Eye-Opener

I have several things to update, but I thought I would update today on an off-topic event that happened to me yesterday instead......

7:45am driving down I-675 N in the pounding rain in the left hand lane, my car starts to hydroplane. Now, keep in mind, this is during rush hour traffic and since the rain is coming down so fast and hard, we are only moving at about 55mph. I lift off the gas pedal as my dad always told me to do in this situation. That doesnt help. Instead, I lose control, and the back end of my car starts swinging back and forth. When I see that I am facing the direction of possibly crossing the median and flying into oncoming traffic, I instinctively jerked the steering wheel the opposite direction, which caused me to do a 360 in the middle of the highway. While spinning around, I saw the headlights of all the other cars trying to miss me. One was so close, I saw the Volkswagon symbol on the front grill staring back at me between his two headlights. Somehow, someway, no one hit me. I just continued to spin until I had crossed all 3 lanes of traffic, slid off the right side of the road, down an embankment, up a hill and into some trees. The car stopped b/c it got wedged on top of rocks and the front end was buried in branches.

My first reaction after I realized the car had stopped? TEARS!! And lots of them. Sheer panic. WTF just happened?? I looked out my window and saw a man pull over and get out of his car to come help me. I looked down at myself and realized I was NOT hurt. Not even a little bit. My air bags didnt deploy, and I didnt even feel sore. Stuff inside the car was jostled around and my fresh capp was spilled everywhere, but that was it. The man called the cops while I called Mike.

I dont know how much Mike understood me when I called. I was crying so hard I'm sure it was barely recognizable as English. As fast as I got the words out that I was in an accident, he was on his way....

Meanwhile, this man was standing outside my car in the pouring rain in his work clothes. He couldnt get too close to me b/c my car was tilted and lodged over rocks and mud and standing water. He asked all of the regular questions - are you hurt? are you sure? do you need anyting? He stood in the rain and waited with me. He introduced himself to me and tried to get my mind off things, as I was visibly upset. He said his son had a baseball tournament that night that probably wouldnt happen. When I told him my name, he said that was also his daughter's name, and he was proud to say that she was graduating from high school this year.

Not too long after, another car stopped that I did not recognize. Out came a man dressed in full military fatigues. He ran up to the car and yelled in to see if I was OK. He then checked out the car to see if he could tell if there was a gas leak. He even made sure my door could open in case they would need to get me out fast. He also stood in the pouring rain until the cops arrived.

Once the cops were there, they asked me to grab the things I needed and get out. Now, keep in mind, the car is tilted to the side up on a hill and I am of course wearing heels :) So the military man opens my car door and shoves his boot down into the 2+ inches of mud and water and tells me to go ahead and step on his foot to get out. Little things like that amaze me.

As soon as I was out of the car, the men left. It happened so fast I didnt even get to make sure they knew how much I appreciated their help. I now wish that I had their contact info so that I could send them a card or something.

I filled out a police report, waited for Mike, and watched my car get towed out of the mess.

Its funny, the things that fly thru your mind during that split second that you think something really bad is about to happen. For me, it was the thought of my parents having to get "that" phone call about me. Mike - realizing that he had just kissed me goodbye not more that an hour prior. Friends, family, everyting. Its crazy.

I am a lucky girl. I truly believe that someone was watching over me yesterday. TRULY believe. My sister wasnt ready to see me quite yet.

Love the ones your with. Kiss the ones you love. Tell your friends and family how you feel. And cherish it all.

Love,

Me.

Decisions, Decisions

Yeah, its been a minute since I have last updated. But maybe that's b/c not much has happened. We did meet with one photographer last weekend - No. 9 Images. The guy was really cool, we liked him alot. We also liked his pricing and package options. But nothing seemed overly exciting about his photos that we looked through. Nothing really stood out as wonderful, or caught my eye and made me think I just HAD to go with him. So the search continues.

We have 2 more appointments set up right now - one for this coming Sunday with Maxim Photography and one next week with Ron Shuller Photography. I will keep you posted on those.
I also have a whole list of other ones that I want to meet and see what they are all about - 808 Studios, Locke Innovations, Leclere Photography - The list keeps going. I have done so much research online for wedding photographers its sick. But again, its very important to me, so I will torture myself with it until its right.
I think searching for a photographer has been the LEAST fun of anything so far. Mostly b/c it makes me a little nervous. I want WONDERFUL photos, but so does everyone else. I want to get an awesome price, but so does everyone else. So I am trying to find that balance of breathtaking photos of my wedding day without grossly overpaying. Ugh.

The other "ugh" ? Wedding colors. I havent made up my mind on that one yet either. I mean, I have ideas in my head, but then just when I feel like I have made up my mind, I look through another one of those magazines and see something really pretty and think "Hmmm maybe I should do that". I think its just going to come down to me going to one of these decoration rental places and actually laying out sample tables with the colors in my mind to see what it looks like. I am a very visual person and unless its laid out right in front of me, dont expect me to make a decision on it. Wish me luck on that one as well.