tuesday three with miss jla

Today, I am showing some love to a good friend & hometown buddy, Miss JLA over at Stilettos & A Fishing Pole. Jess has come up with her own blog carnival & this is the grand opening so I have to play along! 

This week's topic is: 

Three life experiences.

Good. Bad. Scary. Life changing. Once in a lifetime. Never will I ever... you get the idea.

If you'd like to play along to, all you do is copy the button above, describe three life experiences in your own post & then venture on over to Miss JLA's page and link-up!

So, here are mine:

1.  Scary
2. Most surprising moment
3. Life-changing

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Scary-

This story took place years ago, but I still get the jitters every time I'm driving and it rains.

One weekend, my brother was playing baseball in a tournament in our hometown. I had plans to babysit for a sweet couple that attends my church that same evening. I can't remember exactly what was going on, but I think I had cheerleading practice/camp at the time. Afterwards, I went over to watch my brother play a little baseball. It was a nice sunny, summer day. The time was approaching for me to go home, take a shower, freshen up and head on over to babysit. My mother & I got into her green Toyota 4-Runner & took off down the road. From our recreation department to my house was about 10-15 minutes I would say. As we were driving, it began to slowly sprinkle. I can remember the sun still shining brightly & thinking how strange it was for it to be raining. The rain began coming down a little harder. We weren't going extremely fast, probably averaging about 55 mph, or so. When all of a sudden, we hit a slight dip in the road. The car felt like it went from 0 to 100 mph in 0.2 seconds. The car jerked into the left lane and was heading straight for the ditch & pine trees. I specifically remember the exact words that came from my Mother's mouth. "OH SHIT!" With a little jerk to the right, we flew across both lanes, hit the ditch and flipppppppppped. We rolled only once [thank God]. It rolled on my mom's side & we landed upright. We both had our seatbelts on, which I do believe probably saved our lives or us from getting injured! We sat there starring at each other for a few seconds until we both snapped out of it and began screaming "oh my gosh, are you ok?! ...No, are YOU ok?!" I remember looking at my Mama and seeing one itty bitty mark on her neck where the glass had cut her & panicking. I then started yelling "get out of the car! It might blow up! Get out, hurry!" We both jumped out, still completely in shock. There was huge clumps of dirt, grass, broken c.d.'s, change, you name it, stuck up in the dashboard. Stuff from the back of the car was sitting in the front of the car. It was a miracle we weren't hurt. I had no bumps, no bruises, no cuts, no nothing. And the only thing my Mama had was that one tiny little scratch. About that time, a car came flying around the same curve & pulled over to help us. It was an umpire from the same tournament my brother was playing in. Since my Dad was the coach of his team, we had to somehow get in touch with him & let him know. I can't remember who called him or how we got in touch with him. But, I do remember being SOO scared that he too was going to hydroplane coming around that curve and hit that dip! I was a nervous wreck. I kept asking for someone to call him back just to make sure that he wouldn't drive fast trying to get to us & hydroplane as well! By this time, cars were lining up down the road and the ambulance had arrived. They checked us both out and requested that we go to the emergency room just to be examined. I refused. I would NOT get in that ambulance to save my life. I was fine, I said. Once home [which was about 2 minutes down the road, if that], I remember going straight up to my room & calling my friend, Meredith. It was a scary experience.

And to this day, every time it rains while I'm driving or I go around that same curve, this memory replays in my mind. 

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Most Surprising Moment!

Christmas Eve of this past year was by far the most surprising moment of my life! I never expected my man to pop the question on this night, but he did! 

Go here to read the story!

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Life-Changing

Last April I received a letter in the mail from Georgia Southern University saying I was accepted into their Nursing Program. Out of over 200 students, I was one of the 55 that were specifically chosen via an enrollment process. I had to write an essay, take an entrance exam, fill out a bunch of paperwork, etc. I was ectastic! I thought this was the best day of my life. I finally had it set in stone as to what I was hoping to achieve as a future career! A friend from my hometown had also applied the same time I did. I remember sitting at Cliff's parent house on the couch watching t.v. when I got a call from Ashly's Mom asking me if I had checked my mail lately. I knew what was next, I just didn't know the status of Ashly, whether she got in or not and why I was talking to her Mother? Did she not get in and was soo upset? Or was she too excited she couldn't hardly talk?! 

She was too excited to say the least.

My heart suddenly fell in my stomach. I looked at Cliff and was like "we've got to go uptown and check the mail, like NOW. Let's go!" 

I called my Mama and told her the news about Ashly & she said that she was on her way uptown as well and that she would swing by and make sure it was in the mailbox before I made the trip.

It was.

She picked it up for me.

Cliff & I met her and my grandmother [who was riding w/ her at the time] uptown so I could open it up!

I was a nervous wreck. My hands were shaking, my heart pounding....

First look, I noticed it was fairly thick..

Could this be a good or bad thing? 

I told them they couldn't look & I walked to the back of the truck alone and ripped it open!

The "congratulations" at the top gave it away and there was no need for any further reading! 

I was accepted!

Whew, a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders. 

It was the start of a great thing!

Now, I am one year into the program, with one year left to go! 

I'll graduate next May :)