point of view

Since the posts have stopped some of you may be thinking it’s because I have a beautiful new baby boy by now. Well I don’t. I am just waiting and waiting and it’s kind of driving me nuts. I hate these last couple of weeks of pregnancy. I have had a few false alarms as my body prepares for labor-but nothing happens. It enough to get my adrenaline going, but then I am soon disappointed when the contractions never escalate. I am just hoping now that I don’t go over my due date, but it’s looking like it might just happen that way. Any ideas as to how to make this waiting period go by faster? I am so anxious to get this labor part over with and see this baby’s face for the first time. I just want to meet him and snuggle the little guy who keeps me up at night with big kicks and lots of heartburn. I know all of my discomfort will be worth it and I just can’t wait any longer! I often lay awake at night when I can’t sleep (because he does his routine baby yoga in the womb from 12:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m.) and wonder what he looks like. Will he look like Carter with big brown eyes and olive skin? Or will he look like J.M. with fair skin and light green eyes? I guess I will just have to wait and see, and so will you! Hopefully the waiting will get easier or he will show his face soon…..

As you can see the posts have slowed down and so have I. I am in the final stretch of pregnancy, and my body is tired from all of that nesting. I’m telling you, waking up at 6:00 a.m. to clean has taken it’s tole, especially when I am not sleeping at night. I am pooped! I went to the Dr. yesterday and am slightly frightened by his evaluation. He said that he’s been delivering babies for 30 years and my belly is fairly large already. He thinks that I have a 7 and a half pound baby already and I still have 3.5 weeks left for the baby to grow! Babies at this stage grow a pound a week. Do the math-SCARY. Then he proceeds to tell me that he hopes they don’t have to use the vacuum or the forecepts to pull him out. Once I heard that I thought “Ok mister, ENDUCE ME! WHY PUT ME THROUGH THAT AGONY?” I am a little bugged with Kaiser right now. All my friends at John Muir get whatever they’d like. Induction a week early is not a big deal, but Kiaser won’t do it because as he stated “Induction increases the risk of a c-section.” Whatever, all of my friends do it and I haven’t heard them have c-sections. And hey, maybe a c-section is easier than pushing out a 10 or 11 lb. baby for hours. As you can see, I am slightly annoyed to say the least.

So that’s not all. I also told the Dr. during my visit that my last labor was very tramatic and that I’d like to prevent what happened last time again. I told him that they did not give me an epidural for 12 hours because I was dilated to only a two. “Well” he says, “that’s because they didn’t know if you were really in labor.” I said, “Really?…Is your water breaking at home not a good enough clue that you are in real labor?” He didn’t have an answer to that. Then he says, “Well they probably wanted to wait to give you the epidural until you received pitocin which would put you in a lot of pain and real labor would begin.” Hmm….obviously whoever was on staff that day was an idiot because I was on pitocin for the entire 12 hours and had no epidural. Then he says, “oooh, you were probably in a lot of pain because pitocin contractions are more painful than regular ones.” Uh yeah Dr., they were.

So as you can see I am not looking forward to my delivery, but I guess who is? It is SUPER SCARY. Especially if I have to push out a baby that is 10 or 11 lbs. Pushing out an 8 lb. 3 oz baby was hard enough. So, now I am currently looking for a more sympathetic Dr. who believes in induction. Anyone know of one at Kaiser please comment on my post, cause I am in real need right now.

Sorry for so many entries on 25 mistakes LDS parents make, but it was such an eye opening book that it has been on my mind a lot. The eighteenth chapter is on Teaching Correct Principles to our children. It is our job, not the job of their primary teachers, YM or YW’s leaders, or seminary teachers to teach them the ways of the gospel. I am not sure how much you can teach your two year old about the gospel, but we did have a funny thing happen the other night to convince us that maybe we have taught him something? We all sat down for dinner and J.M. asked Carter to say the prayer, knowing that he really couldn’t say anything but the word “amen.” Eager, Carter folded his arms and bowed his head and proceeded to look as if he really was going to say a blessing on the food. J.M. and I bowed our heads and kept one eye open to see what our little guy was going to say. He softly and sweetly said a bunch of jibberish that we couldn’t understand and then said “I’m sorry” to Heavenly Father and ended his prayer. We were astonished and laughed out loud. We haven’t taught him about saying sorry to Heavenly Father yet, but maybe he had something to say sorry about? Such a cute little guy. It was just more evidence as to how much these little ones look to us to be a good example. He is learning from us everyday.

