Not Me! Monday

Are you feeling guilty for pretending to forget that it was garbage day so you didn't have to haul the bins to the curb? Overcome with shame because you bought a box of Honey Nut Cheerios and ate it all before your children even knew they were in the house? Well, don't be! You see, Not Me! Monday was born out of my desire to admit some of my imperfections and reveal a few moments I'd rather forget. You may find it therapeutic to join in and do the same thing!

I'll start!

While grocery shopping this week, I was overcome with tremendous heartburn. But there is no way I opened the gallon of milk that was in my cart and chugged it straight from the jug while standing in aisle four. Nope. Not me!

Also, when my husband and I traveled to BlissDom this weekend, I went prepared. I mean, there is no way I forgot to bring black shoes to wear with the black outfit I wore while speaking. Not me! And even if I did bring only brown boots and red Crocs, there is no way I manically texted Stephanie from Adventures in Babywearing an hour before I spoke to see if she had any black shoes I could wear. Nope. Not me! I am way more prepared than that!

So what do you say? Would you like to share what you have not been up to lately?

If so, join the Not Me! Monday fun! Simply write your own post on your blog, link back within your post to my blog, and sign up with MckLinky below. Please make sure you know the rules if any of that sounds confusing by either clicking on the Not Me! Monday button in my lower left sidebar, or just right here. There you'll be able to get some fool-proof ways to publish your own Not Me! Monday post, as well as learn how to link back to my blog if you don't already know how.

Happy Not Me!-ing.

We live in a very small town. What about you?

UPDATED:

"My small town is so small that...." Fill in the blanks right here by joining a great discussion in my MckMama Community that Chris started.

ORIGINAL POST:

As you probably know by now, we live in a small town. A very small town.



It's not a very, very small town, though.



Because there's a beauty salon here.



Granted, it's at Wanda's house. In her basement. But it's still a beauty salon.



Prince Charming and I had reason to go visit Wanda recently.



We parked outside her place.



And made our way down her walkway.



And into her home salon.



Wanda is delightful. Really delightful.



It was a very small town experience like I'd never had before.



It's not exactly like we were Big City people before this.



But if we weren't before...



...we certainly aren't now.



And Wanda's Riverside Salon proves it.



But we're learning that great things come in small packages.



Like small salons in small towns.



And we love our new very small town life.

Where do you live? Big city? Rural farm? Suburbia? Small town? Downtown penthouse?

Do share!

stream of consciousness...BlissDom edition

It's the end of the BlissDom blogging conference. Alli and Co. deserve a big round of applause for how awesome it was. It was my first blogging conference and I honestly didn't know what to expect. I learned a lot. Lots of stuff I didn't even realize I didn't know about, that's how uneducated about many areas of blogging I am. Er, was. And the connections with other gals was the best. Well, I didn't meet Sarah Palin. But she wasn't at our conference. So I didn't really expect that I would. But I loved all the other gals I met. Blogging is just so wonderful, a fantastic way for women to share our stories, connect with others and impact the world. Man, if I don't watch out I could become a blogging conference junkie.

I am pumped about getting home to our children where I belong. I don't enjoy traveling away from them too often. These two months filled with four trips is really hard for me. But they're great things and I know our family will be enriched as a result. But traveling with our children? Always love it. And so do they. Will have to look into doing more of that. After I catch up on my sleep.

Giving the keynote tonight at the conference was wonderful. Really wonderful. More wonderful than I thought it would be. It was my first time ever public speaking. Turns out that talking to 500 people was kind of just like talking to 5 people. Except I had to use a microphone. Being able to share Stellan's story and to celebrate the connection that blogging can provide to women was an honor. I was so thankful to have the opportunity. I may be able to share the video of my talk with you in about a week. I don't have it yet.

I finally got to meet Rusty from BlogFrog in person. He's as genuine and real and humble and friendly as he comes across online. Even moreso, if that's possible. I also enjoyed connecting with the great Savvy Blogging gals and learned a lot at the fabulous dinner they hosted. Plus there were scads of other lovely ladies I had a great time connecting with.

Thinking about getting back to normal life with our family is on my mind, though. I just cannot wait. And have I mentioned how blessed I am that, even when I go back there, you wonderful readers will be there, too? What a treat you all are. Thank you for being a part of our lives.

