This is my official Debbie Downer post

Picture me as Rachel Dratch. Not really. Overall it's been a pretty good week, but I had to share the two icky things that bookended my week:

Monday: I drove to Muskegon and met my parents and my Uncle Brian (otherwise known as Uncle Daddy...and no, we're not Appalachian) in Muskegon for...yup...a funeral. We'd gotten a call on Thanksgiving that Aunt Bonnie died that day of pneumonia. Now, Aunt Bonnie is my dad's aunt, grandma's sister, my great aunt. I've always thought she was just a great lady. We spent a good amount of time with her over the years and I can't tell you how good she's been to my family. I had no idea how amazing she really was. She had one of those Life Story funerals, so I learned a lot of things...she had tuberculosis as a child and spent a year in a sanitarium. She lost her firstborn child at 5 months to a crib accident. She worked full-time as a teacher while raising four kids. She was two classes short of her doctorate when she retired. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and had one of her lungs removed in 1983. The doctors said she would only live five more years, and she lived 24. She died at age 85. Unbelievable. It was nice to see my dad's cousins, not to mention their kids, whom I haven't seen since we were all little (and they don't remember me because they're so much younger than I).

Aunt Bonnie's church was someplace I had been twice before in my life, and when I arrived I remembered that when I was younger I used to have a recurring dream that took place in that church. I was being stalked by a man I never actually saw. I ran up some back stairs in an attempt to reach safety (I could hear women in the kitchen talking), and just as I'd reach the top step, he'd grab my ankle and I'd wake up. I probably had this dream four or so times since I'd last been there, so it was definitely a strange feeling to actually revisit the place. I'm weird, I know.

Friday: I was on my way to Kent City to see one of my kids for counseling. I KNEW the roads were bad up that way. I KNEW I shouldn't have been in the left lane when there was slush in it. Nonetheless, right at the exit for 14 Mile I hit a patch of slush and started skidding/fishtailing this way and that. My ONLY concern was the huge oil tanker that was not too far behind me...more specifically, I wanted in no uncertain terms to avoid any contact with it. As my car flailed around across the two lanes, I spoke aloud exactly these words: "Sh*t-sh*t-sh*t-sh*t-ditch-ditch-ditch-ditch!" I wanted that ditch. I wanted to be cradled in its loving arms so very badly. Then I saw the other car in the ditch, and I hoped I could avoid hitting that as well. Finally, FINALLY, my tail end spun to the left and placed itself (thank you) in the ditch with my front tires resting on the rumble strip, my car at a perfectly square 90 degrees of oncoming traffic. Once I ensured I wasn't going to have a heart attack, I looked left and saw yet another car about 20 feet away...must have followed me into the ditch. (Have I mentioned that I love the ditch?) The guy in the silver Grand Am came over, asked if I was okay, and said, "I was watching you, that was really scary!" I said, "You're telling ME!" The driver of the Jeep Liberty managed to get hisself out of the ditch with his 4-Wheel drive and came over to help. I immediately got on the horn and called Progressive to send a tow truck. Mr. Grand Am said he'd called Progressive over two hours ago for his tow. We all decided that I could probably get myself out once there was a break in traffic...with a little push from my new friends, I did. I thanked them. I called Progressive and canceled my tow. I proceeded on to Kent City. While driving, I started thinking about what could have happened (oh my GOSH what could've happened), pulled over in a party store parking lot, and started bawling. I decided that I wouldn't do much good helping people heal emotionally in that kind of state, so I canceled my appointments and headed over to Josh's parents' house.

Aside from typing all that out, I'm trying really hard not to think about it.

Anyway, today's a new day, I'm excited about it, and it's well past time I went to bed. Thanks for reading all my adjectives, friends :)