Picture it..... Sicily!

OK, so it's not Sicily, it's Ogden. And it's not Italy, it's Utah. It's late-ish. The Family estate is calming down for the evening. No where near ready to bed down for the night because we roll pretty late around here, but just taking it down a few notches for a mellow evening on a FREAKIN COLD night. I'm Antsy. I went into the kitchen to grab some dinner... but realize I really wasn't hungry. I returned to the living room to watch some tv with the sibs, but wasn't into the show. I grabbed a book to go read... but then sat back down in front of the tv. Yeah... Antsy. Something wasn't quite right and it was annoying me. I couldn't figure out what it was but indeed, it was. I sat on the couch and decided to try and zone in on what was going on inside my head. I had a feeling I needed to go out for a bit. I was just telling someone not 10 minutes earlier that it was cold out side and I wasn't going out there, and its rolling up on about 11 at night. I sort of pushed that thought to the back of my mind. It's about 8 degrees outside AND the wind was blowing. You could feel the breeze around the doors and windows of this old house. My gaze fixated on the TV...."the Dog whisperer" was on and I wanted to see how he was going to convince this dog not to be scared to go out walking or scared of the wind. The longer I sat the more unfocused on the show I had become. That Gnawing feeling I had earlier would not let me sit another minute. I jumped up, literally jumped up and announced.. "I'm Going For A Drive!." My daughter looked at me like I was crazy. My sister looked at me and shrugged. My brother was probably wondering... "typical , hella cold out side, out the door in only flannel jammies and slippers roaming around in the middle of the night on the streets of Ogden." I jumped in the car and didn't know where I was headed. I just went on some instinctual navigation system inside of me that had been lying dormant for a while. I headed south on Washington Ave... turned down a street called Chester. I've never been down this street before, had no idea why I was on it now. So I rolled down Chester until I came to a street called Porter. I rolled down Porter street for about a block and then turn down Cross. I took Cross street all the way back to Washington and then headed north on Washington back toward the house. Typically I turn down 6Th but this time I turned at the gas station by 7Th and saw an Older woman who appeared to be pushing her car. The street light was out. The gas station was dark and vacant. She was pushing at the back of her car and her driver side door was opened. I drove by her and did a quick turn Down the next street Adams st. I figured the house is just a couple blocks away I'll go get my brother to help. Then I thought: "hmmm an older woman, middle of the night a big black man... that may not set right with her. So instead I got on my cell phone and called my sister and simply said... "hey, meet me in the drive way right now...." I pulled into the drive way and she came out of the house and jumped into the car. I told her I saw an old lady pushing her car a block away and she may need our help. So I pull out of the drive way go around the block to the gas station and the car is gone. My sister is looking at me kind of like I'm trying to pull a joke. From the time I left the house in the first place to the time I saw the lady was maybe 10 minutes. From the time I saw the lady from the time I called my sister, picked her up and came back to where I saw her was less than maybe 2 minutes . I'm baffled. You know how you know that you saw what you saw, but now you only think you saw what you Know you saw??? Yeah, it's like that. I'm staring blankly at the spot where the lady and the car was. My sister turns to me and says... "uh.... so what color was this car?..." I said.."red." "and where did you see this car?" "right here." "uh huh, I see..." We were both quiet. I guess I felt that if I sat there long enough she would materialize in front of my eyes. So I just sat there for a few seconds. ( this is reminding me of when my car was making loud crazy noises the week before Christmas. The whole week before Christmas. And when I took someone for a ride so they could hear it and try and figure it out.... nothing. The noised disappeared.) I sighed. I headed east up 7th then turned north up Adams... driving very slowly. Cuz who ever she was, if she was having car trouble, she can't have gone that far. And it's freakin 2 degrees out, and the wind is blowin.... and I'm just cold thinking about her out there somewhere. Just as we're coming to cross 6th street my sister points and says... "right there!" I looked, and there was black silhouette of a car and a person. I tear around the corner and pull up the car. You could tell it had stopped in the middle of the road and she was trying to push it towards the side, but couldn't because there was no way for one person to steer or push at the same time. "ma'am can we help you?" I asked. She stayed by her car and called back that she was fine and that no, she was almost home and if she lets her car sit for a while it will start up again and she could drive it home. "well I'm more than happy to take you home and you can take care of this tomorrow." Shoot it was after 11pm. Suddenly my sister said... "Sister Jones! Hey It's Lyn, this is my sister" Lyn was the first councelor in the ward Relief Society so she knows EVERYONE in that area. Although Sister Jones was not really familiar with my brother. So getting