Sunday drive

I wrote this last winter and it was a favorite post. I thought I'd publish it again for you all to (hopefully!) enjoy once more!

Ahh, a leisurely Sunday drive. There's nothing like it, really. (A besides, even if there were, a Wednesday drive just doesn't have as nice of a ring to it.)

After some kickin' praise and worship at church today, and after listening to our pastor's brilliant message about handling stress in uncertain times, Prince Charming, our Many Small Children and I took a leisurely Sunday drive.

We grabbed some Subway to eat on the road and headed out of town. Our destination? Prince Charming's favorite village.

It costs $2 per vehicle to get into Prince Charming's favorite village, but the experience was well worth the tiny entrance fee. Here is our red truck just after we'd paid our admission fee and shortly before we pulled into the village.



Prince Charming drove us into the village using the main road. There are many side roads that fork off of the main one through the snow, but the main one is the only one that gets plowed.



It's such a quaint, quiet little village. All of the folks we passed on the road waved a friendly hello. Of course, all the drivers, including my own husband, drove carefully.



They drove carefully because, you know, this village is on a lake. That's right people, our Sunday drive was through an ice fishing village. A village that only exists for two months out of the year. A village that is established every winter atop a frozen lake. Plowed roads, big trucks, countless numbers of ice houses and all. On a lake.

The entrance to the village where we paid our $2? In the summer, it's a marina. The docks are all pulled in and they're covered with snow, waiting for the boats to reappear next summer. The main road begins on the shores of the beach and heads straight out into the middle of the lake.



There are between two and three hundred ice houses in this village and, as we drove through it, I interviewed Prince Charming. You know, in order to get a better understanding of this favorite pastime of his: ice fishing.

The following interview between me and Prince Charming is real. The quotes are accurate and verbatim. In most cases. Okay, at least in some. Fine, fine. The following interview between me and Prince Charming is based on the actual interview I had with him in the truck as we took our Sunday drive. Well, it's based largely on the actual interview. Okay, maybe loosely. Perhaps very loosely. But it's still true. For the most part.

"Hey, Honey?"

"Yeah, Babe. What's up?

"Can I interview you about ice fishing?"

"Umm...."

"Just say yes."

"Yes."



"Great. Why don't you start by telling me about these ice houses that we're seeing."

"Okay. Most of them are heated with propane, some have kitchenettes and cupboards, and there are benches and holes in the floor where we use our augers to drill holes through the ice so we can fish. A lot of guys put house numbers on their ice houses so that the pizza guy can find them when they order a pizza."

"The pizza guys will deliver out here? No kidding?!"

"No kidding."



"So, Honey, what exactly do you guys do in your ice houses?"

"You mean, besides fish?"

"Right, besides fish."

"Well, I like to listen to the radio or my iPod and eat and some guys even have satellite in their ice houses. Other times we get out and walk around the village and see what other guys are catching. Lots of us bring our kids with us and I take our boys sledding behind the three wheeler when we're out here, too."

"Sounds like fun! What's the biggest fish you've ever caught while ice fishing?"

"A 16 pound Northern."



"So, it is safe to be driving out here on the ice in our truck with our Many Small Children?"

"Of course! The ice is over 2 feet thick. You only need 2 inches to walk on, 4 inches for recreational vehicles, and a foot for cars. So 2 feet is more than enough to support our truck."

"Wow. I never knew the breakdown. Thanks for explaining it. Say, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you miss me when you're out ice fishing?"

"Oh, definitely like an 11, Baby. I miss you so much it hurts."

"That's so sweet, Honey. Thanks. It was really nice of you to say that."

"You're welcome. But I didn't really say that. You're embellishing our interview for your blog, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right. But if I weren't embellishing it for my blog, how much would you say you missed me then?"

"Still an 11."

"Fantastic! Shall we move on?"

"Please."



"Okay, my next question is, why do you think there are a pair of crutches outside that guy's ice house?"

"I have no idea."

"Well, if you had to guess, would you say that his legs probably got eaten by a giant Northern?"

"No."

And that was the end of our interview. I went on to photograph a few more things, this time from within the comfort of our truck.



And then we drove back off the ice, away from the village.



And back toward the mainland.

Aren't Sunday drives the best!?

I've a feeling we're not in Jamaica anymore.

