I don't consider myself some Politcal analyst or even SUPER duper politically informed. AND I don't care to much for politicians (no offense if YOU or YOUR SPOUSE is ONE). BUT- I am freaking out that people aren't even watching the Debates?? How the heck are you going to know who to vote for?? I guess most people are just going to vote for whoever runs against our CURRENT pres, unless of course you have been living in the ground for say... the last 4 years, and STILL think Obama is gonna bring about GREAT CHANGE. (Of course... he HAS brought about great AMOUNTS of change... I don't guess our economy has been this crappy in MY lifetime). ANYWAY- WATCH the DEBATES and get informed PEOPLE!! I still haven't decided who I like. I don't like either one of the Ricks, though, for SURE. One is an arrogant DUFUS and the other is so obnoxious I long to get my THUMP on with his EARS. I like Herman Cain and Romney and the rest of them seem pretty nice. (I like nice people. If you don't then WATCH the DEBATES and pick a MEAN one!) Okay- that's all I have to say about that.
NOW- on to my OTHER issues. So THANK you all for your sweet "BLESS your POOR children for having you and Starling as Parents" comments. I'm afraid for them, too. We have been very blessed. I know MY guardian angel forewarned Brooklyn and Brighton's guardian angels that they have their work cut out for them. (And I'm plain scared to know what Starling's guardian angel had to say. He probably snorted and said, "He's reproduced?! Heaven help us all!!" Especially when he found out that he had a BOY. And then for toppers- when the angel said, "Lets hope he takes after his mother" and my angel said, "Ummm.. he married WENDI, remember?" I think that's when Starling's guardian angel mumbled something about being too old for this and he wants a transfer).
All this talk about guardian angels... I am brought back to a beautiful vacation Starling and I took BEFORE we had babies.
*soft tinkling music* - *fuzzy image clearing*
AH. There we are. It is a lovely summer day in mid June. The air is a perfect 85 DRY degrees. Glenwood Springs, CO has never been so full of happy laughing people scurrying around for the Strawberry Days Festival. Starling and I are giddily frolicking down hiking trails, dipping our toes in river streams, tripping and falling and dropping our camera in river streams (okay- maybe that was just ME), and eating from Starling's camping stove. We found a BEAUFIUL bridge (that was actually part of someone's driveway) to camp under. Starling laid out camping pads, covered them in a giant fluffy down comforter, and we LAY down just soaking up the moment. The rush of the mountain river a little below us sending up a cool spray that freshened the warm air. The smell of sweet olive trees dancing in the breeze. And of course the taste of... well we were kissing each other. (We'd found a camp ground near by that had open bathrooms where we'd showered and brushed our teeth). It was just PERFECT. BUT- we REALLY wanted to add some excitement to our trip. (Hiking up to Hanging Lakes with a nose bleed and some kid running DOWN the mountain shouting bear!!! wasn't exciting enough for us).
We were driving in Starling's red broncho, windows down, when we saw it. THE THRILL to top all THRILLS. The Colorado River, white topping. We looked at each other. Starling drove to a Tire Place and bought too giant tubes for $10 bucks a piece. The FIRST warning that came to us was from the person selling the tubes. "Where are ya'll going tubing?" He asked friendly enough. "The Colorado River." He choked and sputtered, "No, son! You can't TUBE down the river! You need wet suits and life jackets and a RAFTING guide! You'll freeze to death PLUS the water is BRUTAL!" Uh huh. "Thanks for the TUBES!" THEN we hopped into our swim suits and headed to our destination. Mississippi style. When we neared the water, we both felt a little trepidation. MAYBE it WILL be a LITTLE dangerous... SO we got a couple of life jackets to be on the SAFE side. FINALLY, nothing could stop us. NOT even the SECOND WARNING. As we determined how we'd hop into our tubes, a WHITE WATER RAFTING group passed us. ALL in wet suits and life jackets. The guide started shouting frantically, "NOO!! You can't TUBE IN THIS!!! You'll BE KILLED!!!" We waved back smiling. We'd been told by the life jacket rental people that the snow had just melted and the water temp was a little above freezing. Snow MELT, they called it. Well, being from the South, that just went over my head, and I paid it no mind.
Well, the water did look a bit choppy and TERRIBLY quick. "What if we get separated?" I asked. Starling thought about this and in his great wittiness, announced, "I know what we can do." He proceeded to TIE our tubes together. (With Cable Wire from the back of his Bronco). "What if we fall off our tubes?" I asked, really feeling a bit anxious now that I was close enough to hear the ROAR of the water. SO Starling tied US to our TUBES. And when the SECOND Water Rafting guide went by and told us we would HANG ourselves that way, we decided we were ready to go in. SO, carrying our tubes and wires, and LEAVING our shoes, I went first. My butt didn't even TOUCH my tube. The water slung my tube and sent me plummeting into ICE. Starling reeled me in with my cable wire AND my tube and did we give up? NO. I spat and sputtered, and teeth chattering said, "We better BOTH jump in at the same time." So we did. ANd OFF we went.