my sister was the right vibe. They start talking a little about ward business. She's standing out in the freezing cold... for who knows how long it's freakin -12 degrees out and they wanna chat about ward business in the middle of the street in the middle of the night? FOCUS PEOPLE! "Whats with the car, sister?" I asked. She explains that she picked up her car a couple hours earlier from the repair shop and the battery light kept coming on.. and now she knows why. Her car would run for a short time and then stop. But if she lets it sit long enough, it would start up again and let her drive a little bit. So when it stopped, she'd push it to the side of the road if needed and then let it sit for a few minutes and then drive as far as she could. She had been doing this since about 20th street. (We were sitting on 6th street). She'd been doing this for a couple of hours in the dark and cold. I'm flashing back to this summer. A few friends of mine and I were doing a relay for life walk for the cancer society. I was team captain and was in Ogden going back home to Provo for the big day the next day. Sooo much to prepare for. As I headed down hwy 89 my car over heated. I kept putting water into it and it kept over heating. I could go maybe 2 miles before it would cut out on me. It was 98 degrees outside and thermometer in my car was registered at 103 degrees. within 30 minutes I had gone less than 3 miles and had poured 2 gallons of water into my car. I had 1 gallon left. I could either drink it or put it in the car. Normally I would just lock up the car and walk someplace. However, I had broken my ankle about 3 weeks before and although I was not using crutches, I still had it casted. So i couldn't even hike out. The portion of the highway I was in was sort of like a bowl. you come down a Huge hill just to go back Up a huge hill. This was the route that truckers take to and from Wyoming and various other forlorn places in the state. It's also the spot where your cell phone doesn't work so well. I remember sitting in my car, hood up, my t-shirt was dripping wet with sweat. I could wring it out. My arm rest was actually muddy from my sweat and the dirt from me dinking around under the hood. My bother wasn't picking up his phone. 2 other friends offered to come help, both at work. The one, I KNOW would have come as soon as they could. The other... well you know you have those friend who offer, and they'd help, but for some reason you feel guilty about it? yeah well I figured there were both anywhere from an hour to 30 min away and there's no reason why they should have to rescue me. I knew I was on my own because I knew no one would stop to help. And I was right. (remind me to blog that story sometime for the conclusion) Tangent, sorry. K, so anyway... she had been doing this drive, stop push thing for a couple hours in the cold. Lyn is talking to sister Jones about what's going on. And then I tell her to call our brother to come and help. She says..."he won't come, will he? I wouldn't come on a night like this.... Lyn says.. "yeah he will" "Well he's sleep isn't he?" "Sleep? are you kidding me? Naw he ain't sleep!" She dials our brother and tells him.. "Hey, jump in my car and come up 6th street. Oh yeah...you need your coat and some long pants... this may take awhile..." I park on the side of the road with my hazards on. Lyn and Sister Jones are outside trying to see if they can just tighten something up or jump the battery or what. within 2 minutes we see my sister's car turn out of the alley and come up 6th street and park just behind me with the lights on. Lyn explains what's going on. I tell her to have Sister Jones come sit in the car and warm up. Her car is warm, she insist that we don't need to make a fuss about her and she'll be OK. I had to explain to her... "Sister Jones, we can't just leave you here, our parents would be so disappointed if we did that... we just didn't grow up that way. We need to make sure you get home safely even if we have to take you there ourselves. My mama would be HIGHLY ashamed if we left you in this situation...and you don't want to have that on your heart would you?" She kind of laughed.. by this time my brother was out of the car and my sister was explaining the situation. I was sitting in the car running the heat full on because I get hives when the weather is really cold...and another trip the E.R for me because of hives was out of the question for this day. I had broken out in Hives earlier today, twice... and that was enough for me. I guess they were going to try jumping the battery but decided to push her car where I was sitting, so she wouldn't get a ticket since she was diagonally parked facing east on the west bound side of the street. I moved my car. Sister jones convinced them to let her try and start it again since she was soo close to home. The siblings obliged and let her know we were be right behind her to make sure she got home. We all got in our cars. I had flipped my car to the west bound side of the street prepared to give light to their 2 cars for the jump. And they were now facing east toward where Sister Jones lives in "The Village" apt. Sister Jones started up her car an away she went... Eric and Lyn right behind. I flipped a u-turn and pulled up from the rear. By the time they got down to the street to the sign that said.. "dip" Sister Jones' car stopped again... (less than 1/4 mile down the road). By the time I got down to the "dip" sign my brother was pushing her car into the parking lot of the Village Apartments. My