These photographs are from Jamaica.



We are not in Jamaica anymore. We were there on our cruise.



Now we are in Nashville. It's raining here. Well, not here. This here is a photograph of Jamaica.



I'm the keynote speaker for BlissDom at Opryland tomorrow night. Sarah Palin is the keynote speaker in the ballroom next door for the Tea Party Convention at Opryland tomorrow night.



I am not from Jamaica.



Sarah Palin is not from Jamaica.



I'm from The Frozen Tundra.



She's from Alaska. But I wish I was in Jamaica and I bet Sarah Palin does, too. Nah, she probably doesn't.



And I bet that those of you who live in the east and are getting dumped with snow wish you were in Jamaica right now, too.



But you're not. And neither am I.



So I hope you at least enjoyed these photographs from Jamaica.

community

Are you bored while I'm away from my regular blogging since I'm here at BlissDom in Nashville?

Didn't think so.

But, should you find yourself bored, I have the solution for you. Just pop into the MckMama Community of BlogFrog. How? Just click right on the MckMama Community box which is in the upper left sidebar of my blog. See it?



There is some, ahem, lively discussion going on in there today! In fact, there is always something going on here at MckMama.com, even if I'm away from posting. My BlogFrog community is a place where you readers can connect with each other, ask questions, chat, post about your own blog to help you find readers and search for other blogs to read.

It's all about community.

In fact, that is the theme of this year's BlissDom conference. Community. It's the topic on which I'll be speaking tomorrow night. This blog isn't just about you listening to me. It's about us connecting with each other.

So, click where it says Visit My Community and hop in and see what everyone is talking about in there. It's easy to become a BlogFrog member if you're not already. And if you have your own blog, you can add a BlogFrog community to it, to get your readers engaged, connected and sticking around your blog.

As for me, I'm not sticking around. I'm off to another session here at BlissDom. But I'll see you again soon. Toodles for now!

oh, the laughs

I'm nibbling on veggie chips while sitting in our hotel room at Gaylord Opryland in Nashville. I'm missing our children like mad tonight, a lot worse than I think I did when we were cruising, probably because it feels like we were just away from them. Well, because we were.

But my husband and I are glad to be here at BlissDom for the weekend. I'm the keynote speaker on Saturday night and, until then, I'm enjoying hanging out and learning with lots of other bloggers. (Maybe I will get to meet you! And if you're not here and are having BlissDom envy, you can find camaraderie in this discussion in the MckMama community.)

And because we were just a stone's throw from a few of my girlfriends (who I had yet to have the pleasure of meeting in real life), Prince Charming and I had dinner with them and their husbands last night.



Yes, this is me, Angie Smith and Raechel Myers...and all three of our unborn babes. (They are both having sweet little girls, while the gender of our MckFlurry is as of yet unknown.)

We had freshly made guacamole and amazing Mexican entrees at a restaurant in a trendy (Can anyone say Taylor Swift lived right there!? Well, not in the restaurant. But in a penthouse right nearby. And if the Gulch is cool enough for her, then it's cool enough for us, right? Ahem.) area of Nashville.

But far better than the food was the conversation. And the laughs. Oh, the laughs.

It was a wonderful night and the six of us could hardly break away from each other. We tried to order dessert after we'd been there for a few hours and were feeling hungry again, but our server said, "We're closed." At that point, we looked around and were aware for the first time that the restaurant was full of empty tables. Oops!

Thanks for the wonderful dinner, girls. I am blessed to know you both!

Valentine Petits Fours

Just because I am at Opryland in Nashville with my husband and hundreds of women for the BlissDom blogging conference this weekend doesn't mean I'm going to neglect the rest of you!

You'll hear from me again soon (I'm Tweeting a ton. You can follow me there and even follow the hashtag #blissdom to see what everyone at BlissDom is Tweeting about). I had a great dinner last night with some friends and I can't wait to tell you about it and show you some photos.

But, in the meantime, I've asked Amanda, you know, she is baker, to weave a sweet, delightful tutorial for you all.

She did not disappoint. I'll let her take the stage now. Enjoy!

Wanna know how to make my super easy and fun Valentine Petits Fours? Well you have come to the right place my friend.

Lets start with the main ingredients.



Oreo cakesters. (They used to make vanilla which worked the best, but I haven't seen those for a long time.)

