Ten Random Memories

Ok, so this post was inspired by my friend Stephen Bell who wrote a ten random memories post on his blog because he had been inspired by a friend who had written a ten random memories post. I wonder how many people we could inspire to write a ten random memories post?? Wanna jump on the band wagon?

Memory 1 Sometime around when I was in grade 4 my friend who lived next door to me and I went to the school yard on a Sunday afternoon to play. It had either been raining or the snow was melting because there was a lot of mud, especially around the small trees that were planted at the edge of the school yard. We were wearing rubber boots and we decided to get our feet buried in the mud around the trees. We got ourselves worked down so far that we couldn't pull our feet back out, we were trapped! We tried everything to free ourselves but only succeeded in getting ourselves more stuck, with the mud even overflowing into our rubber boots. Eventually we started calling for help. After what felt like an eternity a man who lived across the ally heard our cries for help and came and pulled us free from our self inflicted mud prison. I remember feeling very embarrassed but grateful as he picked me up and set me on drier ground and then proceeded to dig out my boots. I also remember getting in big trouble when I showed up at home completely covered in mud. I forgot to mention that I was still wearing my dress clothes which I had worn to church that morning.

Memory 2 Staying up almost all night at Heritage Lake Bible Camp one night. We raided food from the kitchen, cereal if I remember correctly. Eventually we brought our sleeping bags to the fire pit and slept outside. The most memorable part of the night was the most amazing display of northern lights I have ever seen! A quote from Kris Olson while watching the northern lights that night "If you were high you'd be crying"

Memory 3 While living in Brazil I got lost while driving from the city of Itu to the city of Campinas. I was going to exchange mine and my co-worker, Salena's funds for the month from Dollars into Brazilian Reais. I had a Brazilian, Ivan, with me in case I got into any problems. He was pretty much useless. I was supposed to have taken an exit before entering Campinas but somehow I missed it. Before I knew it I was in downtown Campinas in bumper to bumper traffic. I was so nervous about the traffic that I took the first available right turn in hope of getting onto a side street that wouldn't be so busy. I had no idea how to get back to the highway that would take us back to Itu. I prayed out loud for God to help me and the next thing I knew there was a sign directing me to the highway. Ivan and I were headed back to Itu when we decided to turn around and try to find the exit again. The exit we took was going in the wrong direction and by this time it was getting dark. There were hundreds of huge trucks on the highway and I was starting to panic again. I pulled to the side of the road so I could collect myself but as each truck went by the entire vehicle we were in shook with the force of the air gusts. That was even more nerve wracking than driving had been. We got going again and I tried to take a "retorno," a return exit, but it was impossible to slow down and exit because of the heavy amount of traffic. We had already passed at least two retornos and I was getting desperate. It was right around then that Salena called my cell phone to check in on how things were going. I remember thinking, and possibly saying out loud "We're going to die!" as I laid rubber on the Brazilian highway but managed to make the retorno. We drove for a very long time without seeing any sign that indicated we were heading in the right direction to get home again. I can remember the feeling of utter desperation as I was lost in the middle of a foreign country. Ivan's presence should have been a comfort but it was not. The relief I felt when I saw a sign with the name of a familiar town is indescribable.

Memory 4 My siblings and I used to always go tobogganing at what was known as "the sandpit" at our farm. For some reason I decided it would be a good idea to run down the hill. I remember that my body was moving faster than my legs could go and I ended up plowing down the hill face first. The collar of my jacket was the perfect entry for snow and so my entire jacket was filled with snow in the front. That put the end to that days tobogganing fun.

Memory 5 I don't remember how old I was, pretty young though. We were at my grandmother's house for the Christmas holidays I think. We had gone out to eat at a buffet restaurant and I ate A LOT of deep fried shrimp. I ate so much that I was sick that night. It was the worst feeling ever! That could be part of the reason why I have an aversion to seafood now.

