Unexpected Twists and Turns

Okay - so the first week of Script Frenzy is over - and week two has begun. I have written a total of 8 pages. (I know - hold the applause!) The first week of any month is the most hectic at work, and life itself seems busy. One of the hardest things about writing is finding the time. Seriously. I've got tons of material. I always have something on my mind. But, life seems to spin out of control, and before I know it - another day has gone with no writing.
The best advice was truly using the "butt in the chair" method. I'm trying.
But, here's the deal. I was writing my story and it took an ugly and unexpected turn. There is a car accident. I had one fairly minor, although terrifying car accident years ago. Nobody went to the hospital - but my car was totaled. I am going to have to do some research - but am afraid of answers, or to dig into the subject thinking I may never get in a car again. This really isn't an option. So I'm throwing this out there - does anybody have any ideas of how I research what happens at an accident scene, how police contact a family member. I want to know how my main character who is pretty torn up in the accident gets her purse and cell phone back. I have no idea how that would play out. Any ideas? I do have a neighbor who was a DPS officer who told me once that the worst part of his job was to go to the door of someone's house and tell the parents that their child wasn't coming home and I can't even imagine. I think I could ask him - but I am not sure I want to entertain those thoughts or feel those feelings. I am not sure this will stay in my story - but it is where I am right now.
Just thought you would like an update.
And for all of you who promised chocolate - I am still waiting.

Angels Watching Over You

You know that you are a hard-core blogger when you wake up in the morning thinking about something to post on your blog. You also know that it is way beyond just a casual activity in your life when you realize that you don't want to post something new because of something in your last post that was so great that you want it to stay at the top for fear somebody that hasn't visited your blog in a few days will miss it. (PLEASE scroll down and see the post entitled "Everything--" - you won't be sorry!)
This morning I was thinking about my husband and how he seems to have nine lives or something. Going back to the day after I met him, he has had serious accident after freak accident after ridiculous incidents that were the fault of someone else. Here are some of those things:

· The day after I met Travis he was hit in the face on a “brick job” by a mortar mixer. The safety had been removed for the sake of time, and a rock jammed in it, causing it to kick back right as he happened to be near it – and a metal pipe slammed him in the jaw, cutting through his chin and gums, and throwing him several feet.

· Travis was working as a welder, and burned his eyes through a microscopic crack in his shield, so light was slowly seeping in all day and he didn’t know it. When he was taken to the hospital, the doctor prescribed codeine, which apparently he is allergic too, and went into anaphylactic shock.

· When I was pregnant with Kaitlyn, our 14 yo., Travis was working nights. I was wakened by the phone to a southern twanging voice saying “Miss Forsythe, your husband was ‘lectracuted this evenin’ and he was taken to the ‘mergency room.” Indeed he was – an ungrounded welder gave him a huge jolt, to the point that it messed up his heart rhythms and he was in Cardiac Intensive Care for two days.

· He decided after that electrocution to do something other than welding for a while, and was working with heavy machinery. His boss asked him to skip the safety measure of using a tool to press items under a heavy blade, and just use his hands to make it go more quickly. You guessed it – he cut the tip of one of his fingers off. It was stitched back on – but to me it looks more like a toe than a finger!

· One morning on his way to work, Travis stopped at a convenience store to get gas, and stepped inside for a Butterfinger candy bar. Evidently someone had put a can of kerosene on the counter, and it leaked down, saturating the candy in front of the register. Having just brushed his teeth, Travis was unable to detect the strange taste at the first bite, and excused it as being the “just brushed” taste. A couple of bites later – he knew he had eaten something bad – and ended up in the emergency room. They wanted to put a tube up his nose and down his stomach to administer charcoal. He said no way – he’d drink it – and did so, even though they said that has never been done before.

These are just some highlighted incidents of things this man has been through over the years. The man can touch fire, and has taken things out of the oven with his bare hands. He is a bit of a freak of nature - but let him get a fever or a stomach ache and that is a different story - you'd think he was a terminal cancer patient. He is a living illustration of the fact that only God determines the number of our days. This gives me a lot of peace now that he is working as an electrician. I know there is a whole team of angels assigned to that man, and those of us who love him!

