beyond the gray sky

Andrea came over at 4-ish a.m. on Friday morning and we loaded up her car with a bunch of my inventory - playing Tetris, she calls it, fitting it all in. She was worried about how her car would perform on our road trip to Denver since they had just replaced the battery and some lights had been flickering. We had been praying that her car would get us where we needed to be, and safely, but I had said a silent prayer before we left my driveway: "If something wrong is going to happen, please make it happen now." As it was, we ended up rolling to a stop on the ramp of the first Springville exit. Andrea's husband, Ryan, bless his heart, came to rescue us, at 4:30 in the morning, in the dark, in the rain. He jumped the car battery TWICE between that Sprigville exit and the Provo/University Avenue exit, and we still couldn't get it off of the freeway. He ended up just driving us back to my house, where I got my van (yes, Kari), drove to a station to fill the tires with the proper poundage of air, and then to the car on the freeway to load up with our personals, our inventory, our underthings and the like. Mostly inventory.

I felt bad for Andrea's frustration about her car, but I was determined to have this be a great road trip, beginning with heading out, in rain and pitch black darkness, on one of the most dangerous roads in America, road...number...6. The one east of Spanish Fork, in the canyon. How do I know it's so dangerous? Reader's Digest (That's Outrageous!).

The drive was really fine. Here's something I'm not used to: mapquest clocked Provo to Denver at about 8 hours, and that's exactly how long it took. I guess you can drive more efficiently when you're not stopping to change diapers every half hour. Go figure.

If you read my post from this summer about my drive to and from NY, you might recall how I feel about the drive from Denver to Provo - initially God's country, immediately followed by Utah's Death Valley. When I first wrote that, I was describing the last leg of a ridiculously long trip, in July, when I was afraid that my tires and my kids would all melt from the heat. While I still prefer not to look at that part of Utah, and while I still love the Breckenridge-ness of Colorado, I think the October factor made the trip so much more enjoyable. I loved the rain and the clouds, the cold and the grey sky. I was tempted, more than once, to pull over and just sit by a lift and wait for the season to start.

We arrived at our destination, my friend Shawna's apartment in Aurora, mid-afternoon. I've known Shawna since preschool. We both grew up in the sticks, where kids/friends were few and miles between. She is a sweet girl, very kind and genuine. She has a cute apartment and two very well-behaved dogs. We all got ready for our party that night, where Andrea & I would be teaching skin care (facials) and makeovers. It was lots of fun. There were nine ladies in all there, including Shawna, Andrea & myself. As far as I could tell, a good time was had by all.

I really love what I do. I love to teach skin care, and make-up skills, all the while making some sweet moolah with Uncle Rico. I love helping women feel good about themselves. Even if they don't buy my product, they at least have (hopefully) learned a bit about how to take care of their skin. I love that I can be a stay-at-home mommy while I do this. And, oh yeah, did I mention that I'm a little over half way to earning my first free car? That's always a nice little perk.

We slept in Shawna's living room and we slept hard. When I woke up, I couldn't believe that it was 9:30. I don't remember the last time I slept 'till 9:30. Shawna signed up to be a consultant, so I did some training with her, then we all had lunch from Chipotle. After assuring ourselves with some vague directions, we said goodbye and headed home.

We really had a lot of fun at Shawna's, but I loved the time in the car. I like getting to know Andrea, she's a lovely person, and I feel confident moving up my own corporate ladder knowing that she's next to me climbing her own. We had some pretty nice chats, but I did most of the talking (hard to believe, right?). I talked her ear off, laughed, cried, the whole nine. We made frequent stops at Starbucks and listened to A LOT of music. Because I think it's so funny, here's a list (in no particular order) of the cds we listened to in our 16 hours of travel:

The American (Angie Aparo)
Lost and Gone Forever (Guster)
Millenial Hip Hop Party Mix
Now That's What I Call Music Vol. 19
O Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack
1200 Curfews disc one (Indigo Girls)
Greatest Hits I (Queen)
Guys & Dolls - the New Broadway Cast Recording
Goldfly (Guster)
The Phantom of the Opera - the Original Cast Recording
Ooooooohhh...On the TLC Tip (TLC)
Gordon (Barenaked Ladies)
Sesame Street, Songs from the Street Volume 2
Tribute (Tenacious D)
Cruel Sun (Rusted Root)
Abbey Road (The Beatles)
Greatest Hits (The Police)
Choose Something Like a Star (Mormon Tabernacle Choir)
Songs in the Key of Life Volume I (Stevie Wonder)
The Punisher Soundtrack
Dave Matthews concert, USANA Amphitheater, 9/8/2004, disc 3 of 3
A mix CD from my friend Suzanne
Another mix CD from my cousin Caitlin's wedding (wedding favors to all the guests - Max & Cate's favorite songs)

We also bought and listened to two additional CDs on the trip:
Jagged Little Pill Acoustic (Alanis Morissette)
Crazy, Sexy, Cool (TLC)

And after I dropped Andrea off at her place, I listened to The Invisible Band (Travis).

So that was my little weekend jaunt. It had the potential to be so bleak and frustrating, but if the car breaking down had to happen, I'm glad it happened in Springville and not in Silt (yes, there's such a place). Grey skies get some people down, but I'm not some people.