My plan had been to write a continuous story this month, but I absolutely cannot concentrate on writing more of the story today. Instead, I wanted to share two stories in my life which happened exactly one week apart from each other and explains why I'm going to take a mental break from creative writing today. Please enjoy!
Last week began one of the strangest weeks of my life. I joined up with a Friday night gaming group that was playing Star Wars Force and Destiny. I've never played in that system before, but it sounded fun, so I decided to give it a go. I rolled a space-rogue kind of character and joined an ongoing game. That night, I rolled no less that six critical successes in a row, and absolutely destroyed the boss at the end of the battle. It was super fun! Anticipating good tidings, I made my way home and decided to put off getting everything together for the wedding I was supposed to be in on Sunday, because I would have plenty of time in the morning to do everything.
Three in the morning, I woke up to the most intense stabbing pain in my life. It turns out I had a kidney stone! Fun fact: this pain is worse than child birth from every account I have been told! I was given three rounds of pain medication and none of it was enough to take more than the edge off the pain. I've broken my arm twice, sprained my ankle twice, hit my head multiple times, and had my gallbladder removed, but I was actually violently ill due to the pain from this particular issue. All this is to say, it was not a fun time. By the time the doctors decided to admit me, I realized I probably wasn't going to make this wedding. This was a huge problem, considering I was 'Best Woman' and kind of NEEDED to be there.
About twenty minutes after being admitted, I passed the stone. However, I was now being kept for observation. I had been told that I would probably be released that night. I was not. When the doctor finally came in the morning, she told me it would be several more hours. I decided to ask for the wifi password at that point so I could at least watch the wedding.
"Oh wait, you have a wedding? Well we can release you right now."
My sister happened to be with me when this conversation took place, she looked at me, looked at the doctor, asked what color dress I needed and the plan was set in motion. I was told I had to eat something before I could leave and that they needed to take more x-rays, so I immediately called the kitchen to order a muffing (which would take about 45 minutes to get there, I was told). Right after I got off the phone, I was whisked away to x-ray. They had me in and out in less than five minutes, which I'm pretty sure is a record. We got back to the room, and someone came up with my muffin, which was wolfed down in two bites. The doctor came back and told me she had put in the release paperwork and all I needed was the nurse to tell me what to do. At this point, my brother-in-law and nephews showed up to take me back to their house to get ready for the wedding...and at this point the antagonist made her appearance. There was literally ONE nurse who wanted to slow EVERYTHING down. It took pressure of an entire team of nurses, myself, and my brother-in-law to get her to move, and almost fifteen agonizing minutes, but we were off. Another nurse got me into a wheelchair and literally RAN through the hospital to get me out on time. She quipped that she had never done it before, but it was fun. For the record...it was fun!
I jumped out of the chair and into the car, we drove like mad to the house where my sister was waiting for me, shower already going, and everything laid out. In a scene out of Mulan, I was in the shower, dumped with suds, and rinsed before I could blink. I'm pretty sure I leaped into my dress cartoon style while my sister primped my hair. We were both in the car in less than ten minutes. While my sister sang Smokey and the Bandit, I did make-up in the car. At a certain point I realized that we were going to be about five minutes late and I started texting people to let them know what was up. For a moment or two, I wasn't quite sure everything was going to work out, but I was just HAPPY to be getting to see my amazing friends get married. Luckily, my sister wasn't satisfied with that answer and prompted me to call my friends. So I did! I explained the situation: I am just released from the hospital, I'm not wearing the right colors, and I'm going to be five minutes late. The amazing bride said "You're still in the wedding if you want to be, we'll send a groomsman to get you!"
We pulled in as the groomsman got to the front gate and I went running out of the car. As I went, I would be reminded later, I was yelling in a crowded area with standers-by that I was 'on drugs' and 'had to pee' at which point I realized that probably wasn't the right wording out of context and added, 'I shouldn't say this in front of kids...don't do drugs kids!' and ran into the bathroom.
~Two Minutes Later~
We hurried to the venue and made it JUST in time. Everyone was lined up and I got to take my place with the rest of the party! I gave my speech after and all was right with the world! Bonus: on my way home, a bald eagle landed in front of my car and casually sailed away as I braked the car to avoid hitting it.
In retrospect, I should have realized that everything was pointing to a need to slow down this week. Which brings me to today. I've been having issues with my cell phone and so I had decided that in the event of an emergency, it was probably best if I got a new one to avoid a serious issue. I had a half day off today-which was awesome!-so I elected to go to the store and acquire a new phone. The entire ride there, I kept feeling like I needed to be paying attention and be cautious of other drivers, so I did. I drove slow and kept a safe distance but that feeling never subsided. When I got to a street I was comfortable with that had a double left turn lane, I felt the need to slow down again and elected to get in the left most turn lane while the car in front of me went to the right most turn lane.
As we were going through, the light turned yellow. Once again, I felt the need to slow down, so I covered the brake. For some reason I can't possibly fathom, a stopped van decided to go. Even though I was closest to the van, I completely missed it, it sailed in front of the car to my right and they collided. I heard the collision and both cars went spinning across the intersection. Somehow, they both completely avoided me even though I was RIGHT NEXT to them. I immediately stopped the car, grabbed my phone to call the police, and went running into the intersection as cars were driving through to make sure they were okay. I don't know how I didn't get hit by a car running like a maniac.
Both cars were completely totaled; the front end of one was shoved into itself and the second one's right side was smashed. Even though the impact struck where a passenger was, even though there was a child in the car, even with the front end completely smashed in on one vehicle...everyone walked away without a single scratch. It was the most amazing thing I have seen.
I'm sure a lot of people will say it was a lot of coincidence, but all I see is God at work in these situations this week. I'm so grateful to still be here. I had an infection that they were afraid would turn septic, and I could have been dead in hours from that. I could have been caught in that accident and someone definitely could have died, and no one was so much as scratched. I don't know if there are any lessons to be learned here, but I am telling you, this is the most amazing week of my life.
God bless you all!
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