I hope you all had as good an end to 2012/beginning to 2013 as I have had. We spent Christmas in Raleigh, NC with my mom, step-dad, 2 brothers and my grandmother. I feel like I've done nothing but eat for a week and a half. My family has dubbed Christmas in Raleigh "Pig-fest"... for weeks beforehand my husband, brother and dad no.2 exchange emails planing what they will cook and when they will cook these things. This year there was talk of roasting a whole pig... this year it was only talk, but I anticipate that by the next time we get down there they will have worked out the logistics. Instead all we managed were lobster tails, prime rib, home maid onion rings, turkey dinner, honey baked ham, scalloped potatoes... and those are just the highlights. I come by my love of food very honestly.
I love my family, I love spending time with them... unlike some people I don't dread spending the holidays with my parents & siblings. I actually look forward to it, for months. While the boys are busy planing all the food, I am usually hunting down Christmas gifts and making lists of things that can be purchased on the cheep in the States. Don't get me wrong, it's not without it's moments - by the end of the week I'm usually feeling overfed and in desperate need of alone time, but all in all I love Christmas in Raleigh.
So by the time we left on the 29th to head back to the frozen arctic (aka: the Canadian Prairies) I was feeling tired, spoiled, stuffed and ready to head home. My parents should feel very proud of themselves - they've managed to raise kids who like being with them, but feel no desire to live in their basement.
Hubs has two full weeks off over Christmas so he planned a few days skiing in Montana with a buddy, and left just a few hours after we got off the plane to drive out there. I, unfortunately do not get the same kind of holiday time he does and have to be back at work tomorrow. So I planned a weekend with some friends at our family cabin. I woke up Sunday and was eager to get on the road. My plan was to pick up the dog from my mother-in-law's place and be out there with enough time to have a few precious solitary hours. You know what they say about the best laid plans... By the time I did everything I needed to do and actually got out of the city it was almost two hours later than I'd planned. The roads were a bit snow covered but seemed okay. I was about 45 minutes away from the cabin when I hit a patch of ice and the car started to slide across the highway, I did my best to bring the car back but it just slid in the opposite direction. I didn't have time to feel afraid as the car slid off the road and into the ditch. All I had time to think about was not hitting a tree. The car slowed to a stop with the front and back ends wedged between the slopes on either side of the ditch. I took a deep breath, did a mental check that I was uninjured and then turned to check on the dog. Luckily he was in his kennel and was also fine. He was looking at me like "What the heck was that???". I got out of the car to get my bearings... just as a truck drove by. Yup, must have seen me go off the road, and just drove on by. To top it off I was in the 100 km stretch of the highway where I got absolutely no cell reception.
I got out of the car to check out the situation. As luck would have it I seemed to have hit the ditch right at the end of someone's driveway. I put the dog on his leash and walked to the farm house. I was greeted by the kindest family, who offered me coffee and invited me to join their game of Yahtzee while their daughter fetched her dad from the pasture. In all I was there about an hour, chatting with their little grandsons about their school and helping them count their dice scores. Eventually we pulled my car out of the ditch and they had me on my way. The last 40 minutes of the drive I wavered between feeling totally shaken up, and feeling overwhelmingly grateful. When my friends arrived about and hour and a half later I couldn't have been happier to see them.
Sometimes we need to be reminded to take some time and reflect on our lives. As the seasons change, and in particular at New Year's we are reminded that our lives are advancing and that it might be time to take stock of where we are. Sometimes it takes something less natural, like careening off the road and miraculously landing in a snow bank totally unharmed, just before being taken in by and cared for by total strangers. Needless to say I've been reminded, duly, in the last few days to stop and look around my life. I'm not really sure what that means just yet... but I'll keep you posted. Right now I'm just waiting for hubby to get home on Friday so I can give him the biggest hug ever.
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