After the initial whip-lash and after our butts were numb we started enjoying ourselves. We were FLYING! "WOO HOO! This is AWESOME!!" The sun felt INCREDIBLE against the sharp (and I mean SHARP) contrast of the ice water. We were getting shot up in the air from the current and random rocks and LOVING it!
BUT. Then a HUGE boulder emerged. We tried to not slam STRAIGHT into it but we were going so fast and steering a tube has never been my strong point. At the last minute Starling FLUNG me to keep me from face planting and he went the OTHER way. Our cable wire WRAPPED around the boulder sending Starling FLYING out of his tube. Luckily, he was tied to his tube. UNFORTUNATLEY, he was tied to his tube. (Why Lucky and Unfortunate?) Well- if he wouldn't have been tied to his tube he would have just gotten swept away and 100% drowned. BUT since he was tied, the cable wire was cutting him in half. I pulled myself to him trying to untangle him but the water was ripping us apart. He was SCREAMING in pain trying to loosen up the wire and I was just... screaming. Yeah. NO water rafters came by to save us. It was just as well. He finally got ON the tube and was able to get situated with only MILD abrasions. We didn't even have time to catch our breath before we saw a monstrous cyclone in the middle of our path. "IS THAT!?" I shrieked. "A WHIRLPOOl!!!" Starling yelled as he started paddling FRANTICALLY. Our paddling was POINTLESS. We started sending up PRAYERS like nobody's business. I was SQUALLING telling Starling, "I don't WANT to DIE!!! We're REALLY ARE GOING TO DIE!" And Starling, who would normally roll his eyes at my dramatic-ness, just looked at me wide eyed and yelled, "WE REALLY ARE." And then we got sucked into the edge of the whirl pool. We started spinning around the lip. I closed my eyes just KNOWING I was going to die but still praying FERVENTLY that God would forgive our stupidity and PLEASE give us a second chance. About that time, Starling slammed his tube into mine which sent me JUST out of the direct swirl and the momentum sent us spinning wildly. I yanked the cord as HARD as my adrenaline arms could tug, and Starling's tube rammed into me again. We rammed each other again and again, shouting, "JUST GET TO THE EDGE!" It took us some twenty or thirty minutes to GET to the bank. NOT exaggerating. When Starling finally caught hold of a rock and DRUG me out of the death trap, we flopped on the ground and just laid there panting and defrosting. THEN we said a heart felt prayer and promised to NEVER do anything that stupid again. Then we set off to hitch hike back to the Bronco.
We'd gone WAY farther than we'd PLANNED and had no idea where we were. BUT the asphalt was HOT HOT!! Shoeless, we high-stepped our way to a Gas Station where some dude in a feed truck took one look at our banged up appearance and hauled us back to our ride.
We enjoyed the rest of our trip enjoying the DULLness and LACK of excitement.
*loud sound- back to NOW*
THAT is when I first realized the power of guardian angels. Well NOT the first time..
*clinkling sound again*
I was young, some time before I got a drivers license. I was in Petal where my best bud Natalie and I were hanging out looking for some "EXCITEMENT." We went walking. While we were blab blabbing about what boy we thought was cute in the SEVENTH grade, we came upon an abandoned house. Well, now. THAT had excitement written on the front door! (You just couldn't SEE it through all the graffiti). Fearless and invincible, as all twelve year olds ARE, we busted up into that house with all the eagerness of a raccoon in a trash can. With NO regard to laws and such, we just made our self at home, playing detective. "Look at this place! All the letters on the ground!" We went through some of it. "THERE's some clothes in this closet!" And beds. "Wow.. I wonder if its haunted!" Natalie and I started scaring ourselves, especially when we heard noises that sounded very human. When we couldn't find the stairs, we went outside to investigate. When we turned our faces upward, a face stared down at us from a window. "AHHAHAHAHHHH!!!" We bolted down the driveway and within seconds of us getting onto the main road, a CAR turned down the driveway. WE ran ALL the WAY back to Natalie's house panting. LATER, when we told the story to our Sunday School teacher, about seeing a GHOST, he informed us we'd paid a visit to the Whore House where people gather to sell drugs and such and that we hadn't seen a ghost, but a person probably LIVING there. For some reason, that seemed much scarier than a ghost. We didn't go back.
* BACK TO NOW*
Okay... come to think of it, I have a LOT of those kind of stories. From trying to lure a ride from my Grandma's house when I was seven, just to see if I could stick out my leg like the lady in the movie I'd seen, and get someone to stop, to picking up hitch-hikers that were actually prostitutes. Yeah. I guess I'm just lucky to be alive. THANK you GUARDIAN ANGELS! (God knew I needed some angels quick on their feet, or fast with their wings...).
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