A Wonderful, WET, Sarah Grace Christmas Moment

A huge Christmas attraction here in Nashville is the Opryland Hotel's Christmas lights. Scott and I decided to check it out the night before Christmas Eve.

The hotel itself is a sight to see, with or without Christmas decorations. It is HUGE:

A large portion of it is an indoor garden with a river inside; we even saw people on a little boat tour. 

 

 

Our evening was lovely and almost ended without a hitch. 

We saw lovely trees, some even made from poinsettias, a nativity out front and LOTS of lights. 

We decided - unfortunately - to take one last stroll through the indoor garden. 

We rounded a corner and saw this lovely gazebo that I snapped a picture of: 

I noticed that couple with the man trying to take his wife's picture. As we passed them, I asked if they would like me to take their photo. The wife eagerly said, "Yes! Thank you." 

Well, as it is said: no good deed goes unpunished! 

I took one photo, no problem. 

However, I realized I didn't get the top of the gazebo in the shot so I said I would take one more picture to get the full picture. 

I didn't think to look behind me before I took a step back... right into the little river behind me. 

Yes. I fell in!?! 

Fortunately, it was only like 2 and a half feet deep and once I got my feet under me, I didn't panic but hopped right back out. 

My main focus was to NOT drop their phone in with me. By a miracle, I didn't drop their phone or mine or my jacket in the water. 

However, my entire hiney and both my legs were soaked. Scott wasn't too embarrassed to take a picture of me after ;) 

This is the little part of the river that I fell in: 

My bum hit the bricks of that little island where the plants were. Pictured below is the stain left on the backside of my bluejeans. Not pictured is the dark purple bruise left on my bum. 

The lady felt awful and they said they saw it coming but not in time to warn me, and felt awful. Scott saw it coming too but he thought I would look back to see where I was stepping or would take a smaller step and be able to catch myself. But, no, I took a huge step back, right into the river. 

The look on that lady's face was pretty priceless. I told her not to worry, that this sort of thing happened to me all the time; I even told her my nickname is Sarah Grace. Scott said that he felt more uncomfortable and embarrassed for her because he knew I did this often but she clearly felt bad. 

We laughed it off and wished each other a merry Christmas before parting ways, both with a great photo and story! 

I was just grateful I wasn't really hurt and hadn't ruined either of our phones... and that the lights were dimmed so the whole hotel couldn't see my soaking wet pants as we had a long walk back to the exit of that ginormous hotel. 

It was cold outside so we rushed home to get me out of my soaking bottoms so we could slip into warm pjs and then we warmed up with some delicious hot cocoa! 

It was a cold, wet Christmas memory and I learned my lesson the hard way but now I know to look behind me before I take my next picture ;) 

Merry Christmas from Sarah Grace! 

Four iPhone Fails

Santa brought me an iPhone 4s for Christmas.

I am grateful, truly, BUT me and gadgets don't always get along. Since my daddy - who is also not super tech savvy - has been managing to operate his iPhone, I figured I had a shot.

Hmm. Silly me.

Here are four (and probably only the first of many) iPhone fails that I have had:

1. "Mass" Text Mix-up

This first fail happened literally within minutes of me activating my phone. I sent a message as soon as I got into my car after leaving the store.

First, I have a confession to make: I send mass text messages. Yes. Judge all you want.

I know some people think it is poor etiquette to send the same message to multiple people but I simply found it incredibly convenient when setting up when to meet for dinner, who I need to drive to church, sharing updates about boys or redneck weddings, etc. etc.

Well apparently, some of those people who are anti mass-text-messages work for apple and they have imposed their own moral messaging code on iPhone 4s users. It seems (at least to my tech-savvy-impaired self) that one cannot send a mass text message without revealing all recipients and their responses to the group.

Yes, it seems that instead of a "mass text message" like I had on my old phone, the iPhone has a "group message system."

I learned this the hard way with the very first text message I ever sent out on my iPhone.

I simply said "Guess what is exciting about this text?" and sent it to 3 of my friends who I know own iPhones.

PS - 2 of those friends are boys.

