This man has somehow endured raising 9 children--7 of them girls!!! He is amazing, like I said. I was reminded on my recent trip to Texas how easily he can comfort me and make me feel everything is going to be o.k...
The night I flew in, my flight was delayed several hours. Instead of driving the 3 hours to my parents' house late at night, I stayed the night at my sisters' place in Dallas, then drove Liz's car the next morning. She has a GPS and programmed it for me. She and Maggie had to work that day and were going to drive Maggie's car to Mom and Dad's later that evening. I was a little nervous to drive in Dallas traffic, but I had a GPS--everything would be fine.
***Side note--I grew up 2 1/2 hours from Dallas and didn't get my driver's license til I was 16 1/2. I left Texas at 18 and have never really lived there since...so not much Dallas driving experience...***
Anyway, I started out that morning to drive and headed for the first highway. I was at a stop light waiting to turn, when the GPS started freaking out. First it said I was moving into a large body of water. No water in sight... Then it said the battery was low, even though it was plugged in. Then it said cannot find signal and shut off. I couldn't get it to work. And I had no idea where I was. Or how to get to where I wanted to be. Stupid technology.
I pulled off onto a side street and tried to think of what to do. I tried calling my sister to ask her what the heck was up w/ her Garmin...no answer. I decided to get back on the one freeway I knew I was supposed to be on, but didn't know what to do from there. I kept hoping the Garmin would magically turn back on. Even better. My sister Carolyn called my phone. She was at Mom and Dad's and my Daddy was right there w/ her.
It was like Superman had just swooped in to rescue me. He asked what road I was on and got on the computer and for the next 30-40 minutes, talked me through the great city of Dallas. He has driven that route hundreds of times and was able to literally tell me every landmark that was ahead all along the way. It was still a little nerve-wracking to drive through that craziness, but such a calm came over me once I knew he was in charge and with me every step of the way. Once I was on the main freeway out, we hung up so I wouldn't burn through all my minutes. He called every little while to check on me, though, and I made it there o.k.
And the Garmin did magically come back on, about 15 minutes from my parents' house. :)
Lessons learned:
- I am eternally grateful for cell phones.
- I never want to live in Dallas.
- My dad is my hero.
My daddy is amazing and can literally do ANYTHING. The end.