I have been asking J.M. to do a no T.V. challenge for about 5 months. I’ve always thought we were in a bad habit of watching too much T.V. and wanted to see what life would be like without it. He has never agreed to do a “no T.V.” week until I put the real pressure on him with a few passages from my 25 Mistakes Parents Make book. After reading a few paragraphs he finally gave in. He wanted to show me that he was not the addict, but prove to me that I was the one with the problem. We’ll see about that J.M. Well the challenge was on, except he had a few rules he needed to bend. Instead of no T.V. for a week, he wanted to bend the rule to include the option to watch an hour a day for an entire week. He also wanted the option to not watch T.V. one day and add that hour to another day, kind of like Cingular’s roll-over minutes. I gave in and agreed to his new rules. This is the last day of our T.V. challenge and the results are quite interesting. Here they are day by day.

Monday our spirits were high. We were not going to give into temptation and go into our late-night couch potato lifestyle. While cleaning the house I did turn on the T.V. to have something on while I did the dishes for an hour (old habits are hard to break). I fessed up and told J.M. that I used my T.V. time for background noise while I cleaned. J.M. laughed and said, “See, you are an addict.”

That same night was family night and we went swimming with Carter and had a blast. It was fun to get out of the house and enjoy our son together. When we came home and put Carter to bed the real test began. Prime-time T.V. is our biggest challenge. J.M. watched the Deadliest Catch and I went off to work on my blog. After his T.V. time was over (at 9:30) I watched J.M. get restless. He decided to go to bed early (what a crazy idea) and we both read scriptures together and went to sleep. This was a great start to our week!

Tuesday was a little harder. J.M. came home from work and after dinner started pacing. He looked like he might go crazy. He didn’t know what to do with himself. I said “what is wrong?” and he said he felt like he might be going through withdrawls. Ha ha! J.M. is an addict! I said why don’t we play a game, or read a book. “No, that sounds boring.” Hmm, who’s having troubles now? I did not watch T.V. that night, as I wanted to save up for my favorite show So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) on Thursday night. It’s a 2 hour show. I stuck with the plan and read my book before I went to bed. It was nice.

Wednesday J.M. was hanging in there, but still looked a little uncomfortable. We decided to watch a show together. I chose one J.M. would like. Verminators. Have you ever seen that show? It is totally disgusting and yet utterly entertaining at the same time. I felt we bonded a bit and realized that we could enjoy a one hour show together and then go to bed early without feeling frustrated. It was another nice night.

Thursday was easier as J.M. had a soccer game. It was nice to get out of the house and away from temptation. J.M.’s team did really well and we had a great time together. However when I got home it was my turn for my fav. show SYTYCD. I enjoyed it, but since I had not been watching T.V. as much my enthusiasm wasn’t as great. I realized that T.V. wasn’t everything. Though I liked the show, it wasn’t hard to stop watching after my 2 hours were up. I think I might be getting somewhere on this experiment. However, J.M. looked bored out of his mind.

Friday night was good, but I noticed J.M. was headed for breaking the rules so I suggested we get out of the house. We took Carter swimming again and had a great time. After we got Carter good and tired and put to bed we were alone and the T.V. was staring us in the face. J.M. couldn’t control himself and plopped down on the couch for his hour of T.V. I went off to take a shower and read again. When I was done I realized that maybe his 1 hour had turned into 2? Hmmm? Well he swears it didn’t, but I say different.

Saturday morning was where J.M. lost all control. It was the start of the Euro 2008 soccer championship and J.M. watched for hours. He said “I’m sick so I deserve it.” He only had a small cold. He was breaking the rules and he knew it. So I knew we needed to get out of the house fast. We went boating with our friends the Rossi’s and then to a Chicago concert later that night. There wasn’t much time to break the rules anymore…or was there?

Sunday…J.M. has totally failed the experiment. He can not stop watching soccer. He watched from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 and then again when we got home from church non-stop. I finally turned off the t.v. and said that he was breaking the rules. I later found him on the internet watching the soccer game again! When I caught him he said “It’s not t.v., it’s on the internet.” Yeah sure it isn’t. Totally an addict. It is 9:52 p.m. and guess where J.M. is right now? Watching T.V. still. Is it a Euro 2008 game? No now he’s watching some soccer movie.Yup, he’s an addict. Ha ha!

Though it may have been a bust for J.M. it did teach me a few things.

