I started out on our journey at 5:00 a.m on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to drive to a small town outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Thinking back to a few months ago to when I had first moved in with Evangeline, we were at the dinner table and she slightly mentioned going to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. My response was "oh I'll probably go to Utah." The awkward silence and the fighting back of tears....WRONG ANSWER. Anyway, four hours outside of the Twin Cities, just before Madison, Wisconsin the car jerks a little bit. I, in my vast knowledge of auto mechanics lean over to Evangeline and say "oh it's probably the fuel injectors, we'll put some additive in and we'll be fine." The check engine light comes on and the temperature gage flies out the window. I immediately pull of the exit. As I'm going down the off ramp little puffs of steam come out from under the hood. In the rear view mirror there is a steam tail that forces the cars behind us to slow down a good 50 feet so that they can see. I pull over into the gas station engulfed in smokey steam. Soon, steam and smoke fill the interior of the car. I have to stop because I can no longer see where I am going. A little Wisconsinite man scurries out the door with a fire extinguisher. Evangeline jumps out coughing. Finally I can see and pull into a parking place and the steam calms down. The little man scurries back into the store. Four hours later we pull out of the Honda dealership who miraculously replaced a cracked radiator on a moments notice.
I have met most of Evangeline's family in small doses. Small doses is not equate what Thanksgiving means for the Toscano family (Evangeline's mom's side). I met the grandparent's, step-father, aunts, uncles, cousins, sister-in-laws, brother-in-laws, a nephew, neighbors, and friends. All of which were suspiciously anxious to meet me. Thanksgiving went over well. The food was great.
I went to the University of Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia with step-dad Mike, in the big rivalry game called the "backyard brawl." I saw lots of camouflage and jokes about inbreeding. They know nothing of the nastiness of a rivalry. I think the "where's your God now?" jeer at Utah/BYU games pretty much outdoes most rivalries. I was a little nervous to just hang out with Mike but there were plenty of beers and the history of Pittsburgh stories to make the game a lot of fun. Plus, it was in Heinz stadium where the Steelers play, which was pretty cool.
Later that day was Thanksgiving number two, held at Evangeline's sister's house where I could meet the dad. If two Thanksgiving where I met so many people sounds like a lot, that's because it is. Evangeline's dad is a religious man who once was a minister of his own church. So religious that he named his children, Evangeline, Micah, Faith, and Christian, if that give you any indication of the depth of his devotion. After dinner we were sitting around chit chatting when the brother-in-law out of nowhere. "Let's say that you are on the Supreme Court and gay marriage comes up, how do you decide?" Evangeline had to suddenly "change the baby's diaper" and left. After being on the spot, I backpedaled and gave a "politician's answer" according to the brother-in-law. If law school taught me anything, it's how to say a whole lot without saying anything at all.
On the way back we ran into bad weather the whole way. It started raining just outside of Greensberg, where Evangeline's family lives. The rain turned into slush in Ohio. I was running the cruise control in the rain, which isn't really a problem. It's wasn't snowy and icy. It was mostly rain with some slush, when I didn't think not to run the cruise control because it causes spin outs on ice. Spin out is what we did. Suddenly the back fish tailed like a mo fo. I jerked the wheel one way and then the other trying to stay on the road. We crossed the two lanes near a bridge. Staring straight into cement barricade, the nose of the of Evangeline's car scrapes the barricade. We were moving sideways down the freeway. As the nose scraped stuff came flying off the front and we slid to a stop. I quickly started the car to quickly moved off to the shoulder out of fear of getting hit. On the shoulder I examined the car to find no license plate, a broken turn signal and nothing else. Nothing else was wrong. Sweet Jesus, I don't know how nothing more had happened. The airbags didn't go off, nothin'. We traveled, shaken but not stirred.
The weather got increasingly worse. Through Illinois and into Wisconsin it was snowing. On the 14th hour of driving, there were cars in the ditches and on the sides of the road. There is something eerie about the dark, the cold, headlights beaming from a place where cars should not be. The blood red warning of hazard lights. The sudden flash in the rear view mirror and the silhouette of a car turned sideways momentarily before it gets traction and darts into the ditch. We stopped at the Super 8 and got back in time for Evangeline to make it to Evidence.
Gay marriage in front of the dad.....REALLY?!?!?!?
I have met most of Evangeline's family in small doses. Small doses is not equate what Thanksgiving means for the Toscano family (Evangeline's mom's side). I met the grandparent's, step-father, aunts, uncles, cousins, sister-in-laws, brother-in-laws, a nephew, neighbors, and friends. All of which were suspiciously anxious to meet me. Thanksgiving went over well. The food was great.
I went to the University of Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia with step-dad Mike, in the big rivalry game called the "backyard brawl." I saw lots of camouflage and jokes about inbreeding. They know nothing of the nastiness of a rivalry. I think the "where's your God now?" jeer at Utah/BYU games pretty much outdoes most rivalries. I was a little nervous to just hang out with Mike but there were plenty of beers and the history of Pittsburgh stories to make the game a lot of fun. Plus, it was in Heinz stadium where the Steelers play, which was pretty cool.
Later that day was Thanksgiving number two, held at Evangeline's sister's house where I could meet the dad. If two Thanksgiving where I met so many people sounds like a lot, that's because it is. Evangeline's dad is a religious man who once was a minister of his own church. So religious that he named his children, Evangeline, Micah, Faith, and Christian, if that give you any indication of the depth of his devotion. After dinner we were sitting around chit chatting when the brother-in-law out of nowhere. "Let's say that you are on the Supreme Court and gay marriage comes up, how do you decide?" Evangeline had to suddenly "change the baby's diaper" and left. After being on the spot, I backpedaled and gave a "politician's answer" according to the brother-in-law. If law school taught me anything, it's how to say a whole lot without saying anything at all.
On the way back we ran into bad weather the whole way. It started raining just outside of Greensberg, where Evangeline's family lives. The rain turned into slush in Ohio. I was running the cruise control in the rain, which isn't really a problem. It's wasn't snowy and icy. It was mostly rain with some slush, when I didn't think not to run the cruise control because it causes spin outs on ice. Spin out is what we did. Suddenly the back fish tailed like a mo fo. I jerked the wheel one way and then the other trying to stay on the road. We crossed the two lanes near a bridge. Staring straight into cement barricade, the nose of the of Evangeline's car scrapes the barricade. We were moving sideways down the freeway. As the nose scraped stuff came flying off the front and we slid to a stop. I quickly started the car to quickly moved off to the shoulder out of fear of getting hit. On the shoulder I examined the car to find no license plate, a broken turn signal and nothing else. Nothing else was wrong. Sweet Jesus, I don't know how nothing more had happened. The airbags didn't go off, nothin'. We traveled, shaken but not stirred.
The weather got increasingly worse. Through Illinois and into Wisconsin it was snowing. On the 14th hour of driving, there were cars in the ditches and on the sides of the road. There is something eerie about the dark, the cold, headlights beaming from a place where cars should not be. The blood red warning of hazard lights. The sudden flash in the rear view mirror and the silhouette of a car turned sideways momentarily before it gets traction and darts into the ditch. We stopped at the Super 8 and got back in time for Evangeline to make it to Evidence.
Gay marriage in front of the dad.....REALLY?!?!?!?
No comments:
Post a Comment