Death of a Disco Dancer

Perhaps "Ramone" is not EXACTLY a disco dancer, but I am mourning my loss none the less. For those of you have not yet heard the story, let me entertain you.

Shelly E., Alex and I left Monett en route to Eureka Springs on Saturday for Marianne's wedding. We were all in good spirits and pretty excited to witness the nuptials of our beloved Marianne. The excitement was a bit short lived when approximately one hour into our journey a disaster struck. We entered a curve and were about half way into it when we saw a motorcycle heading straight for us IN OUR LANE. It was one of those surreal moments where I had to blink twice to determine if it was truly happening. A split second later I was slamming on my brakes, jerking hard on the wheel, and plowing over a sign on the side of the road. Maybe three seconds after that, my passengers and I sat in stunned silence as we tried to wrap our heads around what had just happened. After establishing that no one was injured we removed ourselves from the ditch and found a safe spot just a few yards up the road where we could asses the damage.

It's a little sad, isn't it??? Jeremy and I will be making our first payment on it this week. Go ahead, cry if you want to, I can wait. (Luckily, my husband is such that he realizes that this "hunk of metal" kept us safe and secure as we were plowing over a driveway and into the ditch. ) After the initial shock wore off and I realized that there was absolutely no way that this could have been avoided, I just let it go. The almost flattened motorcyclist came back with his friends to make sure everyone was ok and apologize. The young man had just purchased the bike and honestly shouldn't have been out riding on that particular highway--and hopefully staring down the front end of my Envoy will be an image that sticks with him for awhile. We waited for the ONLY highway patrolman in the county to arrive and by the time he got there the wedding ceremony was WELL under way. We did eventually get all the paperwork taken care of and since Ramone was still drivable we headed for the Wedding reception.

We got to witness the first dance, and talk to friends whom we hadn't seen in a while. It was a fantastic reception and I must say that Marianne and her husband Zach looked blissfully happy. (I have pictures to share with you...but blogger is being a turkey and isn't letting me post more than the two I currently have.) Then it was time to turn around and come home--the drive back went better than the drive down and we arrived home without incident.

The trip wasn't' exactly what we had expected, but even with the accident we had a fantastic time just getting to talk and laugh. I couldn't have asked for better road trip companions--and Alex when you read this--Thanks for being there...I probably wouldn't have been as calm, cool and collected without you. You're THE BEST!