Merry Christmas! (And travel-log)

Merry Christmas! We certainly got a white one this year!

I didn't get all the stories posted, but I don't think anyone really cared. Christmas arrangements, temple arrangements, and travel logistics just took over my time. This week didn't work out exactly the way we had planned, but it has been good. Christmas is getting more focus than it started out having. I was preoccupied with our plans to go to the Columbia River temple the weekend AFTER Christmas and getting my mom ready for her first trip to the temple. With dementia, that can be daunting. (And I am talking about her AND mine!!) I was loosing focus.

As the weather worsened and forecasts looked like more of the same - or worse; gathering our family together from three states grew less and less possible, safely. I picked the date originally because it would be a time when I would have part of my family there already. I was trying to avoid creating another trip out for those in Utah. Trying to save traveling expenses when they already have education expenses. They have been so wonderful in trying to visit so often before my son-in-law starts medical school.

The final straw came when their pre-planned trip (since July) became impossible. Portland airport has had great difficulty this year. When NASA says you have snow problem you really have a snow problem. Check out this satellite photo. Oregon became the recipient of our worse snow-bearing storm in 40 years. PDX started shutting down Friday, resulting in cancelled flights. Sunday they closed entirely. Monday, our kids' flight from Salt Lake was one of the casualty's.

The only reasonable thing to do was to re-schedule for sealing for a more realistic (and less stressful) time. Which we did. And I was peaceful about doing. My Redhot was very emotional about the cancellation and I understood that. I was actually surprised how calm and peaceful I felt as I made all the calls and cancellations necessary.

Tuesday we started packing to still make the trip to Vancouver. Opening my closet door and seeing my new temple dress and new "after sealing dress," brought an unexpected reaction. I had a "melt-down." I forgot how my system deals with stress. I an great in an emergency - a REAL emergency. I just switch into this "let's handle current situations" mode and take care of essentials without much problem. LATER - I fall apart. I just forgot, or didn't really consider that there might be more going on than I realized. I didn't see it coming. And it wasn't pretty. (Poor Tom. I thank the Lord every day for him. How he keeps from taking me out when I have mood swings and ADHD moments is beyond me. )

I finally realized what I was feeling. How important this trip was to us. We have been working towards being sealed for about six years. We had made two trips on icy roads into Portland in the weeks before Christmas, to get his temple clothing. Due to the traveling conditions, those were major events. We made a nail-biting drive into Philomath the Sunday before Christmas so that all three of us could get our temple recommends signed by the Stake president. We had done everything we needed to. And we weren't going to be able to go. I had gotten an answer to my prayers concerning the trip. My answer (and I DID make note of the lack of detail I received) was "Everything will be fine." I WAS peaceful. I knew things were in His hands. We just weren't going on December 27th. Once I realized how disappointed I was and was able to grieve a little, things were fine.

We drove up to Vancouver Tuesday. as we had planned. The weather and roads weren't what had planned. Quite an adventure once we reached Salem/Wilsonville area. It had been the hardest hit. It took us two hours to travel 20 miles. I called Jared at one point (we had promised updates, but time was going faster than distance covered). He laughed at how little change there was in our progress and asked if we were walking. I told him no - if I were walking, I would be making better time. We were literally traveling 3-4 miles per hour - which is certainly better than just sitting there. It wasn't parking lot conditions, for which I WAS grateful.

Here you see the several thousand in front of us.

Some places the ice on the road was three to four inches think. It was like driving on a glacier...including the melting-runoff creeks cut into the carpet of ice. Not only was it like "four-wheeling" in regard to the bumps and snow-chain created potholes, we had to ford frozen stream beds. The worst conditions were driven in the dark, of course. But as the sunset, I took a shot of the several thousand behind us, as well. I wish I could have counted HOW many semi-trucks were on the road between Salem and Vancouver. I've never seen so many!

Traveling was pretty sporty. I learned some new driving skills. IF you are traveling a few cars behind a semi-truck on an icy road, and you see that truck slow down, and then start swaying back and forth and up and down - SLOW down. It has reached a really think, rough patch of ice. And it's chains aren't cutting into the icy. And it's going to be at LEAST that bad for you when you get to where he is. I also learned that traveling very slowly for a LONG time makes people crazy. At one point, I found myself traveling in FOUR lanes of traffic - on a highway that only had THREE lanes. Folks just created their OWN lanes, using the right and left shoulders. And I'm not talking about the occasional ya-who who tries to pass you on the right or the left shoulder. This was four lanes of traffic, including semi's who just decided the original construction plan wasn't working out and decided to improvise. SCARY!

All this is so I will remember. I've mentioned before that I'm trying this as a journal substitute. I don't think we will forget Christmas, 2008 anytime soon. Those of us familiar with Oregon and it's heavy snow storms know what comes next. Snow doesn't last all winter here. It will warm up and it will melt. The coastal rivers will flood.

I wouldn't plan on visiting Tillamook in the next few weeks.