ditched...

blogfans, what an eventful two hours ash and i have just spent. 

we had this thing called prayer tonight at 9.  ash and i hang out almost every sunday before or after this time.  today, we decided to go for a little adventure...aka a ride through clinton and surrounding areas.  sound harmless?  you just wait.

the beginning of the adventure starts as we load up with some cherry limeades (light ice) and tater tots from sonic, drive to laurens and find the cutest airport ever.  who even knew there was an airport near pc?  we pass several other factories, including one named anderson  (anderson what?  i'm still at a loss for the rest of the name of this place, but at least it provided some amusement).  we also pass the sterilite factory and hickory hills barbeque, a delicassy in these parts.

we start talking about something really interesting and continued our voyage through clinton.  passing pc again, i decid to take a left before whiteford's (another restaurant famous for burgers and old people).  noticing some cute houses and swings, ash and i continu chatting until all i feel beneath my car wheels is muddy goo and all i see ahead of my windshield is scary, large branches. 

"stop, amanda, stop, stop, we're in the grass, stop, stop, stop," i hear ashton yell.
i'm pressing the brakes all the way and the car just keeps on going and going and then i press really hard and it finally stops.  yes friends, i steered us straight into a dead-end ditch.  and not just a ditch, mind you, but what i soon learn is a creek!

so then i very quickly put the car in reverse and rev up the engine.  yup, you guessed it, all we got was spinning wheels.  very loud spinning wheels.  very loud and obnoxious and hopeless spinning wheels.

so what next?  ashton decides we need boys to help.  she calls brinck (who was about to enter into a deep slumber).  i give him directions to our current dead end location and we wait.  for about 15 minutes, i start to freak out.  when i say freak out, i mean i'm pretty anxious but not yet at tears. so here's the dialogue that ensues after 5 minutes of pure, hysterical laughter, no words:

Ashton: "ok, ok, it's ok."
Amanda: "no, no, no, no.  I AM SO STUPID!!!"
Ashton: "what are you worried about??"
Amanda: "that my car is messed up, that this ditch is messed up, that my parents will be mad, that my friends will consider me a liability, that i will never finish my take-home german test that was due a month ago, that we'll get dirty..."
Ashton: "ok...well i promise you we won't get dirty"
Amanda: "please pray.  just pray ashton AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
Ashton: "god, thank you for being sovereign even over this moment.  and for planning for us to end up in a ditch.  and for cherry limeades from sonic.  and for keeping us safe, even right now.  and for guy friends who are willing to get out of bed to pull us out of the mud.  amen"
Amanda: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Ashton: what's wrong?
Amanda: MY LIFE IS A JOKE

right now i'd classify this occurance as a bigger deal than when my car got towed in greenville but less of a deal than say the time i almost slid down a mountain into a rock quarry.

conversation continues.  we wait a really long time.  i give the wrong directions, appearantly, but brinck and travis (an experienced firefighter, mind you) finally find us.  it is during this time that the boys inform us that not only are we stuck in mud, but we are stuck in mud only inches away from a creek.  thankful again for our lives, we get out of the car (althought we do get a little dirty...one compromise i'll make for my own stupidity). the boys put a long string/rope from their jeep to my poor baby stuck in this hellacious mud pit, they press the gas on the jeep a lot, a lot of noise happens, and low and behold, my car is magically returned to concrete!

problem solved!  except for one last unanswerable question.

"so amanda, how exactly did you end up in that ditch," brinck asks.

my reply--there was no dead end sign.  and it was dark, a little rainy, so of course my brights are off.

after the boys peace out, ashton drives my car to the end of the road when we notice the boys stopped beside the stop sign.  we both wonder what else this night could possibly entail.  i roll down my window, they point to the stop sign, and underneath that red familiar octagon lies a yellow diamond square that reads "dead end."

i am humiliated.  God is good.  the boys will receive brownies and chocolate milk tomorrow. 

and that my friends, is the story of how we got ditched...

our tracks, and our creek, just for your perusing pleasure :)