1. I have ample amount of time to read my scriptures and read other books without T.V.

2. I do have more time with my family

3. I have a lot less things polluting my mind when I watch less T.V.

4. My house is a lot cleaner without T.V.

5. I might even have time to start painting again without T.V.

6. I sleep much better when I read before I go to bed than if I watch T.V. before I go to bed.

7. I can go to bed much earlier without T.V.

8. I did feel the spirit more at church without T.V. (Coincidence maybe, but I don’t think so).

Am I going to give up T.V. all together, probably not. But I do think I can live with less.

Well we’ll see if J.M. can try this experiment again without Euro 2008. He keeps blaming his failure to this. But I am not convinced. I am glad I did it, as I don’t think T.V. has to be the center of my free time. I am grateful for this experiement and hope to keep up my “less is best” when it comes to t.v. time. Are you ready for the challenge? If so, let me know your experience too!

In our book group we are reading 25 Mistakes LDS Parents Make and How to Avoid Them By Randal Wright. I am loving this book. Though it is alot for parents of teenagers, you can never start too early on some of these mistakes. The first one being Home Environment.

Ezra Taft Benson said-

“If someone accused you of being Christian would there be enough evidence in your home to convict you?” I don’t know who said that….. But, I do know who said this,

Enter their homes, and the pictures on the walls, the books on their shelves, the music in the air, their words and acts reveal them as Christians.”

My sister’s blog (janelles.wordpress.com) is doing a photo tag. Here are the criteria:

1.Please take a picture of the artwork in your home that would reveal you as a Christian and name it. What if we want that print too? We need the name of the artist?

(I don’t know the names of the artists. Sorry)

2. Take a picture of your bookshelf.

3. What is playing or is ready to be played in your ipod/cd player?

Can you believe that I do not have a CD player or an ipod. J.M. does, but it is in his car.

4. Do you have framed words in your house or words on your walls? Take a picture.

5. Take a picture of your current project and describe it to us.

I am currently designing J.M.’s website for his business. This is what it looks like so far:

I also have been working on my list, as shown in a previous post. Here are my next projects to do:

Organize my linen closet. As you can see it is a dumping ground for a lot of other things. Very annoying.

I am also going to finally hang the photos on my mantel:

And finally get this guest room ready for Baby number 2. Right now we have 2 matresses on top of each other. This room totally annoys me right now.

6. Any further evidence you want to share - please do! What would a visitor ask you about if they entered your home?

I have had non-member people ask me if this picture of President Hinkley is my Grandpa. I get a chance to say no, but he’s our prophet of our church. And they then ask what church. It’s been a great opener for discussion. I think because in his face there is a lot of peace and people are drawn to him.

Thanks Janelle for this fun little photo tag. Others reading my blog let me know if you take on the challenge too!

Many of my close friends probably have no idea what I do as a career. I know J.M. nodded his head and acted like he knew what graphic design was on our first date, but later told me he had no clue what I was talking about. Are you one of those people? If so, I’d like to inform you as to what my career entails. First, it started with a good old fashioned paint brush and paint. I used to paint until the wee hours of the morning in high school and the first 2 years of college. I have since lost that passion and talent. I want to get it back, but have not since found the time between tending a toddler and doing graphic design on the side. Here are the only paintings I have scanned into my computer. I wasn’t a great painter, but I really enjoyed it. I hope to someday get the time to dive back into it again.

Then I went to college and discovered what the computer could do. And that is where the magic (I mean the money) was made. Here are a few of my first graphic design jobs I did while an intern for Interbrand in San Francisco. I was a Sophomore in college and really loved working for this company. They put me right to work and most of my stuff was printed and used for a real client. I remember feeling pretty excited to go to work every day.

Veer was a travel website for the rich. They would put together exotic vacations for you and your group. I designed this magazine for Veer to promote their website and boost sales.

I also helped to design their identity. Here is their travel ticket holders and their travel brochure packet.

Okay, I am probably boring you by now, but just in case I’m not I’ll continue with my career path journey.

I graduated just months after September 11th and there were no jobs. So I ended up working for a scrapbooking company for 9 months until the almost fatal crash (which I’ve showcased in my blog entry Near Death Experience. Nothing really great came from that working experience, so I won’t show any work that I did for them.

Then I was lucky enough to work for BYU while J.M. was finishing up school. Ahh what a great job. I loved the people I worked with. It was such a great Mormon family. Here are a few of the things I got to do for them.

This is for the School of Technology-to recruit you to their school.

This book was 80 pages long and was a beast. It took me an entire year to finish. It is for the smarty pants of BYU. Yes they do recruit smarty pants and take them out to dinner and stuff. Here is the brochure they would receive.

