We're on a Road to No Where (part 2)

Ok, where was I? That's right, we made it 50 miles outside of Seattle before our first break down and you are never gonna believe this when I tell you, but Ripleys' Believe It or Not show would have had a field day with this because, we only made it another 50 miles when we had our second break down!
It was as though the Uhaul trailer we were given could only go 50 miles before it lost all its gusto! Not at all like the lil train that said, "I think I can, I think I can!" This trailer just flat out said, "Peace out SUCKERS, I'm donskies!!"
But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. So there we are Monday morning in beautiful Kent WA. ahem... cough... cough...  (Sorry if you live in Kent WA and feel it is the most beautiful place on earth) We get the phone call that our trailer would be ready to roll by 10a.m and we set out to find where the trailer might be.  Now, we learned a thing or two from the first adventure. The first thing we learned is that it's never good to set out on a long road trip with out car chargers for those smart phones. Most generally, adequately, smart people never forget these things, but sadly the day before we had. Not this time though. Moses went and picked up a charger for our phones, and the second thing we learned is that snacks and drinks are always a must, so he got some beverages and we were on the road again. We did make one teeny, tiny mistake and that was to skip breakfast for a later stop down the road. I guess Kent WA wasn't looking too appealing in the breakfast department or something? It's fair to say then that we only learned 1 and a half things from the day before.  Learn from our mistakes, EAT PEOPLE! Eat BEFORE you set out on the road.  Yea, ok moving on...
As we are traveling down the road about 20 miles in I say, "Well, at least this time we have a charger, a snickers bar, and some beverages... not that it's going to matter because we will be just fine this time." Always the eternal optimist am I.
Did I jinx us? Well, I don't believe in jinxing, but if I did I would say I most certainly DID jinx us because only about 30 miles more down the road we get before a car comes zooming up behind us honking and waving us down to let us know our back tires were smoking.

It was at this point I may have said,
ARE YOU CUSSING KIDDING ME?!?!

CUSS!! CUSS, CUSS, CUSS!!!
I'm not admitting to anything. But there we were with another bearing on the back tire blown out, and I was like ... REMEMBER when we were JUST at UHAUL picking up our road ready, totally safe, very competent, VERY SAFE trailer? Did I mention the word safe? Oh... right ... wait...  Somebody else must have been given THAT trailer. When I was finally done cussing, (it may or may not have been about an hour later) I looked over to hear my very calm, cool, and collected husband on the phone once again with Uhaul. They said they would have someone out to us in no less than 3 hours.  Oh.. isn't that nice ONLY 3 HOURS!! (Sorry for yelling, apparently I can still get a bit worked up over this part) Someone did come to our rescue, or so I thought he was our rescuer and it was only about 2 hours later. How nice, only 2 HOURS later! I was feeling so relieved that we weren't going to be on the side of the road all day.  I was grateful it was almost all over and that he might even be able to fix us up quick like and in a hurry and we could be on our way.
Have I mentioned my eternal optimistic spirit ?
He came, he saw, he disassembled, and then he left us there.
I felt bewildered.
I felt betwixt.
I felt like another B word that isn't worth mentioning, but I'm just keeping it real!
This time we sat for almost 5 hours. I was trying to find the bright side.  I did have a safe place to relieve myself this time so there was that. But really, other than that, and the fact that my smart phone wasn't going to die I didn't have much else keeping the happy on my heart. As the day had turned to dusk finally two gentleman pull up who said they used to work for Uhaul and now they are independently doing road side assistance for all the damsels in distress. I'm pretty sure I laughed out loud at this point, and I told those two fellas that they were genius. We were just about ready to employ these two fellas when I kid you not, a huge tow truck pulls up and takes the trailer of the hitch and sets us free to head into Centraila WA. to find a complimentary place for the night. Oh how nice a complimentary room for the night! Are you sensing my sarcasm? It's pretty blatant. It would be hard to miss.

But here's where the story takes a twist, once we realized that one of our very favorite places on earth is in Centralia WA. 
We knew EXACTLY where we would be getting our complimentary stay, and we knew just what we would do too.  

We enjoyed our time as much as two people who have just moved their entire lives into two hellish boxes on wheels that keep breaking, can enjoy the time together. Even though, we would have preferred to be there under different circumstances we did make the most of it. See... enjoyment ;)

And here's the part where I tell you that I felt like God knew I was at my breaking point.  He also knew that Mo and I have always loved McMenamins.  He also knew that we needed some extra time together before we hit the ground running in Reno, NV with a new business adventure, and all kinds of busy with family and friends.