My girl friend who I sent it to responded first with this:

"I'm guessing either (a) it came from your new iPhone or (b) you just got a text from [she used the name of my current crush whose identity shall stay a secret ;)] and you're texting me to tell me about it"

 Both a and b were good guesses ;)

Then I responded to her AND, unbeknownst to me, my 2 guy friends with:

"I wish it was option b ;) but it is option a :)"

And not long after, I got this text from one of my guy friends:

"Woo hoo for an iPhone"

I was confused because he wasn't supposed to know I had an iPhone... that was why I sent out the exciting text. My girl friend and I had already discussed me getting an iPhone but he was supposed to be surprised. So I texted back to him:

"Hold on. Did you just take a lucky guess that I got an iPhone or did you see a message about options..?"

To which he responded:

"Both :)" 

I thought, "Crap!" And then I thought, "Praise the LORD I didn't send this to my crush!"  That would have been awkward.

No more mass text messaging for me!

2. No Alarm

My second iPhone fail was within 24 hours of owning the phone. I got it at 7pm on Thursday night and then by 9am on Friday, I was supposed to be up, showered and hitting the road to visit my brother in the upstate.

That would have happened if I had correctly set my alarm.

Instead, at 10 am I awoke to find that I had either snoozed it (which is unlikely since I was not familiar with the phone) or silenced everything including the alarm the night before or maybe I set it for pm instead of am...? I still, frankly, am unsure of what precisely I did.

But I do know I did not wake up on time. Fail.

3. Mistext 

Next, I was trying to get fancy and use the microphone to tell Siri what to text to my friend Nathan. However, I was suffering from a cold so either my congestion or simply the fact that I always talk too fast and my words run together made Siri mistext my message. 

See below (I'm in green and he is in white): 

Note - Nathan knows me and the iPhone well enough to understand what I was saying even though Siri didn't. Also, note that I did not learn from my mistake in the first message on the top right; my second to last response says "seen" instead of "soon." Hopefully I will figure this out SOON enough :) 

4. Sweet Landing

If you have known me or followed this blog long enough, then you are well aware of the fact that I am a klutz. As such, you probably are not surprised that one of my fails included me dropping the phone.

However, I outdid myself.

I didn't simply drop the phone, I dropped it into a plate of cake.

And, I couldn't have dropped it on the glass part or the section covered by the $40 case that I bought,  no, that would have been too easy to fix.

Instead, I dropped it on the bottom where the teeny tiny sliver of exposed important parts that plug the phone into its charger were vulnerable to be coated in cake icing.

I tried to wipe it off with a napkin and even poked at it with a plastic fork but all to no avail. There was a resilient glob of yellow butter-cream icing making itself at home.

Fortunately, my friends' parents operated on my phone with a bit of compressed air and some toothpicks. I'm happy to report it is up and running, free of any icing or cracks.

Good as new :)

Which is a good thing because I haven't even owned the phone for two weeks!

Fingers crossed for no more iPhone fails but I'll keep ya posted if any more occur...

Christmas Sweater + Cop + a Crane and a Camera

CHRISTMAS SWEATER

To begin, I recently went to a Tacky Christmas Sweater party. I was dressed from head to toe: light-up reindeer antlers, light-bulb earrings, an elf shirt, tacky sweater and polka-dotted furry Santa socks.

That would be me on the left ;) 

 And these were my favorite part!

When it comes to things like this (dressing cheesy for partys and such), I always say "go big or go home" ;)

But, not "go to jail."

Yea, that is not how that saying goes.

Don't worry. I didn't go to jail.

COP

But I was pulled over. By a cop WITH A CANINE UNIT. Annnnndddd, I had some of my students in the car. Classy, right?

Such the role model BCM intern ;)

Anyways, it was after midnight and I was running late for an event called LoveGave at a local Walmart that I was volunteering for during the midnight-3am shift.

Despite that I was running late, I wasn't even speeding. I had no idea what I had done when the cop knocked on the window and asked "Ma'am. Do you know why I pulled you over this evening?"

Turns out, it was all a big misunderstanding.

I didn't realize I was in a turn-only lane when I came to a light so I paused with my blinker on til I could get back over in the lane going straight; I did not have time to get off the main road and risk getting lost which I have a very high propensity to do. Plus my gas light was on (naturally) so I didn't want to waste gas since I knew I wouldn't fill up until the next day as I would definitely not be stopping on the way home at 3am to fill up.

Anyways, from wherever the cop was (I didn't see him until blue lights were in my rear-view mirror!) he thought I ran a red light turning onto the main road. 