Memory 6 The first birthday I spent in Brazil was my 22nd. At midnight on the night before my birthday our neighbor kids through me into the neighborhood swimming pool with all my clothes on. In the morning two ladies from the church had a breakfast basket delivered to my house. It was full of sweet breads, fresh fruit, coffee, tea and all sorts of other goodies. The youth class at church sang happy birthday to me during class and then we had lunch at Phyllis and Antenor's (the missionaries) house. Salena made Eggplant Parmigiana, yummy! After lunch Salena and Ivan took me to Chocolate da Fazenda, The Chocolate Farm. It turned out that half of the church, most of my LST readers and my Portuguese teachers were there to surprise me. There was a really yummy cake with strawberries inside of it. Afterwards the youth group came to our house to hang out for most of the night. It was probably the most memorable birthday I have ever had. I also remember waiting up half the night expecting my family to call and wish me a happy birthday. My adopted Brazilian brother Victor stayed with me as I had a great big pity party that everyone at home had forgotten about me. Kudos to Lisa who called at like 2am to wish me a happy birthday, she was the only one from home who remembered.

Memory 7 Getting busted after I had stolen my baby sister's bottle so that I cold drink the apple juice out of it.

Memory 8 Driving a 15 passenger van full of dorm kids to church one Sunday morning after a night of freezing rain and loosing all control as we slid into what would have been oncoming traffic. I remember praying that God would make us stop as the van was turning around and nearing a chain link fence. Thank God we stopped and that there was no oncoming traffic. We made it to church and by the time service was over the salting crews had been out so most of the ice was gone so it was a much safer drive back to the dorms.

Memory 9 Crawling out the bathroom window on the second floor of the girls dorm of Western Christian College and onto the roof of the business office with my friend Tricia Fischbuch. Our intention was to make a snow man on the roof for everyone to see from the ground. The snow turned out to not be sticky enough so we wrote a very large message in the snow that could be seen from the girls dorm. I think it was "GOD IS GOOD" or maybe "GOD IS LOVE" I can't remember for sure. Tricia took pictures but I never got copies of them...so sad.

Memory 10 A church canoe trip that I went on one summer to Kingsmere Lake with Jennifer Wallace as my canoing partner. The weather that day had been a little windy but we thought we would be able to manage against it. We were hoping to see Grey Owl's Cabin but the weather turned nasty very quickly. We decided to turn around and head back to the campsite where we had spent the previous night. I remember the waves splashing over the gunnels of the canoe. We were using a pail and sponges to try to bail out the water. I remember the exact moment when I realized that our efforts were useless. The water was pouring over the bow of the canoe. I tried to push myself furhter back in the canoe and that was when I realized that our whole canoe was about to go under. The water was extremely cold. I remember holding on to the capsized canoe and then having to swim to another canoe that was still upright. It seemed like I had no energy left at all as I tried to lift myself from the cold and raging waters into the canoe. By the time I got into it I was absolutely frozen and all I could think about was that I could no longer see Jennifer. The wind had been blowing us further and further apart. I remember having a tarp wrapped around me to try and keep the wind of my soaking body. All I could think about was not being able to see Jennifer. I was given a paddle and even though it felt like every ounce of energy had been drained from my body I paddle with all the strength I could muster as we tried to make our way to get Jennifer. I remember not wanting to even look at the waves I was so afraid. I also remember the relief I felt when they dragged Jennifer into a canoe and telling them that she needed to have something to drink because she was diabetic. Thankfully there had been a couple of people in our group who had been using kayaks and who had gone on ahead of us. They didn't know about what was going on but when we still hadn't returned to the campsite in so long they went looking for the forest ranger. What a feeling of relief to see him coming towards us in his motor boat. He took Jennifer and I back to his cabin where he started a fire so that we could dry out and warm up. He then went back and retrieved the rest of our group. We camped that night in the same place we had camped the night before. The next day we decided to cut the trip short and make the portage back out and head home.