He also knew the very next day we would have to unpack and pack our trailer even though Uhaul said they would have guys out there to do this, but of course they didn't show up on time. Two things; Turns out that unpacking and packing again was my breaking point  and I didn't cuss. I cried.  That's how you know a real breaking point as opposed to an almost breaking point.  Tears. We did have one night of reprieve and then it was back to work. As I was lifting and scooting boxes back and forth to Mo I thought about the value of customer service. I thought about how it is that companies can get so big that they forget the little guy. I thought about just wanting to get home to my kiddos and I dreaded the thought that after we were done packing this trailer AGAIN, I would have to get back into that truck and travel another 500+ miles to get to our final destination. I'm pretty sure it was these thoughts and total exhaustion that brought on the tears, but then I remembered that this whole situation could have been so much worse. I started to turn on that optimistic radio and I thought about the fact that both Mo and I were alive, we were safe, we were well fed at McMenamins and we WOULD make it to NV eventually.
There are two more events in this story that are worth mentioning.  One is that after we were about only 250 miles away from NV the truck started smoking.  It was at this point that I started laughing. Remember up there when I said I had hit my breaking point? Well, it was really true, because this time I didn't freak out. I just laughed. What else can you do when in a situation like that? If you are a Moses you can be your normal, amazing, genius, super HOT, awesome self and lift the hood to the Uhaul truck, find out what is wrong, fix it and slowly move along on the road again. If you are a Noël you can laugh out loud and take a picture like this


The second event that happened before we made it safely to NV is that we almost ran out of gas. Don't believe the sign that says 32 miles to services right outside of Susanville. It's a lie. Our Uhaul truck  said we had 0 miles to empty for about 5 miles, and we coasted into Susanville on God fumes, but we made it and we are here now, and 
WE ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER!! NEVER TO RIDE IN A UHAUL TRUCK  EVER NEVER AGAIN!!

There's Always Tomorrow

“The ship of my life may or may not be sailing on calm and amiable seas. The challenging days of my existence may or may not be bright and promising. Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow. Today I am blessed.”
― Maya Angelou

Oh how I love this quote.

It is the epitome of an optimistic soul.
To maintain an attitude of gratitude is not an easy thing, (Can I get a witness?)

In this economy, around every corner, if you are paying attention, there are things that should be bringing us all to our knees, but this quote... this quote...
This reminds us that as long as their is breath in our lungs we can give thanks, even for that alone.

The part I love best about it is that, even though some days we might not be able to get out of our funk, "If I insist on being pessimistic" we can say tomorrow is a new day.
As Anne of Green Gables would say, "Fresh with NO mistakes in it"

A few days ago, I had one of those days.
I had been in this house, and way too inside my head for, far, far too long.
I had given in to the FUNK!
I was ready to get OUT!
I had a reason to get OUT!
I was dressed up to get OUT!
Only to have my hopes dashed when The Giant got stuck in the muck of the snow and mud that was our street.
I tried to not to give in to the "depths of despair", but I failed.
I went to bed early.

"There is always Tomorrow"

Then the next morning I got up, the snow was melting.
My drive way was clearing, the snow plows had come to save the day, and I was able to enter the human race again.
And boy howdy did it ever feel so good!!

I went to the grocery store that has a Starbucks inside(they all do here)SO, I should say, I went to the closest grocery store, to be quick as wink!
I wanted to be in society asap.
I walked in with a big Shit Eating Grin on my face like, I just had won the lottery, and
I said to the lovely Barista, "What drink do you suggest for the woman who has been in her house for 7 days with 4 kids, 2 dogs, and lots of snow?"
She looked at me and smiled really big and said, "Better make it a good one with lots of caffeine."

Ah, how I love people.

In the midst of my captivity, I continually gave thanks for you.
Yes YOU, my readers!
For this other outside world.
I prayed like no other that our electricity wouldn't go out.
And it didn't.

"Today, I am blessed"

Hope Part 2

Hope.

It's something that comes from deep within.

It cannot be moved by circumstance.

It does not easily cave in by popular demand.

It is a word that has been used by politicians, theologians, and poets for thousands of years to evoke a response.

“To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.”

We took a risk this past October. It was painful. It is still sometimes painful.

When a move occurs as far away as ours, and under the circumstances that ours did, you sometimes feel like you have to know why?

We hoped for something better.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick"

When the outcome of your hopes comes crashing down around you, you have to reevaluate, restructure, reinvent, and renew what it is you truly hoped for in the first place.

I can still remember the first time in my life when my hopes were dashed. It was one of the most painful experiences in my life. And I still remember the faith it took to hope again. I am so glad I did begin to hope again.

In my life I have come to know and be known for having a hopeful, optimistic spirit. I do believe it is God given. I do believe it is for a reason. I am not always full of hope. I sometimes doubt if this character trait would be described but others as being incredibly naive.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

“Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself... 'How did I get through all of that?”

For me when I look back on the past 2 years and ask the above question; "how did I get through all of that?" I know the answer.

still more to come on this topic....

Optimism and Me

Despite the fact that there has been a whole lot of negative things that have been happening all around I am determined to be The Eternal Optimist.

I found this quote today on a quotes page that I often visit;

"The point of living and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough to believe the best is yet to come." Peter Ustinov

It's true that optimism might be foolish but better to be a fool and happy than be right but you are all alone and miserable. I will be the fool that continually looks for and hopes in the best.

Now, don't get me wrong I am grateful, very grateful for the pessimists or realists or whatever you want to call them, in my life. They keep my feet on the ground and when their truth is spoken in love I can handle it. It might take me a while to get on board but thats just because it's not in my nature to be that way. A balance would be nice but then what fun is there in that ? I have noticed though when I slip out of optimism(very rarely but it does happen) suddenly those around me no longer carry their pessimistic traits. It's the strangest thing but when you want to hear the voice of optimism you can hear it.

So despite the fact that there is the possibly of looming bad things right around the corner I say, Here's to Looking Up!!

Picture is of the Redwood forest, taken last Fall.