Ah Winter - and the story of the 10.5 hour commute

Ah, beautiful! Who wouldn't want to wake up on a sunny Thursday morning...
              to bask in the rays of the sun
                        from the warmth of the house...
                                while looking out at the beautiful snow covered trees?

It was a beautiful sight to behold, but to stop here would leave off the most important part of the story - how it came to be that I was able to take this picture from my bed late in the morning.

Where shall I begin - long story alert...

The afternoon before (Wednesday, January 26th), the office closed early, and here I am about 3 hours in to my commute a little after 7:00 p.m.:



Realizing all the major routes (395, 95, 495) were closed:


Around 8 p.m. when I thought a UFO was over the stoplight - and I caught the green sky on video:


Me talking again at 8:50 p.m. after some people pushed me up a hill and when I thought I was a mile from GMU (which I wasn't):


Luckily, I had peanut butter cookies:


9:24 p.m. at a strip mall parking lot (no gas station and almost on empty):


Lots of people stuck in a parking lot of all places. It doesn't look like much snow, but whatever it was (snow,ice,slush, rain), it was not cooperating with our cars.


10:46 p.m. - already forgetting what date it was:


Realizing that I should probably show what my view was for about 10.5 hours:


Hand exercises at 11:18 p.m. to stay occupied:


Took a picture to have a break from the video setting:

11:35 p.m. and I'm so over the whole experience:


Don't laugh at that last one - I was going crazy.


Sitting in the same spot - at almost midnight:



Turning off the car - almost out of gas:


Grown man going to the restroom (or not) right in front of us:


I'm not the only one taking pictures and videos along the way:


12:33 in the morning -a glimpse of the university:



So, if you got to this point (which most people probably didn't), you know that there was no way I was going in to work the next day after arriving home around 2 a.m.

But, blessings abound -good samaritans all over the place, I didn't run out of gas (shocking since I had only put $10 in an empty tank the day before) and I got home safely.

Here's to little traffice adventures and traffic inspired sick days....though I actually did work a bit the next day..but, from home and in my bed (which is where I took the pictures from the first part of the post).

In Memory Of - Shane Mitchell

Life is precious, but sometimes we don't realize it until it is gone, right?

This weekend our church congregation received some very sad news. A member of our congregation had died in a Ragnar Relay. I didn't even know what the Ragnar Relay was until this weekend. Obviously, I'm not a runner, but apparently a lot of people know about it and participate in the race across the nation.

Shane was my "home teacher" for a couple of months last year. So, I didn't know him well. He and his wife and little one year old son made for a really cute family. A little quiet, very nice and quick to smile. He was here for law school, along with many other couples in my congregation. He was only in his 20s.

Here's the ONLY thing I found on the web about it over three days later - http://itjustlookslikeslowmotion.blogspot.com/2010/09/running-really-sucks-sometimes.html - which has bothered me a bit. These are the times where we should plaster our love for individuals all over the web and let people know that this happened. In fact, it would be even better to do so while people are alive and well. Plus, it seems like it would be a good time to make some of these great races a little safer for all runners everywhere.

I'm so glad that their close friend wrote her thoughts down. It is much better to hear it from someone who really cares than from a news source, right?

My life has some really tough parts right now, but these sad moments put it all in perspective. We could be gone at any time. Others in our lives could be gone at any time. So little time to truly live!

Am I willing to live my life a little fuller,
       help people a little more,
                 look up and smile at people passing by,
                     be a little more patient with loved ones or co-workers?

After all, it could be my last opportunity...or theirs.

My heart goes out to Holly, Preston, family, friends and their fellow runners! This is tough stuff and it doesn't get any easier over time. Praying that they will find peace and comfort at this time of sorrow.

May God be with them til they meet again...