sister had parked her car at the office. My brother pushed her car into a slot bedside my sister's car and I pulled up on the other side of Sister Jones' car. Sister Jones jumped out of her car and thanked us soo much for our time and for helping her on a night like this. Now in true.. "Dudley" fashion... Lyn had enquired where exactly where she lived so we could make sure she was inside safely. We made sure she was home safe. We then got into our cars and headed back to the family house. Prepare for Mama Lecture: ***On a side note... My parent's seriously trained us to be a certain way. If I had told this story to my mama and I hadn't stopped, her backhand would have left Michigan, slapped me up in Utah and been back home in Michigan in less that 3 seconds. You never LEAVE somebody: If you are some place with a friend and only 2 people are left and you are one of them.. you don't leave them alone, you leave together. If you take someone home or drop them off... you don't leave until you are sure they are in the house. ( flash the porch light as a sign that you are in and things are ok if they drop you off) For my sister and I... If we are some place with a Man and he leaves us, or leaves before us or doesn't make sure we are safely on our way before he leave on his way...that's not your kinda man. My brothers... make sure your ladies are home when they are supposed to be and safely in their house when they get there. Don't ever expect more from anyone than you are willing to do yourself. Mama lecture part 2 Sometimes the Lord needs people to go above and beyond what's expected to get his work done. Be that person when you can. It's not bad to expect alot from people if you give alot to people. (where much is given, much is required) but don't hold them to your high expectation or you will feel failed (amen on that one.) Hold them to the expectation they set for themselves. Hold people accountable for keeping their word. Don't say things you don't mean or make commitments you don't intend to keep. Never leave people or plans hanging.... oh I could go on an on. Sadly enough we all do those things that we probably shouldn't. Human nature tends to get in the way of what we should and shouldn't do. I think as long as we don't leave ourselves satisfied with.."oh well, everyone does it.. or that's just human nature.." and stop trying, we're allowed to slip as long as the slipping isn't the rule. *** MEAN WHILE BACK AT THE RANCH.... when we all get into the house... for some reason... we all burst out laughing at our adventure. My brother looked at me laughin and said.... 'How come your vibes and promptings always put "US" in the middle of something?" I started cracking up... "well I was antsy and some thing kept telling me something was wrong.. so when I got the vibe to go for a drive, I went for a drive... you don't ask questions.. you just do what you're told and you know it's in his hands." Lyn chimed in saying..." well you know how she is! When that girl get a prompting she is all over it, no questions asked. I learned to trust it. I don't even question it anymore. Cuz it's amazing to see it in action. It happens with her all the time and you just don't fool with it." Eric went on to say "Sister Jones was soo cold and tired, she had already exhausted her energy and couldn't get warm and was shaking so badly already." This was how things were on His end... Eric was saying how.. it was weird.... "First Karyn jumps up and announces she's going on a ride. Then less than 10 minutes later Lyn's phone rings and she's out the door gone. Then less than 5 minutes later my phone rings and Lyn is telling me to just jump in her car and bring it around the block... I'm thinking what kind of mess did Karyn get into this time... that Lyn can't get her out of. And then I thought.. wait.... in the movies... everyone start disappearing one by one...getting killed off... I didn't know what to think but I knew whatever was going on... I had to come... and if something happened to one of us... it better happen to all of us... or else mom would kill me anyway cuz I'm the oldest...." We bust out laughing shaking our heads in agreement again... Because as soon as we tell mom the story... I can hear her now.... Talking to Lyn.. ." you let karyn go out in that weather alone at night?.... Why didn't you go with her?" ( growing up, mom would not let me go anywhere w/o lyn or let lyn go anywhere w/o me. I can remember getting back handed when i said.. ."why do I have to follow her outside to the garbage can, it's JUST right there.. you can watch her from the window..") And then I can hear lyn saying back to her... "well I did go with her when she came back 10 minutes later and picked me up.... and then 2 minutes after that i called Eric and then came to where we were.....cuz he's the oldest.. and he knows that if me and Karyn are in trouble, he's accountable to you if something happens to us....(pause)... Yeah we did leave the baby (ali )in that house alone... there was no need to bring the baby (Ali) out in that weather, Ali was locked the the house and the dog was there...". (the "baby" by the way, is 16 years old.) My mama is on the ball and WILL make sure all her bases are covered when it comes to her kids. Even though we're grown. I stood for a minute in stillness... and there were no longer any antsy or unsettled feeling. I took a deep breath made some hot chocolate to ensure I would be warm enough not to break out in hives and settled in for the chilled out and relaxing night. Yeah.... it's like that!