I also got to design for the BYU Magazine. This was one of my favorite things that I got to do while working for BYU. Here is one of my favorite designs.

After I left BYU (so sad) I freelanced for a bit and then ended up as a full-time contractor for Clorox. This is what I do now from home. How lucky am I that I get to work from home and be with Carter too? It does entail some late nights (as I do not work while Carter is awake-it’s one of my rules). If you are wondering what I do for Clorox, here are some of my ads. These ads go into most major women’s magazines.

However fun my career has been, my most fulfilling and passionate job has been being a wife and mother. My greatest accomplishment in life will not be about the career I led, but what kind of parent I was. I hope that my “portfolio” of righteous children will show that I cared more about my kids than anything else. However at the same time, I don’t want to lose sight of being an artist at heart. I hope to always be in pursuit of creativity whenever I have the time.

Well it’s been great to hear that some of you have had similar nesting feelings. Please feel free to post more of the odd things you did right before you gave birth. It is such an interesting topic. When I had Carter, I was working full-time and didn’t have time to organize my house. When I stopped working, the only thing I had time to do before he was born was to reorganize the pantry (that seems to be my reoccurring nesting chore). I even labeled each shelf with what can was on each shelf. However crazy that was, this new need to nest is getting out of hand. Here is the current list. It may let you in on how crazy I have become. Though I have worked really hard, you can see I still have so much more to do.

( It is Wednesday, June 18th and as you can see more and more things are getting crossed off the nesting list. However, with my new change in energy level, who knows if I will ever truly get done. I am however, more satisfied with the way my house looks. With an organized house, new purchases, and great friends who threw me a shower, I am more prepared for this baby to come! Hopefully it will be sooner than later).

Baby’s Bedroom
Get a bassinet from Janelle Puchased one 6/10
Get another dresser for his room
Get a rocking chair for nursing Thank you to all who contributed to my gift! 6/18
Clean out closet in bedroom
Put together a diaper/nursing station for in the middle of the night.
Get new linens for his bassinet 6/17
Clean carpets Done 6/03

Master Bedroom
Get a dresser with drawers that work FIXED DRESSER Done 6/09
Clean out closet and organize it- get rid of unwanted clothes Done 6/09
Remove the extra old mattress from our room Done 6/02
Get a bed frame for our bed
Fix the mirror in the bathroom
Wipe down the cabinets in master bath Done 6/09
Get rid of any products we do not use in medicine cabinet Done 6/09
Purchase new clean sheets and bedding Done 5/31
Fix closet door tracks
Clean carpets Done 6/03

Carter’s Room
Remove clothes from dresser that do not fit
Clean out closet and put away old clothes that are in boxes
Wipe down crib and changing table Done 6/03
Secure the changing table pad to the table
Get a new light switch
Purchase new clean sheets and bedding Done 6/10
Remove the office chair
If needed fix closet door tracks
Clean carpets Done 6/03

Office
Organize closet and get rid of any items we have not used in the past year Done 6/02
Clean off the guest bed Done 6/02
Get a bed skirt for the bed. (Or look for it- we used to have one)
Organize a place for bills, mail, and for DVD and CD storage.
Fix the drawer on the desk
Get a pull out tray for keyboard to help my back
Organize cords underneath the desk
Organize the desktop on my computer Done 6/02
Re-install anything from my old computer to my new computer
Get rid of old files on computer Done 6/02
Fix closet door tracks
Clean carpets Done 6/03

Linen Closet
Remove any boxes that do not belong
Organize linens and towels
Purchase new towels and remove old dingy ones Done 5/31
Purchase new hand towels and face cloths Done 5/31
Purchase another set of king size sheets Done 5/31

Family Room
Discard broken or old toys from toy box Done 5/31
Put toys into storage that Carter does not use anymore Done 5/31
Organize the shelves in family room-get rid of junk
Hang picture frames left on the floor or on the mantel
Clean leather couches
Patch holes made in the walls from drilling curtain rods
Clean carpets Done 6/03

Kitchen
De-clutter top of the refrigerator Done 5/26
De-clutter the corners of the countertops
Wipe down the kitchen cabinets Done 5/26
Wipe down the kitchen walls near Carter’s high-chair Done 5/26
Clean out Carter’s bottle and cup section. Throw out any cups that do not have lids Done 5/26
Clean out the utensil drawers Done 5/26
Clean out the junk drawer Done 5/26
Organize and clean out pantry Done 5/26
Purchase Tupperware for cereal Done 5/26
De-clutter pan shelves Done 5/26
Clean the refrigerator 6/04

