Thanks

Thanks for all the sweet good wishes and gentle support after my post yesterday. It was pretty raw, but writing it helped a lot. All is well today. Eric wasn't even sore. He is my man of steel. No word yet about whether or not the truck is salvageable. Someone I met at a bridal shower last night said she saw the accident on the news. Weird to think about.

Today was spent entirely at the computer doing handouts for my three new classes, with breaks for laundry and cleaning. The kids had stuff to do and Eric was home, so it was a pretty smooth day. I got everything done before tomorrow's deadline. I am happy with how they turned out and the nice thing is that all I had to do was come up with the words and pictures. They will edit, format and print for these classes. That works for me.

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MIracles

So, It's 6:55 am. I'm getting ready to drop the kids at school and head down to the temple for the morning and Eric calls and calmly says, "I've had a bit of an accident, you'll need to come get me." At this point in time, I'm in the middle of 4 different things, and Eric has had a few fender benders, so I calmly find out his location (the split between 495 and 95) then reply, "Okay, it will be about 40 minutes. " I'm seriously thinking that it's no big deal at this point. I mean, it wasn't the police who called or anything. As I continue on my well-ordered way out the door, my brain catches up and it occurs to me that MY HUSBAND HAS BEEN IN A CAR ACCIDENT. So I call back and, a little less calmly ask, "Are you okay?" He replies, just as calm as a summer's morn, "Oh, absolutely." My brain clicks over another gear or two and I comment, trying to sound casual, "But the truck is undriveable." His cool demeanor finally cracks the teeniest bit and he pauses and says, "Uh, well, actually, the truck is upside down." Not calmly at all I exclaim, "UPSIDE DOWN!?" He replies cheerfully, as if discussing the weather, "Yeah, but the EMT's checked me out and I'm free to go." I immediately realize that I will have to freak out for both of us since Eric is incapable of getting ruffled but I know it would be wasted on him so this time I exclaim only to myself: "THE TRUCK IS UPSIDE DOWN BY THE SIDE OF 95 IN RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC AND AN AMBULANCE HAD TO COME. AGHHHH!" After that brief, silent-but-very-effective mental breakdown, I shift into my cool, efficient crisis mode, am able to calmly explain to the kids what is going on, assure them that their dad was okay (because they had heard my less than calm exclamation about the direction of the car), and get them off to school. I get some gas (because, I coolly and efficiently realize, if I run out of gas, Eric will be unable to come get me) and commence to head south on 95, thinking about absolutely nothing. In crisis mode, my brain tends to hyperfocus on the task at hand. However, sitting in the traffic jam that his accident had caused, watching the helicopters circling overhead and talking to Eric on the phone as he described fishtailing, skidding sideways across several lanes of rush hour traffic and then turning over, my calmness fled and I have pretty much been a quivery, weepy mess ever since as the "what could have happened" scenarios refuse to leave my brain.

I know it must have been incredibly dramatic to see a 4-ton, 18-foot long truck go crazy like that because Eric said that a nurse who immediately pulled over to help proclaimed his survival a miracle. The other miracle is that only one other car was hit, but the driver was uninjured. Okay, I'm crying again just writing about it. I know it was a miracle. There are many blessings to make note of, such as the fact that he was wearing his seatbelt, that the impact was not hard enough to set off the airbag, that the truck probably won't be totaled, that we carry stinkin' good insurance on that behemoth because it is so big and expensive so we only have a 100 dollar deductable, that he was not going very fast, and again and again, that no one was injured. Thank goodness he and the other driver (and the 40 other people who could have been in his path) are all okay. I'm overwhelmed thinking about it. This on top of the other challenges that have knocked into our family in the last week has me feeling pretty fragile and drained. I know that everything will be okay, but that doesn't make these moments of extreme emotion any easier.

