My brother-in-law’s sister had returned
home from a lesson on perspective (I think) and posted a thought about her best
and worst Christmas – both which had taken place in 2005. It was a great
thought, and I asked permission to share it on my blog. She said that her understanding was that it
was up for Church publication and it would be best if I did not share. I figured when it was published in Ensign
magazine, I could refer to the link. But
I don’t see any evidence of publication thus far.
I saved a copy to my own personal
files, but seem to have misplaced the ubs or it somehow got deleted or
something. I’ll find it eventually. Meanwhile I have my own thoughts about one of
the longest days of my life (starting out with a trip to the Medford Temple and
ending with waiting for Greyhound)
June 5, 2015. What a day.
Denise and I had actually left the motel room early because she had
wanted to go through the Medford Temple.
It was her main insentive for having had driven the much shorter but
scarier route. She had gone online to
learn how late the temple would be open on Thursday night. She failed to look at the hours of operation
on Friday. It was closed. The gates were locked. We had driven all that way and couldn’t get
inside. The temple in Medford doesn’t
open until 3:00 p.m. That seemed like
the latest time that Denise would have had to leave Roseburg and be on her way
to Newport. We had missed going inside.
I had had a rental car lined up, but
had cancelled believing Roland’s understanding of having someone physically
take me to the address. My main reason
for being in Oregon was to secure a rental that was waiting for us outside
Roseburg. I had called the property
management several times to let them know I was coming. I was hoping that Denise would be able to
drop me off at the rental and I would be able to get a ride back to Century 21
to sign the papers.
They didn’t get any of my
messages. We weren’t communicating at
all. I would still have to have a rental
car. What was I thinking? I called a car rental in Medford, but they
did not have anything. They referred me
to their location in Roseburg. I thought
I was all set until they called me back asking for either a major (non-debit)
card and/or an Oregon driver’s license – neither of which I had. So they had to cancel my reservation. So I called the agency I had initially booked
with. They couldn’t find a car for me
until 7:30 that night. Property
management would have been closed by then.
And it didn’t give me enough hours of sunlight that it was worth renting
a car for. I can’t drive in the dark. I
decided that I would just take a bus home (originally I had wanted the plane –
but the bus was a third of the cost – plus I didn’t have a way to the airport)
Payments had to be in form of Money
Order or a Courtsey check from the bank.
Oh, great. I have two checks from
a credit union that have branches in Utah and Nevada – not in Oregon. I was frantic. I did have a bank account number that Corey
had given me. There was a branch not far
from Century 21 that I went to – but I had to open my own account and ask Corey
to work with me from Las Vegas.
The procedure seemed long. I had a deadline for getting back to Century
21 and barely made it. The girl who
assisted acted like she had been put out.
Really? What about me? I had traveled three days to get there. And then they wouldn’t accept my check. I had to open an account. It had been very painful. And the day was not close to over. Little did I know that I wouldn’t be leaving
Roseburg until 2:30 the following morning!
The location of the bus pick/up had
changed. We drove around the same street
three times before Denise pulled over and I went into a sevice station to
ask. Denise hated the GPS and Siri and
will probably never use again.
She pulled up to a service station and
had me go inside to make certain I’d really be able to purchase a bus
ticket. If you read my earlier post, you
may recall that the bus was scheduled to come at 5:58 – but I had been told
that it would be running late. I did not
share that information with Denise or Roland however as I did not want them to
worry.
As the sun was setting, I started
crying, knowing (or thinking) that Denise was still on the road and has bad
night vision like I do. I spent the last
6 hours of the fifth at the service station waiting for the bus.
As long and horrible as I believed the
day had been, there was so much that I needed to feel grateful for:
A kind sister (who was planting flowers near the
gate) opened the gate to let us inside and Denise took several pictures and the
sister took pictures of Denise and I sitting in front of the temple.
Denise stayed with me. She sacrificed several hours of being on the
road. She drove me to Roseburg to get
the key and then to back to Mayberry to look at the house – which really is a
nice house by the way.
Denise drove me to the bank. She waited for me
for over an hour (that is what it felt like anyway) and Corey waited in line in
Las Vegas to assist me with my problem.
And it worked. We had cut it very
close bringing me back to Century 21 to sign papers.
Denise waited for me. I had called a cab so that she could be one
her way. But she chose to stay with me and take me to the bus stop. She did not get back on the road until after
5:00. Heavenly Father blessed me big
time through both Denise and Corey.
Though the bus had been late, I did not have to
wait for it alone. Jake kept me company
for the first five hours – one hour after the station was closed. I also had
the protection of Heavenly Father and a good book to read.
After an 8 ½ hour wait, I hadn’t missed the bus
due to falling asleep or waiting on the wrong side of the building. I was safe.
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