Backyard
Take back the church chairs and tables Done 5/31
Clean up side-yard near the boat
Throw away any chewed up toys Done 5/31
Get a bin for all of the balls and outdoor toys Done 5/31
Fix sprinkler
Plant some nice flowers
Get an umbrella for the summer months so Carter can play outside and the dog has shade

Garage
Straighten garage and organize any items left below that can be stored in the attic
Find the baby items and pull them down so that I can sort through what we have and don’t have

Things to purchase for Baby

I am so grateful to my friends and family who gave me such great gifts at my shower. I didn’t mean to put this list up for gift suggestions, but thank you to all who were so generous. It is so nice to have such great friends! Thanks a million. Because of you, I only have to purchase a few more items!
Nursing rocking chair
Bottles
Pacifiers
Pacifier hooks
Baby monitor
Nursing blankets
Hooter hiders
Swaddling blankets
Diapers
Baby bath soap and lotion
Mobile
Baby Bjorn
Car seat
Double stroller
Dresser
Bassinet sheets
New crib sheets
Socks!
Some new clothes

Diaper bag

When I got home from vacation a couple of weeks ago, I got really frustrated with my house. It was totally disorganized and I started to get really annoyed with the little things I have neglected over the 9 months we’ve lived here. So I stayed up late one night and wrote down everything I want to get done in my house before baby no. 2 arrives. The list got long quickly, but I was determined to get it done. On Memorial Day I started my list. For an entire day of cleaning and organizing I was only able to cross off 7 items on my list. That is 7 out of over 70 items. Some of the items included cleaning all of the walls in the kitchen and cabinets (I have never done this before in my life) and to organize the pantry. This was going to take a while. After more than 8 hours of cleaning, my feet started to hurt and I was exhausted. However tiring and daunting the list was I started again on Saturday. I woke up at 5:00 a.m. (this is very unlike me) and started cleaning. I cleaned and organized until Carter and J.M. woke up at 9. That is 4 hours of uninterrupted cleaning. Then I got dressed and left to go and purchase new towels and new sheets because I was annoyed with how dingy and dirty my old ones were and threw them all out. I brought home 8 beautifully clean towels and another set of sheets for out bed. It felt so good to have new towels and sheets for some reason.

When I got home I made a To-Do list for J.M. and though he was shocked at how long his list was, he didn’t complain. He just looked at me kind of funny. Later that night J.M. finally spoke up. He started the conversation like this:

“April, I know what is wrong with you.”

I am now thinking in my head “What is he talking about? As if the large belly in front of me isn’t a dead give-away as to what’s wrong with me.”

“What do you mean?” I said.

JM: “I looked it up online…your crazy need to clean is called nesting. Don’t worry, it’s totally normal.”

Me: “What? You were worried about me enough to google online “pregnant woman can’t stop cleaning” and the word nesting came up?”

“Yup, and I found out that you aren’t crazy. It’s totally normal.”

I couldn’t help but laugh because my husband was worried enough to look up online why his wife was all of the sudden crazy. And looking back, it was weird that I woke up at 5:00 a.m. to clean out Carter’s toy box and throw away old toys in the backyard. Curious, I went to the site J.M. was talking about and this is what it said about nesting:

“Nesting brings about some unique and seemingly irrational behaviors in pregnant women and all of them experience it differently. Women have reported throwing away perfectly good sheets and towels because they felt the strong need to have “brand new, clean” sheets and towels in their home. They have also reported doing things like taking apart the knobs on kitchen cupboards, just so they could disinfect the screws attached to the knobs. Women have discussed taking on cleaning their entire house, armed with a toothbrush. There seems to be no end to the lengths a nesting mother will go to prepare for her upcoming arrival.”

Hmm…I guess I have been totally diagnosed. I just woke up yesterday and said, “I need new towels and sheets.” And went straight to TJ Maxx and bought new towels and sheets. Funny how I fit this diagnosis to a tee.

So now you might be wondering if by me knowing what is “wrong” with me I can stop this irrational behavior. The answer is no. I can not stop. It’s a very weird feeling. Almost like any addict, I can’t stop cleaning and organizing. Though J.M. thought I was crazy, he does like the benefits. I mean, our house is now a lot cleaner. And being that J.M. is a bit of a neat freak, this suits him well. He told me yesterday that if he could find a drug that made my body think I needed to nest, he would encourage me to take it. Our house has never looked better! I said, “Hey now J.M., be careful. Once this baby’s out of me, the house will probably go to pot. So enjoy it while it lasts.”

