Fluff Piece

I've been feeling thoughts rumbling around in my head, starting to make their way down to my fingertips. I don't know that they've fully arrived yet but I figured I'd give it the old college try.

Speaking of college, when I was in college with a hankering to write, but no clue what to write about, I'd make a list instead and I called it a "Time Freeze Scan" (I wanted it to have a clever title but that was all I ever came up with...which is quite the opposite of clever but just go with it). It is a simply me, listing things occupying my time at the moment. I think I'll do that now.

December 2017 Time Freeze Scan

Current Favorite TV Shows:

• Haters Back Off! Season 2 (Netflix). I initially wasn't so sure about this show when I first tuned in but I've learned to really enjoy this quirky family. Warning: You really have to enjoy silly humor.
• Stranger Things Season 2 (Netflix), that show brings me such joy. The 80's theme takes me to my childhood and I find it so comforting (especially the opening credits). Plus the story is so good!
• Schitt's Creek Season 3 (Netflix). If you enjoy Eugene Levy/Catherine O'Hara humor and haven't watched this show yet, you really need to stop everything and watch it. Every character is brilliantly played.
• This is Us. I don't think I need to say much more. You've probably already heard that this show is wonderful. I especially relate to the adoption thread of the story line. I cry every week. I finally convinced my husband to start from the beginning and it brought me such shock and joy to see him cry too.

Currently Tickling My Ears:
I've been listening to a lot of Christmas music in an attempt to find my holiday spirit. We've had hardly a skiff of snow and I found out I have to be on call at work during Christmas so I'm fighting a bad attitude.

• Right this very second I'm listening to the Spotify playlist "Cookies and Milk and 'You Serious, Clark' Mix". I recently started following Bev Weidner on Instagram (@bevcooks) and she makes occasional playlists that I enjoy. You should also follow her on Instagram. Her stories/blog are entertaining and her recipes have so far been great. I think she might really annoy me in real life (too much energy for this little introvert) but I've enjoyed her presence on social media.
• My brother-in-law programs the Christmas Channel for King FM (out of Seattle) and I very much enjoy his selection. Give it a listen!

Current Reads:

• Our church will be doing a book discussion on Watership Down. I never read this book as a kid and had no idea it was about talking rabbits. I found it to be an interesting read and I look forward the to the discussion in the coming weeks.
• I just finished reading The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery. I had never heard of the Enneagram personality chart and my interest was peaked when I heard someone mention the book. I found it fascinating and eerily accurate. I discovered I'm a 9w1, to a T. It helped me name some of my habits and shed light on some of the things that I ritually do. I highly recommend it. It gives you an honest look at yourself, including your natural faults and how to overcome them. I told my husband he needs to read it so we can maybe learn something new about how to relate to and help each other. 
• 20 Things Adopted Kids Wished Their Adopted Parents Knew. Enlightening, frightening, encouraging, and highlights how adoption always begins with trauma even if you take that baby home the split second after it's born. The loss of the birth mother, the only thing they know after 9 months in the womb is devastating to that little baby. I'm constantly reminded how simultaneously awful, beautiful, and redemptive adoption is.

Current Guilty Pleasures:

• Brach's Holiday Spice Drops. Can't stop. Won't stop.
• Cheesy Christmas movies wherever I can find them. Does anyone know how I can watch the newer Hallmark Christmas movies without having cable? We have Apple TV and I'm willing to pay a small fee for the holiday season!

Latest Unfortunate Adventure:

This was back in October, but Brian wanted to go to Denver to attend the last Rockies home games at the end of the baseball season for his birthday. We rode the train down but decided to take the Bustang (the clever name for our city-to-mountain bus transportation option) on Sunday so we could attend the Sunday afternoon game. On Sunday, we grabbed a quick bite after the game and headed to the bus terminal. Brian had to use the restroom and disappeared for a million minutes; meanwhile, the bus arrived and they started loading. I frantically texted/called Brian with no results so I (naturally) started to work through the thought process, "Do I leave him here and just get on the bus?" I'm a very selfish person, btw. Thankfully, he eventually appeared and we were able to grab one of the last 2 seats together. I had not had time to go to the restroom but figured I could either hold it the 3 hours or use the on-bus restroom. 

