BEING A DO-GOODER


so i'm driving along... take the ramp from i-215 to i-15 north when all of a sudden i am slowed down from a brisk 45 mph to about 5mph.

the car in front of me was clearly having troubles.

i marveled at why he didn't feel it necessary to pull off onto the shoulder and let others pass him by whilst he tried to figure out his situation.

but he never did and finally, after about 1/4 of a mile after the on-ramp, he stopped cold turkey, smack in the middle of the far right lane.

at this point, other cars are now veering around him and whizzing on by and i'm in the most awkward position to get myself out into traffic.

so i take a moment and decide that i am not in any rush and can at least ask if help is needed.

so i gently pull up to the side of his car, praying i don't get side-swiped, roll down my window and peer into his now open window.

"hi, did you need any help?" i ask the man at the steering wheel and the 4 young adult boys he has in the car with him.

"yeah, we ran out of gas. do you want to get out and push us to the side?"

(okay i am so laughing out loud as i type this story)

i was shocked. here are 4 boys... probably around 15-16 years of age. they all look to be in good health... no visible defects... all appear to be of sound mind. and then there's me... weakling, has-no-upper-body-strength peggy, being asked to push a car full of MEN!!

hahahah!

so i start giggling as i pull off to the side of the road, ready to roll up my sleeves and help these dudes, when in my rear-view i see that a police man has just pulled up, thrown on his lights and taken control.

with a little wave, i shut my door and head on my way. it's funny because i was totally willing to help... but found it rather odd that they weren't really willing to help themselves... hysterical!

next thing i know i'm going to ask an old woman if i can help her cross the road and she's going to ask me to pick her up and take her to las vegas on foot!

IF I COULD SPLIT MYSELF INTO TWO PEOPLE...



... then half of me would never leave here and be happy all the live long day!

the law of the windshield wiper:
inevitably when you are driving on the free way and it's a mad blizzard or crazy rain storm, there is going to be only one un-swiped spot on your entire windshield that will NOT, no matter how many times it swipes along, go away. this spot will ALWAYS be the directly in the sight-line of the driver. causing them to either strain their neck to look over it, or hunker down to look under it.


the law of moving on:
when one attempts to move on with ones life, away from old time mistakes or same old decisions that keeps one from being or getting what they want... ALWAYS, someone or something from the past will come back into said person's life and confuse the progress.


the law of the perfect hair:
when you are in a hurry and don't care about what your hair looks like, your hair just so happens to have THE BEST hair day on the planet. this usually coincides with the same time when no one of any significance will see said hair. however, when you are getting ready for a job interview, going on a date or just so happen to run into an ex at the grocery store-- your hair has decided to fall flat against your skull in the worst place and frizz out where frizz is not wanted.


the law of the grandma driver:
when you are late for an appointment, grandma driver not only cuts you off (even when there are no other cars behind you and she could have waited for you to pass) AND she, who can barely see above the steering wheel, can't reach her shrunken little legs far enough to push the gas pedal beyond 25 mph. she will also come to almost a complete stop because the biker to her right is freaking her out and so she rides her brakes the whole way down the longest stretch of your journey on a two-lane street with no passing.

i'm just sayin'

LITTLE PEGGY: my crush on GUS PIKE!


every sunday afternoon, the family would sit around the kitchen and stuff our faces (with the delights that my snack-aholic father no doubtedly purchased the night before), because the smell of the roast, that was a traditional sunday night dinner, would make us ravenously hungry.

then, once kicked out of the kitchen by a mother whose biggest fear, in that moment, was that we ruin our appetite (fat chance, oh cooker of delicious meats), we would make our way to the TV.

if we, meaning the children, could get to the TV before our father, then we would have a really good chance of avoiding watching golf all afternoon. so it was important that one of us abandon our post at the refrigerator and claim rights to the television.

sunday afternoon/evening television is no different today than it was back then... nothing to watch. well that is, until one day, somewhere around 199o, this show premiered on the disney channel and my sunday afternoons were never the same again.

ROAD TO AVONLEA, from the creators of ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, was a spin-off, essentially, of said show. including some characters from the actual AGG and located in the same town.

the show, that ran for 7 seasons, gave a us a peek inside the world of the small town, turn of the century, avonlea. which is located on prince edward island, canada.

from the small-town gossip to the kind of trouble that by today's standards make it look like babies were up to, avonlea was a (at risk of making it sound like a breakfast cereal) wholesome, family show that got the thumbs up in the deming household.

honestly speaking, i may have gotten bored of this show, were it not for the promise that GUS PIKE could possibly be in the episode that night.













oh yes, in all of my 11 year old fancies, i crushed on this fiddle-playing, pipe-smoking, hooligan-sailor turned student by the town teacher. he was kind and thoughtful and crushed on the town brat, felicity. (who could ever forget when he kissed her that first time!)

no gus, she was not as good to you as i would have been!




for years i watched as gus and felicity fell further and deeper into love. i was saddened when she chose to go to medical college rather than marry him, was heart-broken when he left to go to sea, cheered when, for one episode, he came back and actually cried real tears when felicity got the message that gus' ship had been wrecked in a storm of the coast of north carolina. no survivors were found. how could they do that to my GUS!!

then, like a miracle from the gods, just as felicity was about to marry another man, she got a mysterious phone call which led her on a chase to america to see if gus was still alive. HE WAS! yet he didn't survive that shipwreck unscathed... he was blinded by the explosion on the ship and left a bitter and hardened man. after convincing him to come home, gus and felicity were finally married! i was so happy that my silly thoughts of a love like theirs was spoon fed honest to goodness romantic schmoo!




for those seven years, i was devoted to him. in the fields where i grew up, i would imagine that we was out there, waiting for me. that he would tell me that he loved no other! hahaha!

oh gus, you and i were meant to be together in another life. sigh.
thank goodness for YOUTUBE that allows me to relive my childhood crush all over again!

I NOW PRESENT TO YOU...
my AWESOME nephew sam

friends don't let friends like sam, dance
this video seriously made my day!!!