Handi-Kappy Family

Favorite Quote

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.

I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.

I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.

I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.

I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

-Marjorie Pay Hinkley

Sunday, December 6, 2009

First for EVERYTHING

This post probably won't seem interesting to anyone, but I wanted to post it anyways since it was a FIRST and probably LAST for me.

This past Friday, Steve had an appointment at the hospital in Lethbridge, which is 2 1/2 hours from here so we had to leave early. It was a blizzard and the temperature outside was -20 celsius. As we were driving through the cold, DARK, snowy, two lane canyon, we almost hit a guy walking on the side of the highway. Steve told me that I should get in the backseat with Maddie because he was going to pick up this hitchhiker if he looked decent. He flipped around, pulled over and let the stranger into our car. He was a 22 year old guy whose backpack was frozen over and he was walking in skinny jeans and a hoodie sweatshirt. The water bottle on the side of his bag was frozen solid and he looked like he was as well. I was a little, wait no, ALOT uneasy about this since we still had 2 hours to go and I haven't EVER dared to pick up a hitchhiker before.

The poor kid had come over from Saskatoon SK (10 hours) to work with his buddy and didn't have a dime or a car. His buddy got mad and kicked him out in the middle of the night so he had been walking for a couple of hours when we picked him up. He didn't smell good, was really shaggy and looked like the world had beaten him down really hard. As he talked to us about his family and how he didn't have anyone to come help him out or a way to call anyone, I started feeling pretty happy that we could be helping him out. Who knows if he was honest about his situation, but it was hard not to believe him since he braved a huge storm and negative temperatures to find a way home.

During the drive he slept most of the time. I still wasn't fully trusting of him since he was a complete stranger and we had our daughter in the car. Steve pulled over half way through our drive to pee on the side of the road and without thinking left the car running with the keys in the ignition! I FREAKED inside because if this kid wanted to, he could have gotten in the front seat and taken me and Maddie while leaving Steve stranded. Thankfully, he didn't do anything and we got him 2 hours closer to his destination, gave him a phone card and money to finish his journey home.

It wasn't the best experience of my life, but glad that we didn't leave him on the side of the highway either. I can say that I don't ever want to do it again.