Beginnings, Endings, Collisions, Near-Catastrophes 6-17-09

Dear friends and family-

Ahh, summertime. At least that's what the calendar says. I'm waiting for more than 2 consecutive days of it to prove it actually exists. With summertime comes wedding season....

Beginnings - So with the first wedding of the year that I was able to attend (I was too ill to attend my friend Ginger's wedding), I had to drive up to northern Michigan. Before I talk about the car-ride (see "Collisions"), I'd like to talk about Michelle (Couture) and Maurice Wilson. Our family has been lucky enough to grow up with a "village" of people, if you will, other couples and parents and children who all hung out socially together from the moment all the children (children = kids around my and my siblings' ages) were born all the way til now. My brother, sister, and I have always felt a tremendous amount of love and support from these other couples and their children. Some of my longest-held friendships are with Amber Wallace and Corey Nieland, nearing 30 years in duration (okay, maybe 29 1/2).

Being so lucky, I grew up with the Honorable Bob Butts as part of my life, nicknaming him "Bobio", and also with Elaine Couture. Through this "village" connection of people, my parents helped put Bob and Elaine together and they got married. Even before they were married, my sister and I played with Elaine's children, Nick and Michelle. I always thought of Nick like the older brother I never had, and I must admit, Michelle and Maureen (my real sister) were little sisters to us - annoying when we wanted to be "cool", but awesome when we grew up a bit!

Michelle met a wonderful man name Maurice Wilson, and this last weekend they got married, and Maureen was a bridesmaid. My brother was home, for the last time for a while as he is moving to California next week, so it was the first time the 3 Lindsay kids were home in Cheboygan since Christmas and probably the last time until the holiday season again. The ceremony was outdoors with the Mackinac Bridge as the backdrop - and it was actually a summery day, complete with sunburns on the bride and many guests! It was beautiful - just beautiful....

And the reception was the most awesome party that I've been to in a long time! The food was fabulous, the drinks were wonderful, and the dancing was nonstop! Even though my dad, Chris, has a really bad back, and even though I was feeling kind of crappy most of the day (it was a Saturday, after all), we all kicked it into overdrive and danced until we couldn't dance anymore, then we took a rest and danced again! The dance floor was never without a Lindsay family member on it - and the whole damn "village" was dancing too! All the folks that we grew up with were there to celebrate, and celebrate we did! I think the groom's family was pretty impressed with the fervor with which we partied! It was a wonderful wonderful time. Congratulations Michelle and Maurice and thank you for having such a great reception after your beautiful wedding!

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Endings - I couldn't write this without acknowledging a sadder milestone, though. A dear friend of my Mom's from high school, Mary Becker, lost a very long-standing battle with cancer this weekend. I know that it breaks my Mom's heart, and I am very sorry that she is gone. She was one of those long-time lifetime friends for Mom, and even when she was fighting cancer she still took the time to be there for other people and to live life. Last summer she and several other of Mom's high school friends all went and stayed on Mackinac Island with Mom and Dad, and they had a great time. And two years ago, even though Mary was in a wheelchair and very sick, she was there at my Grandpa Quick's funeral. That strength always amazed me. So heaven has a new angel, and she's keeping good company.

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Collisions - Ahh, leave it to Kate to not have a boring ride up to northern Michigan. I was nervous about driving alone up north for the first time since my diagnosis, but the day was cloudy and perfect for driving as I set out on the 7-8 hour trek....All went well for the majority of the trip and I am still happy to realize that I still love road trips and that I am still able to do them. And generally, they go without incident.

However, on US 131 north near Reed City, Michigan, I was driving along on cruise control, and I watched a small purple vehicle coming up behind me as I was driving in the right lane (2 lanes on this highway in each direction). The car had a number of youngish-looking people in it. It passed me in the left lane, then pulled in front of me into the right lane. However, it had pulled directly behind a slower moving vehicle. Not intending to turn off the cruise control, I signalled to pull into the left lane. A Chevy truck also pulled in to the left lane right behind me to pass the slower moving vehicles.

As I was passing the purple vehicle and was directly alongside it, it started to swerve over the center line and into my lane. I hit my brakes and tried to pull slightly to the left outside of the left lane, imagining that there was no way this car was going to actually continue to try to merge into me. I guess I was wrong. He continued to push me off the road, hitting my car and sending me into a tailspin.

I was in the gravel in the shoulder and struggling to try to right the car - I swung heavily back into my lane and then fishtailed more and hit the black Chevy and everything was out of control. I thought for sure I was going to flip, and apparently so did the Chevy driver. Amazingly, the purple car accelerated and shot off the nearest exit, disappearing.

I managed somehow to stop the spin (I think maybe by taking my foot off the brakes), and pulled off the road to the exit where the attacker had disappeared. The Chevy truck also pulled over. The driver was very kind - he had considered chasing the purple car that had run me off the road but he wanted to help me more, so he waited with me.

I was shaking so badly I almost collapsed - it was so frightening. The man waited for the police with me and gave all his information as the witness. I had only scratched his truck a little and it was quite a beater, so he wasn't concerned. The front right side of my car was pretty scraped, and the right rear taillight cover and bumper and wheel were all damaged, but amazingly, the majority of the damage was just body and not even that bad.

Poor Sumi was definitely more hurt than anyone - but not too badly. She's doing much better now. Poor doggie....

So it could have been a total catastrophe, and it could have been so much worse - it's amazing that 3 vehicles going 70 miles an hour can have such a dramatic event and everyone walks away (or in the case of the purple car, can flee the scene and escape arrest)....

Oh well....I made it home!