He is indeed perfectly fine, other than that he'll likely be very sore tomorrow. In true Eric form, he had me drop him off at the train station in Laurel so he could go into work as if nothing had happened. I so admire his resiliance. At that point in time, I felt like going home and going to bed and nothing had even happened to me! I did end up going to the temple, and I'm glad I did. Now that I've written about it, and counted my blessings, I will make myself a lovely salad instead of eating every single last donut left over from Seminary, even though every cell in my body is whispering in unison that I deserve comfort food right now. I will ignore them, but then I'm going to bed till the kids get home.

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Meme 7

Here is my meme from Julia. I'm pretty quirky, so narrowing it down to 7 was tough. Here are the rules:

A. List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
B. Tag seven people to do the same.
C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it.

A.
1. I am a thinker and a dreamer, which means that even though it seems like I do many things at the last minute and that I thrive on pressure, actually a lot of the work has been done mentally and all that's left at the end is the execution. Or at least that's what I tell myself.
2. My name is Kellie and I am a compulsive purchaser of pens. I am trusting in my higher power and working the steps though and I have placed myself on the pen wagon until January. Believe me, I won't run out before then.
3. I have terrible toenails-they won't grow no matter how much jell-o I eat. Nail technicians have actually told me that they are unable to perform a pedicure on me. My latest beauty find is fake, yes fake toenails. I love them and wear them like jewelry whenever I want my feet to look pretty. The rest of the time I just wear closed-toe shoes. I'm pretty sure I mentioned my toes in my hundred things. Sorry about that. They do worry me sometimes.
4. I have 2 holes pierced in my left ear and 3 holes pierced in my right. This was my big teenage rebellion. It was not hard for me to stop wearing earrings when Pres. Hinckley asked us to stick with one pair. They won't close up though, so occasionally I am tempted...
5. I just recently went below a weight that I have not been below in 15 years. Yay me!
6. I once took a watercolor class and loved it but then Eric went into law school and knitting was an easier way of keeping sane, so I've never really painted again.
7. I have an "innie" belly button. I know you'll sleep better tonight with that question answered.

B.
So, I'll tag Krista, Mandi, and yes, whoever else hasn't been tagged. I don't have that many people reading this plus blogging should not have rules like C anyway.

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Funny From the New Yorker

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Beautiful Weekend

We went on our annual pilgramage to Blue Knob State Park for a family camp that was started 11 or 12 years ago by a group of families in our stake. The families have mostly changed except for a few who have been coming all along, but the fun is the same. There is not much to blog about because not much happens, and that's the beauty of the weekend. We all enjoy being together, the proverbial village keeps all the kids safe so moms and dads can relax, and this particular weekend, the weather was spectacular. One other highlight is that the wonderful and wee Bedford, PA Branch of our church, after welcoming the teeming horde of us to church every labor day for all these years (we far more than double their numbers) surprised us with a pot-luck break-the-fast luncheon after church. It was the coolest thing ever-these good people who don't know most of us at all, just opening their hearts and loving us. It was truly a Zion moment for me.

We got home this afternoon and I just have to mention that with my dear husband's help, we had everything completely unpacked in about 1 hour. I am not kidding. I love it when he is actually home and available. Such a difference.

Anyway, if I can get blogger to cooperate,which I haven't been able to do all week, I will post a few photos. In keeping with my current focus of practicing my photography every day and not taking pictures merely to prove I or my children were in a certain place, I offer a few views of Blue Knob that represent more than just events. They represent how I see it there.


Early-morning sun backlighting leaves



This is a wonderfully interesting old building on the way. I finally went back on a photo safari.



The outside has come in, but the character remains.


It is close to being completely taken over by the local flora.



Every time I turned another corner, I found amazing new details.



Queen Anne's Lace in the fading light



This one proves only that we were there. You cannot tell by these expressions that anyone had any fun. They did though, they just hate being photographed. How ironic is that. I couldn't get 5 little hams that would pose for me. I guess some of my creativity has stemmed from getting good photos of them in spite of their skilled avoidance tactics. Okay, off to bed and back to the real world now.

PS: My Avatar is me sitting on the porch of one the little cabins where we stay at Blue Knob. I often like photos of me there because I'm actually relaxed.

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