Fondant (Amanda used premade and she says you can get it at Michaels).

Rolling Pin

Red Food Coloring (not pictured...she likes Ateco)

Optional: Royal Icing, small round cookie cutter, small heart cookie cutter, corn syrup, sparkling sugar



I made these hearts the day before with some royal icing. I also made a few white ones just in case I changed my mind and didn't like the red.



Meet Mr. Oreo Cakester. I call him Lou.



Grab a good size chuck of fondant. Especially if this is your first time. You are going to want to play around.



Knead your fondant so it is more pliable. Since I need to make some pink today, I am going to add one little dot of Ateco red gel food coloring.



That one little dot made this cutie patootie pink.



I wanted to use three colors, so I made some red as well.



From your white fondant, take about a small egg size. Since the cakester is black, and I am covering it in white, I want it to be a bit thicker then I might otherwise want it.



Roll out fondant into about a 1/4 inch thickness. I am working on wax paper. If you have granite or marble or a special fondant matt you can use any of those. They work way better.

I am poor. I use wax paper.



Place the rolled out fondant over the cakester.

Gently press down on the sides. I use the sides of my pinky to smooth it over. This takes practice, so just relax and have fun working with it! (Also, watch Cake Boss and Food Network Cake Challenge's lots and lots.)

If your fondant tears or you have any problems, just start over!



Take a pizza cutter or a sharp paring knife and cut closely around the bottom edge.

This is what it should look like after you have trimmed it.



Gently flip over the cakester and smooth the edges of the fondant over. Be sure to remove any crumbs you see along the way. If you don't, you could accidentally rub them into your fondant.



And here is the fondant covered cakester!

Or, Lou with his clothes on!



Here it is again in pink.



If you want to reuse your fondant, be on the lookout or crumbs. Just cut them off or pick them out.



Here are the three colors for Valentines Petits Fours.

You can now decorate them any way you want... write on them with royal icing or place a candy heart on top that says be mine or place a Hershey's Kiss on top!



I decided to roll out a bit extra of the red fondant for some hearts. This fondant is pretty thin as I am just using the hearts for decoration.




To decorate the pink cakesters I am using a bit of watered down corn syrup and some white sparkling sugar.

I will paint* the sides of the cakester with the corn syrup then gently roll it on a plate of the sparkling sugar.

*Make sure you have a paint brush that is for food only.



For the red cakesters I am going to attach those royal icing hearts I made the day before. Just drop a dot of white royal icing (this must be the traditional royal icing with meringue powder) in the center and attach the heart. They are delicate, so be gentle.



Since I didn't have time to sit and hold the heart in place, I propped it up with a toothpick.

Would you like to see the final product?

Really?

Are you sure??

Okay, here goes.



Here are the pink sparkling sugar petits fours with red fondant heart.



Here are the red petits fours with white royal icing heart.

And here are my favorite.



The white petit four with a red fondant rose delicately resting on top.

Or, Lou all dressed up with a gift for his lady.



These were a last minute addition, because the red royal icing hearts I had made didn't quite look like I wanted them too. So I went to YouTube and watched a video on making fondant roses.

Although they are my first, I really like them, and cant wait to do more!





Well, what do you guys think? Did Amanda inspire you? Are you ready to make some of your own!

Make sure to let me know if you do!!

a story of redemption, part II

If you didn't read a story of redemption, part I, be sure to start by reading it first.

After I ran back to the Olsmobile that had sort of crashed in the shallow ditch, I could see a man inside. His body was slumped over the steering wheel and he wasn't moving. I'm pretty sure there were no other cars on the interstate at the time. At least, I don't remember any whizzing by, but I might have been oblivious. I opened the passenger door to the man's car and got in. I'm not sure that I shut the door behind me; I doubt it.

As I looked at the man, who seemed to be in his 40s and looked like he was American Indian, I didn't think he was dead. He didn't really look dead, but didn't look alive either. He was just laying there across his steering wheel. He wasn't wearing a seatbelt. "Are you okay!? Are you okay!?" I remember half shouting, half talking to him. Saying something like that. For what seemed like the next 12 hours, but was really probably only 20 seconds, I just kept telling him over and over and over, "It's okay. I called the police. An ambulance will be here soon. You're going to be okay." I kept looking out his back window to see if I could see any lights approaching yet. And then, I remember thinking, "Oh, man. Am I supposed to be doing CPR or something!? What do I do!?" Seriously. I had no idea. No idea. I wasn't really thinking clearly. I remember contemplating calling my mom, a former registered nurse and current CPR teacher.

