10 hour tour

So the retreat was a full weekend. There were many high points and I think it was my favorite retreat so far (even when we were doing horrible things the people in my small group made it so enjoyable, I couldn't have wished to be there with anyone else -- my favorite line during a low point "I just died a little inside"). There were several complimentary things I meant to write on the evaluations, but I did manage to remember one in time for the evaluation :).

Perhaps the most emotional part was the commute though. It's funny that they caused so much stress considering looking back on them, they are also places where I can see God's hand at work.

It took us five hours to get up to the retreat, it was supposed to take us two. . . .

I left work early and was then told that the next guy on the schedule to be picked up couldn't be ready in time. He had asked for a 5:45 pick up time (meaning we had almost an hour to kill). So we went to my house where I got the knitting I had forgotten and the sweater I had promised to bring for someone else and then headed over to the guy who had been bumped to number two on the pick up schedule. Unfortunately by now we were in rush hour traffic. . . . After several near accidents (not our fault) and a couple of attempts to go the wrong way down one way streets (possibly our fault), we made it to house two. Ten minutes later we were at house three and ready to get on the road (only two hours after I had gotten into the car originally).

We were getting hungry having started late so we got off in danvers to look for some place to eat we passed my low carb life, quiznos, chili's, applebees and several others all because we'd spotted a costco and our hearts were set on a $1.55 hot dog and soda. After making three U turns, we thought we were well on our way. We drove through a retirement village and then a strip mall with a David's Bridal, Mr. Tux an Baby's Bed's 'n' Bunks all in a row (I liked the progression), all that was left was to cross the road and get to costco. . .Turns out, the "road" was route 1, miles later we still hadn't had a chance to go across the road and found another entrance for 95 (the road we had exited off of to get into Danvers). We took the entrance and managed to pass the exit we had originally taken to find Costco. There was some discussion about giving it another go, but we decided to plan a route 1 road trip for another day.

We continued along the driver getting increasingly hungry and then randomly choosing exits to look for food. My favorite foray was into Rowley where a sign advertised two local eateries. we flew past the local pub the driver insisting there had to be more. We passed a large animal veterinary clinic, and at the second horse farm turned around. Ever persistent, the driver went the other direction until we hit the gas station -- the only other thing advertised on the freeway sign. She turned around one more time and yet again we found ourselves on 95. We managed to make it to an exit with many restaurants and ended up at the Wendy's everyone always stops at for dinner on the way to this retreat (which was an amusing twist considering how many other places we'd attempted). A hand of God moment was when the other half of our small group showed up as we were in line and we managed to eat dinner as a small group.

I hurried my group on, wanting to make it to the retreat in time to hang with my Thurs. night peeps and we booked it out of there leaving half of our group behind. By the time we got there, singing had already started and my boy was sitting with my roomie in the thick of things. As I mentioned before I left I like escapes so I was in the back corner should things turn ugly.

As if on cue someone got up and announced that the drama team (my least favorite thing in the world -- it's hard for me to know if I hate green peppers or talentless christian actors more) was going to read some poetry. I turned to my friend who had driven and said, I am out of here, I will see you later, looked up and saw my boy was laughing at me and the last thing I heard was the door closing behind me :).

There's a lot that can be written about the retreat, but I already shared one of my favorite stories so I'll skip to the ride home. . . .

I was in the car again with my original driver and one of the guys from the first trip (mr. 5:45) we had traded the pleasant brit (the first boy we picked up) for another woman because our little token brit was running a marathon and had to leave the retreat early. This woman was very intense. She reminded me of a terrier with a small toy any time she talked about a topic. Luckily, mr. 5:45 was really good about keeping her occupied and the driver and I had a very pleasant ride back.

We took the exit to get to my house and just when we made it onto mystic valley pkwy there was a horrible horrible noise the driver panicked and was hitting the breaks in a way that made me think they were the problem. Though I am usually a nervous passenger I was fairly calm seeing that we had plenty of time to break and though it's usually a rather busy road no one was anywhere near us. When we stopped, mr. 5:45 hopped out of the car to look and when the driver pulled up a little he said it was the exhaust pipe dragging. She was still in panic mode though and as he was trying to talk to her through the car door, she said I have to get out of the middle of the road, and began driving. This was when I screamed fearing we were going to run down mr. 5:45. she stopped the car, he hopped back in and we pulled over stopping right under an auto shop sign. We couldn't have had this happen in a better place (another example of the grace of God). Right next to us was a Mercedes dealership with their address clearly printed on the door including the city (I wasn't sure if it was medford or a neighboring city). The driver called AAA who wasn't that helpful as far as suggestions for what to do with a car on a Sunday afternoon when you don't have a mechanic in the area.

We hung up and I called my roomie who had just made it home. She got a zipcar to come save us and when I hung up with her I called my boy and made him go online and try and figure out which mechanic I had visited over a year before. After a couple of attempts and him finally just reading a list to me I figured out it was Streetwise, Inc. (who I highly, highly recommend if you're in the somerville area -- they're incredibly nice, helpful, honest, and they don't make you feel stupid). So we decided that we'd have the car towed there and then drop everyone off using the zipcar.

My roommate showed up driving a white suv, which I consider the modern equivalent of a knight riding in on his white horse :). The tow truck came minutes afterward and the incredibly nice tow truck guy said it was only the bolt missing that was causing the exhaust pipe to drag. He used industrial strength twist ties to put it back together and told the driver she could drive a short distance with it. we piled the stuff in the suv and we left my roommate to deal with intense woman who hadn't gotten any less intense with these turn of events and mr. 5:45 who still was managing to calm/entertain her. The driver and I started off to streetwise, inc but then decided it would be easier to just go to my house drop her car and all pile into the suv to take the other two people home.

We started off again and my roommate did a noble job of not killing anyone and still managing to drive perfectly. I was very nervous because I am always nervous about driving and intense woman had just turned me into tense woman. I was giving my roommate directions and intense woman would constantly interject, give more advice etc. so much so that at one point I almost turned around and shouted at her, there can only be one back seat driver and I have already taken that position so back off woman!!!!!!!! I didn't though. We made it to Allston, dropped off mr. 5:45 and immediately missed the calming effect he'd had on intense woman. She continued to direct and boss and generally aggravate till we made it to Quincy.

As soon as we dropped her off and started driving away my roommate said, "remember at lunch on Sat. when I came to find you because I couldn't handle the people at my table any more?" and I said, "yes." She said, "that was the woman, the one who was going on and on about the dance ministry and having open dance nights." I said, "no, intense woman is in the drama ministry." My roommate said, she's in both. We needed no more explanation after that. . . .

The three of us who were left went out for comfort food at the Texas Roadhouse and then went home. I was talking to my boy that night and when I told him about intense woman he said he knew her, he'd made her cry in line for a roller coaster once. I said "great, so you make her cry and I was there when a two hour trip from a retreat ended up taking five. Let's invite her to our wedding, I bet we could do something else to torture her" :).

Epilogue: the driver took the car to Streetwise, Inc. the next morning and was finished by a little after 9:00. They fixed the problem as quickly as they could and charged under $25. I am still a fan of them.