (they were automatic, I am good with weighing the floor down.) After grabbing what I needed I found Katy in the card aisle- V-day things were not on sale.

I was not aware of the obsession with greeting cards the Erickson family has until now. I was soon acquainted with it. Katy told me that her parents would go into the store and show each other what card they would buy if in fact they did. After some laughter we decided to do the same.

Katy soon found many cards to give to me (I had been quite helpful throughout the week so many were about kindness and giving.) I was having trouble getting one for her because she just kept grabbing all the good friend ones! I picked up one to give her "For the Man I love," it brought a large laugh. I love making Katy laugh. Finally I found one card to give her and then another. But she trumped me by showing me about 5 or 6. I am not particularly fond of greeting cards, I would rather write down in a letter or receive a letter, but Katy makes it all fun. I guess that is what all the open space is for. We spent quite some time in that aisle. She then started to show me cards she got before and other ones she liked. It was a blast.

This is ending up to be a long blog. So I wasn't as successful at giving/showing my friend some love. But the next day I swung by Walgreens again- when everything was half off and bought her some chocolate and a lovely little green frog that held a heart that said "Kiss Me" and had a crown. This brought more laughs from her- this gift had several inside jokes and words from God from the previous summer tied into it. I love finding the perfect gift- it is way better than the perfect card... haha

Ah I love my friends. This is Katy and the Love Lobster. Who would buy their love something like that?

Well next week

It looks like it is going to be next week when Danneth comes home... I hope it is Monday on her birthday!!

Photography Friends!

Christmas Shopping Trip

Yesterday I had an amazing adventure shopping with two of my friends Mike and Katy.

The day before I found out I had the next two days off at my nanny job. I could hardly believe it! In talking with my friends we all concured we still had a lot of shopping to do. (Certain people hadn't shopped at all yet.)



Rosedale or downtown were our choices, and even though it was raining pretty hard we chose to go downtown.

The adventure came when we parked 10 blocks from the skyway system- and had to walk, I mean run, to get to a where we were going. It was a load of laughs and a lot of cold air into the lungs.

Our first stop was Marshalls where we quickly loaded a cart full of blankets and other stuff. Realizing that we didn't want to hall all of that around with us we put the entire cart on hold. We looked around the City Center for a little while and then left.

We headed to Daytons, I mean Marshall Fields, sorry I mean Macys, (Wow- that is so confusing) to check out their display this year. It turned out to be Mary Poppins. One of my favorite movies except it was based on the book instead of the movie so it was a little different.
You would have thought us three young adults were kids as we looked around the display- exclaiming over the different things.

We got a little lost in Daymarshacys, and finally found the skyway headed to the IDS tower. The IDS tower is one of my favorite places downtown, not only in the open area is beautiful (there is a lovely fountain of water that falls from the two story ceiling,) but it also is the home of my favorite store the Gap. I laughed inside because my friends kept disapearing behind displays, whispering and looking around, making sure I didn't notice that they were trying to find me something. It was hilarious. I had given them each something the night before. My brother Colin and sister Carrie also showed up and "surprised us."

We left them there and headed to get our stuff at Marshalls then loaded up with gifts on either arm we then had the fun part.


IT WAS SNOWING!! And at the time it wasn't a nice gentle snow- it was ice crystals that felt surprisingly like little pins and needles hitting your face. We had about 6 blocks to walk. Poor Katy was only in a thin shirt. It was beautiful though. It felt like the perfect shopping ending.




The three of us walking through a winter wonderland laughing/complaining and having fun.

A great weekend

I must admit- fun is tiring. I worked about 50 hours last week and when Friday came around I was toast. Completely wiped out. I wanted to simply lay around and do nothing. I had choices- the revival meetings at church or the Twin Cities House of Prayer- both options I would have to drive and I wasn't up to it. I just wanted to sleep.

Then my friend Katy called. Katy has a wonderful gift of talking people into things and everyone's knowledge that if you are with Katy you will have an amazing time. She called Carrie and asked if we wanted to go to our friends Alisa and Elisabeth's house. I said I would come if I didn't have to drive and she agreed to pick me up.

I was glad that I went. Most of our doings this weekend is also described quite well on my sister Carrie's blog.

We had quite a killer game of hide and seek. I obviously was tired (hey I woke up at 5:30am) when I spent 20 minutes looking for Mike who was hiding on top of the fridge! I must have walked by him a million times. At one pointI yelled out "Mike I hope you are in a very uncomfortable place right now!" I felt bad afterwards, but it was funny when I found out he was very uncomfortable! I felt better the next round when no one could find me in a closet that was searched about 4 times by a couple different people.

More Later...