Earlier in the day I caught wind of a new winter advisory for the mountain passes we were about to drive through, but I figured it was October 1st, the ground was still warm, we would probably be okay. We settled in with our books/Netflix and the next thing I knew, it was snowing HARD and my phone buzzed with an update from CDOT (Colorado Dept of Transportation) that I-70 was closed at Eisenhower Tunnel due to adverse weather conditions. We were creeping along almost to said tunnel and I lost all cell service so I took a deep breath and tried to relax. The bus driver announced that the road was closed and we were going to be diverted over Loveland Pass. If you've ever driven over Loveland Pass you'll know why this is a terrible idea. Think winding, single-lane mountain road with no guardrail, over a pass at 11,000 ft and back down the other side. Not exactly what you want to be doing in a large bus in dumping snow, but at least that meant we could keep moving. Thankfully, right when we were about to get to the Loveland Pass exit, they re-opened the highway and we were able to continue on through the tunnel. At this point we were only delayed about an hour.

As we were working our way through the tunnel, I regained cell service and my phone buzzed again saying I-70 was now closed at Copper Mountain and Vail Pass. We were almost to Copper so I knew there was no way we wouldn't get stopped. We pulled off the interstate and parked in a line of cars along a road, surrounded by nothing but trees and dumping snow. The bus driver announced that someone had complained about the bathroom door being locked so he got up to check it out. He got back to the front and announced, "Someone broke the bathroom door and it's stuck in the locked position. We do not have a restroom". Then he announced that he had been driving since 5am (it was now 9pm), that he needed to get some rest and to please not disturb him for 15 minutes unless they re-opened the highway. 

Eventually all the men kept getting off the bus to relieve themselves (jerks) and many went out for smoke breaks. I had to use the restroom but when I looked outside, there was 6 inches of snow, no bushes for cover, and a street light illuminating everything (not a prime squatting environment). I hoped it wouldn't get to the point where I was in pain from holding it and figured we'd eventually need to get gas since he left that bus idling with the heat on the entire time. (P.S. We never did get gas. Ever. How that bus was able to idle/run for that many hours straight and never need gas is beyond my comprehension; I'm just thankful we had heat the whole time). I thought about getting off to walk to a hotel/condo but we couldn't go rogue since he was our ride home. We were stuck. At one point Brian got off to fill our water bottles with snow to quench our thirst (fun fact: when the snow melted the full water bottle ended up with about a tablespoon of liquid).

Thankfully I still had cell service so I went to my trusty weather app and saw that the storm was not going to let up until 2am. Although this was disheartening to see, I was grateful to have some inkling as to how long we would be stuck and I started to prepare my mind for a long night. The gentleman behind us, however, proceeded to complain and loudly ask every 20 minutes, "HOW LONG ARE THEY GOING TO MAKE US SIT HERE, SHERRY?" as he kept grabbing the back of my seat and pulling my hair to try to adjust and get comfortable. Then he lost his billfold. "SHERRY, I CAN'T FIND MY BILLFOLD! SHERRY! WHERE IS IT?! CAN YOU HELP ME FIND IT, SHERRY? Oh, there it is" (he was a delight to be sitting in front of, if you couldn't tell).

I alternated between trying to sleep and watching Netflix to pass the time as I counted down to 2am. As we approached 2am my weather app shifted to show the storm lasting until 3am... and then 4am... and then 5am. I probably would've driven myself nuts if I hadn't been able to follow the storm on my phone. I think I drowsily wrote this note on my phone at about 3am to try and focus on the positives:

That last one. V important.

At 5:30am, my mom texted me (as she was getting up for the new day), "Are you home yet?" We had just started moving at about 5:15am. That folks, was 7 straight hours not moving, on a bus, with no bathroom. The driver stopped in Vail so we could use the bathroom (thank goodness). Then he got on the intercom to say he needed to call corporate because he had been driving over the legal hour limit. I started to worry we'd have to sit and wait for a different driver to arrive and relieve him. Thankfully, CDOT let him continue the last 2 hours to Glenwood Springs. In summary, what normally takes 3 hours took us 13 hours. I really hope to never experience that type of travel fiasco again, thank you very much. But here's a cute picture of us at a baseball game, when we were still happy and naive as to what was going to happen to us: