My Crazy Life

Today...I have 6 things I'd like to talk about.

This post will be long.

But I guarantee if you read it all...you will learn about what's going on in my life.

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I got a call on Tuesday the week before last by the Owner/Operator of the Chick-Fil-A on Bristol. She joyfully and enthusiastically offered me a job as a Server at their restaurant. I was honored!

Maybe two weeks earlier I stopped by the very same place to say goodbye to John. He was an older man who was a Server there during the lunch hour. He was the sweetest man and displayed and exampled Christ-like joy and kindness in the utmost way. Full of humility and just a tad quirky ( ;) ) he was loved by many regulars there. It took only a few visits to become acquainted with him and to find out he was a brother in Christ. When AJ was working for his Dad we would frequent there for both the food, and to see John.

The staff at the restaurant was throwing him a going away party then. AJ and I only knew about this through Facebook, and since AJ worked, I was the only one who could go to see him. I didn't know why he was leaving but I excitedly brought him an invitation to our wedding. When I gave it to him he was touched and said, "Aw, this is so sweet of you." and paused to say, "But I'm gonna be up north. I'm moving to live with my son."

Honestly...I had a lump in my throat immediately and had to hold back tears with all my might. Even talking about it now brings tears. He gladly accepted it and said he'd treasure it still.

It would've been my pleasure and joy to share the picture that I took with him that was on my cell phone...but for reasons completely unknown to me, God decided to take the precious picture away with my cell phone that was stolen not a week later. It was probably one of the most treasured things on there for me...but I am trusting the Lord that He had his purposes for taking that away.

And like I said, maybe two weeks later I got called in to take the same job. And as I look at my schedule I choke up every time as I know that I am standing in for John now. And his legacy and example of Christ is something I hope to follow and continue.

I've gotten to work a little over a week there now and quit Aero as soon as I heard the words "Five days a week for about six hours a day"! Full time! With a regular schedule! WOW!

The job is, I think, even better than getting a job at Disneyland. I think Disneyland would've had the same atmosphere as Chick-Fil-A does in the olden days; a team that is so close they're like family and work together to keep the enthusiasm and smiles constantly coming. I LOVE my job. And although work is always work, I can't help but constantly have a smile on my face while I'm there.

And I cannot express how much having a regular schedule as opposed to such an irregular and sometimes "On-Call" schedule...It's amazing. I don't even know what to do with myself.

God is good.

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As I've said in earlier posts, I never thought that I would like to teach, let alone teach in general. I thought: This is a last resort.

Boy has that changed!

God has given me confidence and so much grace to be able to get ideas and spent the past 8 weeks teaching a group of 9 Junior High and High Schoolers, Art. It has been a fun journey and they've taught me a lot. =) The class has gone even better than I hoped! And as soon as I get married and settled I hope to do it more! Everyone at Chick-Fil-A is so kind in working around what I need. So I don't work on Thursdays so I can teach. =)

I've been teaching them everything from old classics to new classics!

I've heard really encouraging things too so it has been really neat. =)

God is good.

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For the last, about, month or so, I have been taking Physical Therapy. I went because I was getting very frequent stress headaches coming from my neck and ached on my shoulders often.

From what we guess it is mostly because my stress and strain build up in my neck and shoulders. My posture also doesn't help strengthen that. So I met twice a week with my therapist and got to know her and her assistant while I was there. I spent an hour per day there and learned a new stretch almost every day I went there. Learned funny things like this "Chin Tuck" which is very awkward with my second chin....

I just finished up this past Wednesday and am going to miss that fun atmosphere in that room with the neat therapists and the old people who can't hear very well. Haha! But it helped my tremendously as I haven't gotten a headache in a very long time, and it usually only tenses up when I'm stressed. But even when it does, when I do my stretches it relieves it almost completely. Praise God for people who can help with things like that! =)

God is good.

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On Thursday I had a crazy afternoon/evening.

My plan was to go up to Pasadena/Alhambra to see AJ while he's up there for school/work to go out to dinner with some co-workers of his and their ladies. But plans could possibly change as AJ's friend, Dan, was in the hospital and he wanted to visit him.

I bought him Sweet Tea from Chick-Fil-A (a gallon. =) ) and headed out pretty much as soon as my art class ended at about 3:30pm.

Now, I've made pictures and maps of this trip because it was the craziest I've ever done in my entire life. Follow with me here....

This is a map of the northern part of southern California. The area I've highlighted in red is the area I normally drive. Pretty much all of it is the 405 or the 5 freeway.

So at 3:30 I was off! I knew that in order to get where he was I just had to take the 405, 605 and the 210. So from my house I drove up and after talking to AJ once and making sure I was going the right way I jumped onto the 405 and the 605. On this map right here, right about at that point AJ called, "Let's meet right off the 10 so we can caravan to see Dan at the hospital."

So I thought, ok, sure!

So I drove, found the 10, got on it and jumped right off it. I drove off the side and it was kind of an industrial area in Baldwin. I called him and got a beeping busy signal.

Called him again and got the same signal immediately.

O_O

Called him again...busy signal.

Ok...now even for someone being on the other line, cell phones aren't like that anymore. They still ring even if you're talkin' to someone else.

Texted him...no response.

Finally I called my Dad after about 15 minutes and I told him where I was and that I was freakin' out a little. He told me to just wait there and relax. 5 minutes later, AJ was on the other line.

I picked it up.

"You scared me!"

"I'm sorry! It didn't even ring...weird."

So then he goes on to tell me that he's on his way but stuck in bad traffic.

"It's gonna be like a half hour."

Me: D=

So he encouraged me to go looking around. So I drove further down and thought, there's gotta be something normal or food somewhere on the other side. So I drove over the freeway, and sure enough, there was a Target.

TARGET!!!!!!

I'M SAFE NOW!

AJ called and I told him. So I got out, walked around a bit, and then came back out to go over to the Taco Bell on the corner to get some food since I was starving. When I got to my car AJ had just parked next to me so we drove over to Taco Bell, ate, I gave him his Sweet Tea (which he was excited about) and tried to calm down after bein' shaken up.

Once we were all set AJ told me we needed to get on the 10. For some reason though...he kept going side streets. I trusted him though and didn't say anything. We took this whole side street area and about 20 minutes later came up to a Marukai (a Japanese Hawaiian store that we have near us and in Torrance). I got all excited, called him and pointed, "A Marukai!"

"Yeah. That's why I took you this long way. Haha."

"Hunny...did you take me down the long way of the long way."

"Yeah...haha."

"Let's get on the freeway."

So we quickly switched phones on the side of the road because his was dying and the charger wouldn't work in his car. Then we were off.

About an hour later we made it to Loma Linda. We had to get some directions after we got off the freeway, but we did. At the same time Wendy (Dan's wife) called to say that he couldn't have visitors till 8 since he was getting his bed changed. We looked at the clock:

6:50pm.

Man.

So we went to the hospital, found out where his room was even if we couldn't see him yet, and then left to go maybe find some food. And in the hospital (he was on the 8th floor) they had a horrible elevator that had way too much lag time when it stopped. Made us both all wobbly. =P

So we waited for an hour sittin' in the back of my car with the trunk up and this was about the only time we got to sit and talk about our week and what was going on in our lives.

When it hit 8 we walked up and went to see Dan. The Nurse was very sweet.

Dan is actually one of AJ's groomsman for our wedding. He is a bit older and has been like a surrogate father to him. He's married and has 2 boys and tree trims for a living in Wrightwood. A few days earlier he had fallen 20ft, broken his arm, his spleen had burst and his colon had also been injured both causing internal bleeding that made him get surgery right away.

When we walked in he was asleep. He laid there with a neck brace, braces on his knees and one on his arm. His face had bruises and his lip had stitches. It was a hard thing to see. The nurse told us we could go and talk to him. AJ went up and said hi but he didn't respond.

Then nurse said, "Daniel, you have visitors." then whispered to AJ, "tell him who you are."

"Hey Dan. It's AJ."

Dan opened his eyes to see him and lifted his hand up. AJ took it and smiled. That was the only time he opened his eyes for us while we were there. He was sedated and so we let him sleep with the drugs.

That was about when everything hit me and I had to leave the room to breathe. I grew pale quickly and just had to calm down. After about 10 minutes I came back and AJ came out and had to sit down and calm down as well. After he was ok he went and asked the nurse what would happen next and she told us he would just be frequently checked on (the next day he could breathe on his own). Finally, AJ said he couldn't stay and neither could I so we left.

Because AJ was so shaken up he wanted to just sit somewhere to talk and calm down. We drove around for about 15 minutes before we stopped. I was unfamiliar with the area, it was dark, he was shaken up, I was really uncomfortable. So we got gas and by this time I was on survival mode since he was pretty much down. Finally I said we needed to just go back to where he was staying, talk for a little while, then I had to get home before my curfew. He agreed with sniffles.

So we jumped onto the 215. Originally, we were supposed to junction onto the 210 where this red circle is...but because of construction somehow we missed it. So he pulled aside to get off. I was freaking out 'cause I thought something had gone wrong with his car. But he looked at me when we parked and said, "I can't find it!"

That's when he let it all out. Poor thing. =\ It was getting harder every minute. But I hugged him and yelled, "God is good God is good!" preaching to both him and myself through this circumstance.

So I called Dad. I told him where we were and asked for the best way to get back. We talked and AJ agreed and said he knew where we need to go now as we looked at the map on his phone. So we gathered ourselves and headed out.

We had to drive up to the 15 and then go back down it....*facepalm* Then we drove for a little over an hour to Pasadena.

The time we had to actually sit and be together while we were there was about 15-20 minutes.
We cried together and talked about Dan and what had happened. Then I had to leave for home before midnight.

I got home at about 12:15am and plopped into my bed.

It was pure insanity.

But God is good.

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So as far as wedding planning goes...it's goin'! Lol! I'm kind of still at the beginning stages but ready to move along and make things happen. Mrs. Cardinas has been a tremendous help to me and getting ideas with her and Mom has been very fun. =)

(I didn't take this photo)

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And last but not least, one of the more difficult things that's happening in my life is that my sister is moving out. Our whole family struggles together and there are many talks and many tears. I don't have a lot to say about it...except to mention it as it is probably the hardest thing in my life right now. We would appreciate your prayers.

So that's my crazy life! Thank you so much if you read it all. I really appreciate that you do. =)