But then the guy started to move.

Oh, dear. "Are you okay? It's going to be okay. Are you hurt?" I didn't see blood, which to me seemed to indicate maybe he wasn't so bad off. "What's your name?" I really asked that. And he answered. Slowly at first. Raspy. He said it a few times as I kept asking him. His head and body and arms were still on his steering wheel, but he was talking. That was a good sign, right? It sounded like he was saying, "Sperling." It sounded like a last name to me, so I figured maybe that wasn't really what he was saying. But when I said, "Sperling? (Though I've changed this name here from what it was he actually told me.) he answered in the affirmative. But now what? I knew his name. He was alive. What was I supposed to do!?

And then the police came.

I was relieved to have them take over. Take over what, I wasn't exactly sure. I hadn't exactly done anything. It turned out that I knew the policeman who came up. His parents went to my parents' church. He let me sit in his squad car since it was cold out. We talked about what I had seen. He must have had a partner or something who went to check on Sperling, though I have no recollection. He took my official "statement" and I think I had to fill out some forms or sign something. By the time the ambulance finally arrived, my job there was done. The policeman asked me where my car was and wanted to know if I was okay to drive. I probably wasn't, but I said I was.

I got back in my Echo, pulled back out of the snowy, muddy area on the edge of the interstate, and drove away. Whoa. I remember being like, "What just happened!?" I drove straight away to Prince Charming, who was my boyfriend at the time. I don't think I called him, just told him what happened when I saw him. He didn't seem as shaken up about it as I felt, which I thought was odd at the time. But of course it wasn't. He was just glad I was okay. He hadn't been through the adrenaline surges like I had. I thought about Sperling for the rest of the time I was out of town, mostly assuming he was probably fine. I did watch the news at my parents' house and looked at the paper the next day, but couldn't find anything else out about the accident.

And then my trip was over and I packed up my dogs and headed home.

I'm not sure how much later it was when my mom sent me a newspaper clipping in the mail. It was about Sperling. I will never forget the feeling of disappointment and anger I had when I read the article. Sperling was okay, physically. He'd had a rough go of it, though I didn't learn the details of it in that article. I would learn years later. But what saddened me was reading that he had been drunk the day he ran off the interstate and almost hit me. And it wasn't his first DUI. It was his fifth. I was royally ticked, people. Pissed. Who did this guy think he was!? Never for a moment was I sad that I had stopped to help him by calling 911 and sitting with him until they came, but man was I mad when I learned he had driven drunk. He had apparently been driving home from a casino when he ran off the road. In my naivety perhaps, I had never imagined he had been doing anything wrong. It never even occurred to me that he might have been drunk. And I had little forgiveness for him when I learned what I did in the paper that day. I remained pretty bitter about it, referring to him as "the drunk guy who nearly crashed into me" and hoped that he'd get locked up or at least never drive again.

I certainly didn't have positive hopes for him. But God did.

And then years passed. I grew up a little more. Got married to Prince Charming. Settled into a home with him and started having children. And then, just recently, the whole story of Sperling, and the redemption God had planned for his heart and for mine, came full circle. Our friends Sami and Joe were visiting. They live back home where my parents live and have five children. At one point while all of us were hanging out in our living room, Joe picked up Stellan and he giggled.

"Sailor is like that, too," Sami said of her youngest daughter. "Loves other people, smiles when she's held, isn't afraid of strangers." We chatted for a minute about our babies' personalities and then Sami said, "Yeah, but there is this one guy who Sailor will never smile for. It's funny, actually. Because he's totally great. A real family man, calm and sweet. But Sailor will give him this grumpy look. I'm not sure why. Well, he is this really huge American Indian guy with all this black hair, and I guess if I were a baby I might be intimidated, too. But he and his wife are really great. He's a really meek, lovely guy, in fact. They go to our church." Nothing rung a bell for me at that point. I would never in a million years have pieced things together yet. But my eyes nearly bulged out of my head when I heard what Sami said next. "Yeah, I always try to tell her, 'Sailor, it's okay! Sperling is a really great guy!"