Most of my friends and family know that I lived in NYC for a summer as an intern. It was probably one of the best times of my life. I don’t think I could have had a better experience anywhere else. It was part of a BYU internship program. Though I worked everyday for a design magazine called Graphis, it felt less like work and more like a 3 month vacation. I loved every minute I spent there. I wanted so bad to return and live there when I graduated from college the following year. However, I soon met J.M. and well it was out of the picture. Though I am grateful I met J.M., I do miss NYC all of the time. It is a mecca for creativity and learning. I miss being surrounded by other artists and going to galleries, seeing operas, ballets, and broadway shows. There was always something new to see and do. I was there in the summer of 2001, just weeks before the World Trade Center was hit. So my photos, which you will see are kind of historic. They show the skyline like it will never be seen again. I just thought it would be fun to show you a few of my photos….just for fun.

While in NYC, I was experimenting with my camera and thought it might be cool to take all of my photos in black and white. I thought it would look cooler. However I didn’t quite know how to use my manual camera from 1978, so some of the photos are blurry. No these are not digital, I am an old woman. Digital was too expensive then.

This is the Brooklyn bridge. My favorite thing to do while I was in NY was to walk across the Brooklyn bridge at night. Isn’t it beautiful? And this activity was FREE!

Here is where I lived. It was a few block shy of Harlem. I had to walk into Harlem everyday to catch my train to work.

BYU got us into the Late Show with David Letteman as well as backstage passes to Les Miserables. It was nice to have connections. We also visited the Early Show set, and met with Jane Clayson before she left her job to be a stay-at-home mother. What an amazing lady.

You can clearly see the Twin towers in this photo.

Well now this has made me really sad that I am not in NYC right now. I am hoping to drag my husband or anyone else who will go with me next year. I haven’t gone in 4 years. Any takers?

Did you know almost exactly 6 years ago I almost died? Well I could have. I had just graduated from college and purchased myself a new fancy car. It was my dream car. It had black leather seats, a sunroof, and it drove like a Mercedes. I loved that car. It made my commute from Provo to Centerville feel like heaven (it was a 55 minute commute everyday). I would crank up my Bose sound system with my brand new 6 disc CD changer and dance the whole way to work. It was great. However, the car could have come with a curse. Just three weeks before my near death experience, I was driving home late from work when I saw a man cross over the freeway bridge and throw a rock at my car. I was going 70 miles an hour and it felt like a bullet hit my car. It totally freaked me out. I thought someone was trying to kill me. The rock only came a few inches from my windshield, and hit my hood. I was devistated.

Five hundred dollars later, I got my hood looking shiny and new again and headed out on my way to work. I was following behind (at a safe distance) a large semi. The truck’s tire eroded and it spun out a large piece of black tire. Or at least that’s what I thought it was. I am still not sure what it was, but it was very large and black and it was headed straight for my windshield again. Thinking that I just spent an arm and a leg to get my car fixed and I didn’t want it to hit my windshield and kill me I made the mistake to swerve out of the way. I am not sure what happened at this point, but my car spun out of control and that’s when I realized it could be over for me. I crossed over 3 or 4 lanes (luckily not hitting one car) before I started to barrel roll down the embankment. I landed just a foot short of the brick wall. I can remember the motion of spinning over and over again and not knowing how it was going to end for me. When it was all over, I just sat still. I didn’t know what to do. Can you believe the first thing I did was call my mom in California? What did I think she could do to help? She about freaked out and called the police for me. I was in total shock. I got out of the car to find people had stopped and were getting out of their cars thinking I was dead. They were shocked that I made it out alive.

I called J.M. just moments later and he left work immediately to take care of me. I think that moment was the moment I knew J.M. was in love with me. Though it scared me (since we had only been dating a few months) it was also comforting. His face was full of worry and he was scared. He looked relived when he saw me and was such a great comforter on that very scary day. During the accident the back window blew out and one of my brand new sandals I was wearing flew out. I never did find it. So J.M. picked me up from the wreckage and carried me into a shoe store and bought me new shoes. What a guy. This incident made me want to quit my job and work closer to J.M. so that I didn’t have this scary commute. Who knows if J.M. and I would still be together had I not got into this wreck. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise?

Here are some very scary images. Boy am I glad that I was protected that day.

You can see the back window is where I lost my shoe!

For how many times I rolled, this Jetta stayed in good shape!

Can you see the skid marks?

Here is where I stopped. The bumper marks the spot where I almost hit the wall in front of me.