Don't these look like lovely pictures? They sure are! Jeremy's baby brother went to the Temple in preparation for his mission to Bolivia-Cochabamba. There was a good bit of planning to get us all there on a day when Dad and Jeremy could both get off work, and Mandy was gracious enough to watch all 5 kids (3 of hers plus our 2).
The irony that on the way to the Temple we were almost killed. Now don't worry, I'm not making light of a potentially dangerous situation, but it was certainly memorable. Jeremy was driving and I was in the back seat on the passenger side. We were approaching the exit for the Temple off the beltway and Jeremy was one lane over from the exit lane, and we were in a bit of traffic. Being the kind wife that I am, I most delightfully asked him if he knew the exit was in less than a mile and suggested he get over one lane. Well, I didn't realize that all the traffic was making him a bit stressed so he snapped back some question asking if I thought he was an idiot, and he reminded me how many times he has been to the Temple. I think he may have asked if I trusted him or not. Well, honey, of course I trust you, but the 12-axle truck to our right may keep you from getting off at the correct exit. Which, of course, it did. And, of course, it was my fault. And if you know anything about the Washington D.C. beltway near the Temple, getting off at the next exit doesn't get you back on the beltway. It gets you onto a 4 lane highway with no possibility of a u-turn for a least a mile. We anxiously drove that mile, knowing we had a Temple appointment to get to. We finally turned left at a light with a gas station on the left corner and a residential neighborhood 100 yards behind it. At this point, Jeremy wanted to U-turn on this side street to get back to the 4-lane highway so we could get back to the beltway. He did this by moving toward the right shoulder to make room to u-turn left. When he (I say he didn't put his blinker on, he says he did...no matter) veered right, the guy behind him tried to pass him on the left and as we turned left, we almost t-boned him. If we were in Williamsport, that guy might break, throw his hands in the air, wave us on, and we'd all go on our way. Not outside of D.C. The guy did NOT break, almost goading us on to actually hit him, until we both came to a stop. Jeremy veered right towards the residential neighborhood so we could turn around there, and at this point, the guy got out of his car. When we turned around to head toward the gas station, he was in the middle of the lane we were in. There was no way to avoid him. Like we were going to stop and chat with this guy! So, Jeremy went to the right of him and he POUNDED HIS HAND ON TOP OF THE VAN WHEN WE DROVE BY!! Who does that? So we are at the light, we turn right to head back to the beltway, and this guy gets in his car and drives 60 m.p.h. and is on our tail. Seriously? Oh, and he's on the phone, no doubt calling his posse to come track us down. Now we are starting to freak out. He follows us for a good bit and Mom gets his license plate number off the front of his bumper, and we are trying to figure out when is too soon to call the police. We pull into the left lane to move a little faster, and he pulls up next to us on the right. You could tell my his body language he was really mad and was wanting to inflict harm on us. We jockey for the lead and then as we slow down to try to lose him, he breaks so that we are both nearly stopped on this road. What the heck is happening here?!?! Jeremy quickly pulls into a turning lane to his left and the other guy is slightly in front of us at this point and since he can't get behind our van to follow us, he turns right at the intersection, and then u-turns so that he can follow us once we turn left at this light, if you can picture this. It is at this point that I really wish I carried a concealed weapon. Where's Jon when you need him? Once the green light turns yellow, Jeremy pulls out of the turn lane and goes straight through the light. And since this guy was 3 cars back on the side road and boxed by other vehicles, he can't follow us. We went to the next light, turned right into a residential neighborhood, made as many turns and got as lost as possible, and pulled over to breathe.Of course, we made it to the Temple fine. You can see by the 'after' pictures that it was a wonderfully spiritual event. But I'm sure every time we talk about the day Adam went to get his endowments, there will be a vivid re-creation of our road rage incident. Oh, and did I mention the part about being in the celestial room with my family? And how it was really neat, after losing my own brother at age 12, to see Adam, who I met when he was 8, grow up before my own eyes these last 11 years and be with him when we went to the Temple for himself for the first time? Yeah, that was pretty cool too.
