As you know, Tanner and I have been going on at least one date every month. These dates were planned at the beginning of the year. If we don't do anything else during the month we have to at least go on the dates that we planned. Especially since most of them are already paid for! But since we love each other soooo much we make it a weekly habit. I know, you just threw up in your mouth a little! :)
Last month we went to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery and saw 39 steps by Alfred Hitchcock. The play is about a man in London trying to help a counterespionage agent. (I don't know what that means...so I googled it.... it's government activities designed to detect and counteract enemy espionage) But when the agent is killed and he stands accused, he must go on the run to both save himself and also stop a spy ring trying to steal top secret information. We laughed throughout the play! It reminded me a little of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We definitely enjoyed it!
I bet you are wondering about the "near death experience" part of our date. Well on the way back from Montgomery is was raining cats and dogs.... I wonder where that expression came from? And who decided on cats and dogs? My animals hate the rain.... Abby will hold her business for 2 days if she has to... she will not go out in the rain!
Anyways, it was raining so hard that we could barely see. The roads were full of water, the wipers were going so fast that I thought they might fly off the car, and we were driving very slow for 231. Well before we know it we start to hydroplane. I have hydroplaned many times but never like this.... we did a 180 through the median.... At this point I thought we were going to flip, I was in the passenger side and was picturing my head smashing against the ground! Pretty scary, but we made it through the median without flipping. The only thing I can figure is that it was so wet that we just kept sliding and God was definitely watching over us! So we made it through the first hoop but we are still sliding and are now on the opposite side of 231, sliding sideways accross oncoming traffic. At this point I grabbed Tanner's hand and was pretty much saying my goodbye because I just knew that this was it. I just knew that all those cars coming at us were going to crush us.... at least me anyways, they were headed for my side of the car. BUT we made it through that as well.... and then comes the hill.... we are headed for the trees now... Tanner was finally able to gain control of the car again and was able to slam on the breaks before we went for the trees.
We just sat there in silence for a minute in awe that we were still alive and that we made it through the whole ordeal like nothing ever even happened. Molly Mazda's axle was full of mud and chunks of grass. Also, the tire weights were knocked off but other than that eveything was fine.
In the movies you always see the person's life flash before their eyes but all I felt was peace. I wasn't scared, I was content. I don't have regrets in my life and am happy. I have always been someone who is thankful for everything that God has provided me with and rarely take things for granted. I say rarely because everyone takes things for granted! I absolutely hate negativity and try to find the positives in everything that life has to offer. The good and bad.
Looking back on our little scary adventure that lasted about 30 seconds but seemed like 10 minutes.... I think about something that Abraham Lincoln said:
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
This is an absolute fact! :) So make sure that you are really living your life because you just never know what can happen!!!!
