It's been so long since I've written I don't even know where to begin. The visit with my aunt in New York was wonderful. She and Jack were great hosts, as usual, and we had a very nice visit. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is fantastic and there is no way I was able to see it all! Guess that means I'll have to go back someday!
In the end of May Bob and I rode the motorcycle to Colorado with our friends who were participating in the 2008 Boulder Boulder. The weather was miserable both coming and going. We decided to travel via Wyoming to avoid heavier traffic. As we approached Cheyenne on Interstate 25 (about 20 miles East of Cheyenne) there was this ominous black cloud across the sky. On each side it was dark and pouring rain and in the center it was light. It was like driving into a dark tunnel. Suddenly it started hailing and I bowed my head and started to pray the Rosary intensely. I felt hail hitting my leg and then I heard Bob say, "I think it's getting slick" and then the next thing I knew I was soaring down the interstate on my back...but I wasn't afraid. My first thought was, "Oh, we had an accident." My second thought was, "Am I going to start rolling?" But then I knew I wasn't. My next thought was, "Where is my husband...where is Bob?" and then I bumped into him (we were both free-sliding) and I thought, "Oh, there he is." When I finally came to a stop, I saw Bob coming toward me saying "Are you all right?" And I thought, "Oh good, he's all right." and then I looked to my left and realized I was in the middle of the interstate highway and there were cars coming at me in the distance. So I rolled over on my hands and knees and began frantically crawling to the edge of the road...it was slick because of all the hail. As Bob approached me a car drove up beside me and I read the license plate which was "HP27...or 28" and I knew it was the Highway Patrol. As Bob raised me to stand I felt a sharp pain in my chest and I knew I broke or cracked my ribs. The Highway Patrol blocked the on coming traffic so we could lift the bike and get it back on the highway. I climbed back on with Bob and it started right up. Only the lower chrome was scuffed. There was 2 - 3 inches of hail on the pavement when we had sailed across it. Bob said later that it was like being on a big Slip-n-Slide. We went down at about 50 miles per hour!!! When Bob released the throttle to slow the bike down the rear end swerved and we were thrown from the bike to the pavement...actually we were more like lowered to the pavement. I don't remember leaving the bike or hitting the pavement. We had full gear on including our rain gear, gloves, helmets and heavy boots. Both Bob and I have tears in our left elbows of our rain coats and I have scuff marks across my back of the coat and the left rear butt is ripped. Our boots are scuffed on the toes, but that is it. Bob is perfectly fine...and I have some sore ribs...that is all! Pretty good for sailing down the interstate on our backs at 50 miles an hour! The whole time I felt perfectly calm and at peace. I just knew it was okay...no matter what. It was such an awesome and eerie experience...and gave me a glimpse of the difference prayer can make in a situation. Our friends were on their bike in front of us but didn't see us fall because the hail was so heavy. When we pulled up next to them I asked Diane, "Were you praying?" And she said, "Yes!" Then we told them what happened. Both Diane and I were praying the Rosary...so I think I should write a story about the experience and title it "Hail Mary...Literally" :o)
We had reservations at a hotel in Fort Collins and although it was very painful, I told Bob to just get us to the hotel and then when we get there we can find an Urgent Care so they can check out my ribs. Well, we ended up going to the Emergency Room at the hospital, because urgent care closes early there and they did x-rays of my lungs but not of the bones. They wanted to make sure my lungs were inflated properly and said that there isn't anything they do for cracked ribs anyway except give pain meds...so they didn't x-ray the bones. I tried to get them to tape me but they said no as the restriction can cause a person to get pneumonia after an injury to the ribs. You can imagine how much fun it was to ride on the motorcycle with cracked ribs! :o( I took Ibuprofen for a couple days but had to quit on Monday as it was making me nauseous. On the ride back to Nebraska I bought a wide ace wrap and had Bob bind me and that helped...plus the freezing cold and rain we encountered was a good distraction from the pain!
After the accident we stopped at a gas station and Bob noticed that his daughter had called at 6:09pm so I checked my phone and at 6:09pm my sister called. Both left messages saying they were concerned and wondered if we were all right. My daughter-in-law told me later that Charli (our grand daughter) had come to her and asked to go to bed, but it was too early for bed so Brenda laid down with her on their bed and they prayed together for Grandpa and Grandma to be safe. Bob's mom had prayed also several times during the day for us.
The one thing that I was very sure of during the whole incident was that prayer makes all the difference...almost like I could sense it. I know that for a fact now and believe it even stronger. I have never felt such a sense of peace and assurance. There was never any fear...amazing! When we are near to God...He is near to us!
So that is just a part of what I have been up to lately. I will post more soon!
A picture of our living room with Sprinkles the cat
