The International Symbol of Marriage
In our household...this is SO TRUE!
Driving in the Twin Cities - A Death Defying Act
Stacy wrote this in an e-mail to friends on 11/14/2002
To all my friends and family not living in the Twin Cities -
This event happened this week on my way home from work. It is just one example of how you take your life in your hands by driving during rush hour.
So, I was speeding my way home after work on I-494 and came upon three vehicles abreast of each other, all going at the same speed the three lanes. There was a dump truck in the far left lane, which since we were at the beginning of a nice long hill, he really shouldn’t have been there. I was annoyed, of course, so I moved to the middle lane, anticipating the dump truck to start slowing down as we went up the hill, as they usually do. We were maybe going 5 mph over the speed limit (I, of course usually go about 20 mph over), when this Buick comes zooming up on us and throws on his brights to show them they were in his way. I glanced over, expecting this to be some young guy who has yet to learn the rules of the road, and amazingly enough it was an older guy with gray hair. Turning his brights on everyone had their predictable effect – everyone slowed down. We will call this guy S.OB. from now on…
I slowed down to give S.O.B. some accident room, since he appeared to be making some rather bad driving decisions at this point. Next, S.O.B. decides the best course of action is to straddle the left two lanes so his brights will shine directly into dump truck driver’s side view mirrors. I give S.O.B. more accident room at this point. Dump truck driver slows down even more.
Just to interrupt my story a little – one of the cardinal rules of the road is "Do not irritate a vehicle that outweighs yours by 10 times and can flatten you like a pancake", notably loaded dump trucks and eighteen wheelers. But I digress…
S.O.B. sees his opportunity to go into the middle lane and then zoom in front of dump truck driver. S.O.B. now slows down to show just how irritated he is with dump truck driver. At this point dump truck driver throws on his brights and then S.O.B. hits his brakes. They are now right next to me as dump truck driver veers in my lane to avoid hitting S.O.B. in the ass. I veer into the lane next to me of course, not wanting to get broad sided by dump truck driver. I narrowly miss hitting another car that is trying to pass me in the far right lane, obviously not paying attention to what is happening in the other two lanes next to him.
After I recover, I hit the gas and go 85 mph up the hill to get the hell out of the way of these two morons. S.O.B., seeing that someone is going faster than him, rides my ass until I pass a car and move over. I then go my normal cruising speed (80 mph), meanwhile S.O.B. slows down to 70 mph, going at the same speed as the guy in front of me in the middle lane. I, of course, end up passing S.O.B. in the far right lane, saying a few choice words regarding S.O.B, some of which revolving around why it should be legal to carry loaded weapons in cars.
The one bright spot that I can take from this incident is that if Darwin’s theory is correct, he won’t be around long (though I am surprised he made it this far in life) – I can only hope he doesn’t take an innocent along with him.
Christmas Angel
Anonymous
You could be someone’s Angel some day. Check out this Angel's story.
I was driving home from a meeting this evening about 5, stuck in traffic on Colorado Blvd., and the car started to choke and splutter and die - I barely managed to coast, cruising into a gas station, glad only that I would not be blocking traffic and would have a somewhat warm spot to wait for the tow truck. It wouldn't even turn over. Before I could make the call, I saw a woman walking back out of the "quickie mart" building, and it looked like she slipped on some ice and fell into a Gas pump, so I got out to see if she was okay.
When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than that she had fallen; she was a young woman who looked really haggard with dark circles under her eyes. She dropped something as I helped her up, and I picked it up to give it to her. It was a nickel.
At that moment, everything came into focus for me: the crying woman, the ancient Suburban crammed full of stuff with 3 kids in the back (1 in a car seat), and the gas pump reading $4.95.
I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help, and she just kept saying "I don't want my kids to see me crying," so we stood on the other side of the pump from her car. She said she was driving to California and that things were very hard for her right now. So I asked, "And you were praying?" That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her I was not a crazy person and said, "He heard you, and He sent me."
I took out my card and swiped it through the card reader on the pump so she could fill up her car completely, and while it was fueling, walked to the next door McDonald's and bought 2 big bags of food, some gift certificates for more, and a big cup of coffee. She gave the food to the kids in the car, who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by the pump eating fries and talking a little.
She told me her name, and that she lived in Kansas City. Her boyfriend left 2 months ago and she had not been able to make ends meet. She knew she wouldn't have money to pay rent Jan 1, and finally in desperation had finally called her parents, with whom she had not spoken in about 5 years. They lived in California and said she could come live with them and try to get on her feet there.
So she packed up everything she owned in the car. She told the kids they were going to California for Christmas, but not that they were going to live there.
I gave her my gloves, a little hug and said a quick prayer with her for safety on the road. As I was walking over to my car, she said, "So, are you like an angel or something?" This definitely made me cry. I said, "Sweetie, at this time of year angels are really busy, so sometimes God uses regular people."
It was so incredible to be a part of someone else's miracle. And of course, you guessed it, when I got in my car it started right away and got me home with no problem. I'll put it in the shop tomorrow to check, but I suspect the mechanic won't find anything wrong. Sometimes the angels fly close enough to you that you can hear the flutter of their wings...Psalms 55:22 "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."
