Are you sitting down?

I actually got up at 3:00 a.m. to go on a road trip! Well, not a true road trip, but with someone who had an errand in another state. We got lost and waylaid. I did not get home until 9:00 p.m.. And yet it was a great day.

We arrived at the location in PA with just one MapQuest hiccup, but coming home was another matter. We somehow missed the exit and ended up far out of our way.

We pulled off the highway and into a parking lot, thinking to ask directions. When suddenly I realized that we were in Amish country. It was quiet and peaceful and beautiful. I savored the bit of rest I felt while there.

We were driving on the highway when we spotted a couple lying in the road. We stopped and called 911. It appears that they had been clipped by a car while riding their motorcycle. Neither one had been wearing a helmet. They were critical. The woman's eyes were already swollen shut and blood appeared to be coming from her ear. Others soon stopped, including a medic. I started to walk over to help the woman when a man came running up. When I cautioned him not to move her, he said he was and EMT. I then walked toward the on-come traffic to start guiding the traffic past, asked drivers if they had a medical kit. None did. Soon I was joined by others while still more people pulled the motorcycle off the man and tried to comfort them both. I prayed for the two injured people, even as I thought how horrified my mother would be that I was standing in the middle of a highway. I thought of their parents and other loved ones who would soon learn of this tragic accident. We were there for a long while without an ambulance arriving. Fire and rescue trucks arrived, and we left to free up space on the side of the road. I looked in the rearview mirror until they were out of sight, hoping to see the flashing lights that might have given those two people some ray of hope. Yet with closed head injuries...their stupidity of not wearing helmets probably spelled their doom. Such a waste of life.

Since the way home appeared to take me by where my best friend and her husband were attending a college homecoming, we stopped by to see her and her baby. I felt bad for extending what was already turning into an extremely long journey, but I wanted to see my friend. It was so very good to hold her daughter, to look into her beautiful eyes and see a future after having just witnessing two surely draining away. Fifteen minutes of joy...enough to make it through the next three days of work before we leave for Italy!

We did have a bit of a problem finding the highway again once we left the meeting place. Our journey took another circuitous route.

When we FINALLY made it back to her house, we stopped by a nearby sporting good store for a 3-in-1 jacket and a backpack with a waist belt for my trip (I also picked up some golf shoes that were a fabulous price). The backpack is truly ugly, but even with stuff in it, it feels as if it is empty. I know I will be glad of that phenomenon while lugging it around Italy, but couldn't it have been a soft green instead of steel gray?

Of course, I got lost on the way back to my house. I would have laughed but for my fatigue. I think...I think...I shall go to bed right now!

It was a great day. Laughter. Conversation. Hugs. Taco Bell. Keeping someone company on a tedious drive.