"Sperling? His name is Sperling?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, it's just that...I think I've heard that name before."

"Yeah, we just love their family. Sperling is married to this great Christian gal. They have a few children, some biological, some adopted American Indian children. They lost one of their daughters a year ago to an illness. Their strength is unmatched and beautiful. It wasn't always so, though. I guess, years ago, Sperling used to be an alcoholic. He gambled and was in bad shape. But a number of years ago, apparently he was in a car accident. He was really, really drunk and crashed way out on the interstate where it almost ends. I guess someone called an ambulance. It came to get him and he coded minutes after they got to him. But that was what shook him, he said. It was his near death experience that caused him to get right with God. He got sober and got his life on track. We see him and his family each week when they come over for our prayer meetings, in fact. He has such an amazing story of redemption. So, you've heard someone with that name before?"

"Yeah, I have."

Redemption.

stream of consciousness

I'm a total hypocrite. I fed our children a meal of organic pulled chicken sandwiches, broccoli, carrots, hummus, blueberries and yogurt and flax, and pecans. And I'm eating Cool Ranch Doritos as a meal. A meal after the meal I had with my friend Alyssa and her kids earlier today.

This is Alyssa.



We all hung out today. Nuggey walked away without telling me where he was going. But I saw him do it. So that was good. Big Mac shared his treats and was a good listener. Alyssa's daughter bit Small Fry when Small Fry was trying to mother hen her little friend.

Alyssa and I talked pregnancy. She's pregnant, too. I bought some black pants for BlissDom. I cannot believe it's this weekend already. Nashville here we come! Earlier in the day, I spoke with my friend Candice who I'll be seeing at the end of this month.

I've been feeling very, very tired. Acted not very lovingly to my husband today. Am having to forgive myself and thank God for repeated forgiveness, too. Wrote a (partial) post about the near collision turned redemptive story earlier today. Got tired. Thought the post was already so long. Was not thrilled about summoning the energy to finish it. Literally mid sentence came up with the brilliant idea to end it for the moment with a to be continued. Ticked you, my readers, off in the process. Felt bad. But it was kind of funny. Kind of funny like the comment "Kate" left me recently that read: "I find it absolutely repulsive that you got pregnant to drive traffic to your blog. Because clearly now that Stellen is healthy, you needed something new. Wow." Thanks, Kate! But didn't laugh as hard as I did at the one tonight that "outed" us for pretending to own our home when we "actually rent it." Wow, that girl has some serious inside information! Even I didn't know that! I could have sworn (but, you know, don't) that we bought this house. I'd better look into that.

Am still mulling baby girl names in my head, seemingly no closer to finding a perfect one than I was weeks ago. Am craving Honey Nut Cheerios, but we've none in the house. I've never bought them before, so I don't know how they even got on my brain! Am contemplating taking one of those at home urine gender prediction kits, but my gut tells me that a) if Prince Charming doesn't want to find out our baby's gender, then neither should I and b) those things are probably a waste of money and don't even work. But I am contemplating it.

Still have major swimsuit tan lines from our cruise. Am also wondering how long those will stick around. Missing my new cruise friends. Having heartburn. Wondering if there's enough interest for a MckCruise 2011. Regretting not bringing up the garbage bins from the curb. Just kidding, we don't have a curb. But whatever the sloping area where our yard turns into the street is called. Speaking of our non-curb and our street, I haven't seen Ed lately. I wonder how he is.

This post is clearly disintegrating. Rapidly. I should go to bed. Goodnight.

a story of redemption

With the exception of the fear I blogged about here, as regarding Stellan's health, I don't often find myself gripped by worry or fear. Even during some of the darkest hours we walked through with Stellan, I mostly felt peace, comfort, an assurance that Jesus was always with me. It is unexplainable, that peace and absence of worry and knowledge that God is in control even when circumstances are spinning right out of it. There are few reasons that make me so glad that I am a Christian as that fact that I am able to be certain about my future, sure about God and firm in the knowledge that, no matter what is happening, He is still there, not surprised, always loving me, always wanting to redeem every situation.

God wants to redeem every single situation in all of our lives, I think. To bring something good from bad. To have people come to know about Him even through tragedy. To use even our fears to draw us closer to Him.