He Saved Us - No Really He SAVED Us

This is the cool thing about the Lord - He doesn't just save us from hell for eternity which is way more than enough even if that is ALL that He did - but He continually saves us from all sorts of things. Often He saves me from myself. Can anyone relate to that statement?
Tonight - about 10:30 pm the kids and I were traveling home from a very long day (which I will blog about with excitement tomorrow) through Beaumont. We were going about 65-70 mph, and suddenly traffic in front of me came to an abrupt stop. I swerved left hard and then realizing that wasn't going to give me enough time, I swerved right and ended up bringing the car to a stop on the right hand shoulder next to the car that had been in front of me. There was a single car accident two cars ahead of us. I had 6 children in the car - 3 of which did not belong to me. We were all shaken so badly - but we were praising Jesus that we were safe. I asked the officer directing traffic if it had been a single car accident. When he answered affirmatively, I stated that the wind had been making driving a challenge for me all day - to which he replied, "Yeah, well you aren't drunk either."
Wow. In spite of this incident - it wasn't the alcohol but the person who chose to overindulge in alcohol that was the problem. I think prohibition should have taught us that people will find a way to have what they want - and the more forbidden the fruit is made the more the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve will reach for it, and find ways to have it. I wish we could change hearts instead of trying to make useless laws. How long will history have to repeat itself? Don't get me wrong - I was mad as hell at the driver who came a breath away from causing an accident that involved us - but I think we're approaching it all wrong.
Thank you Jesus for saving us, and for SAVING us!

Nail Breaking - Part II

I wanted to clarify for my gentle readers that in case anybody wonders, I am not a girly girl - and most of the time you can find my nails in various stages of growth, usually quite uneven. What I was complaining about that night when I wrecked my car was the violence, and depth with which my nail was ripped off the top of my pinkie finger. It tore it down in the quick where it smarts. But I wanted to share with you that specific part of the experience, as it has me laughing now days afterwards. The Sheriff's officer that stopped to help out was checking us over with a flashlight - the blood matted in my hair over my ear, whether my pupils were dialated - and I was in shock so I didn't feel anything at that point - not my nose, my arm, NADA. But the first thing I remember feeling pain from was that darn ripped fingernail. I said to the officer, "I broke my fingernail." He turned to his partner, without missing a beat and said, "Bob, I think we're going to have to call for transport." Yeah, funny cop on the side of the road - the guy should be a comedian!!!!

I Broke a Nail! Oh Yeah, and I had a Car Accident Too!

About 10 pm this evening, after a full evening of rehearsals at the theater, I went grocery shopping. It had been a nasty, wet, rainy, muddy, foggy sort of day. By the time we left Walmart, it was around 11 pm. We were heading home up the windy mountain roads that I am very familiar with - and just around a curve to the right, at the peak of a hill, my car started pitching left, right, left, and right one last time when BAM! we were off the road and into the woods. Both front airbags deployed in the full frontal impact, the car was full of the gunpowder smoke that ignited the airbags, the front windshield shattered and glass blew everywhere, and our ears were ringing from the sound of the explosion that rapidly inflated the airbags. I am thankful that we are all in one piece - both of my girls and I, and their friend Devan. Kaitlyn has cuts all over her forehead, and I have them on my right ear and in my hair. I had glass imbedded in my shirt and all over my face so much that I couldn't wash it with a cloth - but rather had to rinse it quite extensively first. My arms are injured from where the airbag blew the steering wheel open and scraped against them violently. AND to top it all off, I broke a nail!!! Thank goodness I'm not a girly girl. It was a traumatic experience, topped off by the fact that we just recently got the car after almost a year of not having one! I think it may be able to be fixed, but my husband, (we'll just call him the pessimist for now!) is not quite sure. I don't care - my kids and I are all in one piece and that's all that really matters. I am so thankful that the Lord was watching over us tonight. I need to go to bed now, my head aches and my neck is hurting. Sweet dreams!