So, back to how I'm not usually gripped by fear. I'm not. Until a car from the opposite side of the freeway careens over the median, bounces up into my lane and comes speeding directly towards me, that is.

Then, I start singing a different tune.

But let me back up a little in this true story. I was still single. One weekend, I packed up my two little Pug dogs into my silver Toyota Echo, and drove home to see my parents. And my boyfriend. Both my parents and my would be Prince Charming lived in the same state in neighboring cities at that point, so that was convenient. After I unloaded my stuff and my dogs at my parents' house, I visited them for a while and then hopped back into my car to go visit my future husband.

It wasn't a long drive, especially since some of the trip was on the interstate. If my memory serves me, it was winter. I remember snow, but the roads themselves were, thankfully, not slippery. Even though flying in airplanes freaks me out, driving in cars doesn't. I do understand that that's not logical; more people die in car accidents each year than die in plane crashes. In fact, my husband's father and older brother were both killed in a car accident when my husband was 16. I suppose it would be logical if I did fear car accidents. It's just that, typically, I don't.

Until this day.

I was driving down the right hand lane of the interstate, probably listening to my They Might Be Giants cd. As I started to get close to Prince Charming's exit, I happened to notice two cars on the other side of the interstate, traveling in the opposite direction as me, towards me. They were a ways away still, but we were approaching each other quickly. What transpires in the next few paragraphs here took in real life only moments. The second car, some kind of an Oldsmobile I think, was driving erratically. The first thing I noticed was how fast it was going as it approached the car in front of it. It literally came from what seemed like out of the blue and flew towards the first car. Catching up with it quickly and easily, I remember thinking that the car that came from behind was going to crash right into the car in front of it.

The cars didn't crash, though. Instead, the erratically driven car swerved to the left, in an apparent attempt to avoid hitting the car in front of it. At this point, I was like, "Whoa! That car almost ran into that other one on the interstate. Crazy." I put my eyes back on my side of the road again, but not for long. Moments later, first in my peripheral vision, I saw that the Oldsmobile was swerving and weaving all over the two lanes of the interstate, this time in front of the car he had just passed.

Then, in the blink of an eye, it happened. The car careened right off the pavement of the interstate, hitting the snowy median, and started heading directly towards my side of the freeway. There were no cars ahead of me as far as the eye could see, but I remember there was one behind me. A surge of adrenaline coursed through my body, my hands gripped the steering wheel. For a moment, I did nothing. Just kept driving. I was frozen. As the car hit the median and then the freeway on my side of the interstate, it bounced around like a rag doll. Finally, it landed, as it were, and continued its fast rate down the freeway, this time barreling down the freeway in my lane, directly towards me. I did the only thing that seemed to make sense to me at the time. I could taste the fear in my mouth. As it approached me, I could almost hear the sound of our cars crunching, as that is what I expected to happen. I swung my steering wheel to the right, desperate to avoid a crash. The swinging of my steering wheel sent me off the pavement and into the gently sloping, snowy, muddy ditch. We didn't collide. My car came to a stop. I looked behind me. Somehow, this other car was now facing forward, pointing the same direction I was, behind me in the ditch.

My heart was pounding out of my chest. My first instinct was to call 911 from my cell phone, so that is what I did. "There was an accident on the highway. We didn't actually collide. But this other car came over the median and barreling down my side. He kind of crashed into the ditch behind me!"

"Okay, where are you?"

"Oh, man, I don't know! I don't live in this area anymore. I'm way out by Menard's, past it a ways, but not quite as far as where the highway ends and the speed limit drops. Oh, I don't know!"

The 911 operator walked me through explaining where I was. Once we nailed it down, she sent the police and an ambulance our way, after asking me, "Who is in the other car? Are they hurt?"

"Oh, dear. I didn't even go and check yet!"

I hung up the phone. And as I waited for help to arrive, I ran out of my car towards the other one. I saw a man inside, not wearing a seatbelt, slumped over his steering wheel. He wasn't moving. I opened the passenger door and got inside his car. I was so scared. But little did I know, this was just the beginning of an amazing story of redemption that would unfold slowly. I didn't learn until years later, after I was married and had children, very recently in fact, how this story of redemption did unfold. But at that moment, I just saw a man. A man who needed help.

To be continued.