OH AND DID I FAIL TO MENTION, I WAS STILL IN MY TACKY-CHRISTMAS-SWEATER-OUTFIT?????????????

Yes. Recap:

• it was after midnight
• I was driving a car full of college students
• you saw how I was dressed!?!
• I stopped in traffic with my blinker on to turn the opposite direction of what the traffic signal was suggesting
• I told him I was headed to Walmart to volunteer til 3am???  Granted this was the truth but it sounded crazy nonetheless.

I can imagine the guy thought I was drunk as a skunk.

But, no, I hadn't had a drop to drink. I'm just directionally challenged and enjoy going overboard in cheesy attire for Christmas parties. 

Fortunately, once he spoke to me and could tell I was completely coherent and sober,  he realized the misunderstanding and let me go with just a warning for improper lane use.

So, running almost half an hour late now, we headed off towards Walmart - carfeul not to go over the speed limit by even 1 mph. 

A CRANE AND A CAMERA

I generally try to stay positive and view things from a glass-half-full perspective.

Turns out, there was a silver lining to that cloud: my volunteering task (unbeknownst to me until a few hours before my shift) was to be in a crane live on camera. That is just part of a publicity stunt that LoveGave does to raise awareness and money, this year in an effort to feed low-income children over the holidays. Essentially, 1-3 people are live on camera (which happens to be on a crane in a Walmart parking lot) talking sometimes about Jesus and the church but often about random stuff, especially the shifts that are past midnight. Those are the ones that tend to be the most random and entertaining. Since I was late for my shift, someone else went up in the crane to be on camera.

Praise the Lord. I thought I had escaped.

But when 2am rolled around, I was up... literally... in the crane and going live on camera.

Turns out from my vantage point in the crane, I happened to see... guess who? No, not Santa. The cop. Yep, I guess he was just coming to investigate if I truly did head to Walmart. I saw him drive around the parking lot and stop near my car but, fortunately, after that he left.

Somehow (maybe a miracle of God to spare y'all from any further torment and me from any further embarrassment), the internet connection died halfway through our camera shift but in case you're curious to see my short-lived airtime, here it is: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18895670.

All is well that ends well: we met - and exceeded - our goal for LoveGave to feed low-income families but if you want to learn more, here is the website: http://lovegave.com/live/

Go big or go home! 

On the Inside: Nursing Homes

Two beds crammed in a tiny room.

Wrinkled faces staring blankly from under the covers, surrounded by dying plants and photographs of forgotten family. Stuffed animals and old movies scattered about. The smell, like hospitals and dirty diapers mixed together, caught my breath.

I couldn't, however, catch the tears that welled up in my eyes. They spilled over as I sang "We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!" - the unrealistic and almost insincere words broke my heart.I found it hard to believe that their new year held much...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I haven't written in awhile because I was living in the library to write papers, compile portfolios and study for exams; then I went straight to a mission trip with Baptist Collegiate Ministry groups from around the state of South Carolina.

We did a number of things like host Christmas parties for under-privileged children, bake cookies for firefighters and nurses, buy and wrap gifts for needy families, etc.

The service that affected me the most though was visiting local nursing homes to sing Christmas songs and visit with the residents. While I know we brought joy to many men and women there, I couldn't help but feel a sadness as I left each day.

Some residents reintroduced themselves to me literally 10+ times. Others said absolutely nothing but stared off, likely in their own world, seeing something other than the little room in front of them. Some even acted out their own other world - Ms. Nancy, for example, used to work in a retail store so she was constantly rattling off prices for things that I couldn't see. At one point, she showed me her worn, white slippers telling me they were lovely black pumps on sale for $3.99.

A few were not nearly as happy as Ms. Nancy and the other residents in their own private, little worlds. Some residents were still lucid, incredibly aware of what lay in front of their eyes... their small world, day in and day out.

They did not like what they saw.

Neither did I.

One man suffering from dementia simply rode up and down the hall on his wheelchair asking for the way out. Another woman simply sat in her wheelchair and repeated "I want to go home; get me out of here!" Perhaps the most unsettling story I heard was of a woman who was dropped off only 3 weeks ago. Her daughter told her that she was coming back for her in 2 weeks but never came. As though that were not bad enough, the daughter is now selling her mom's home, against her mother's wishes.

Simply awful.

Yet another woman who had been in there for over four years with very infrequent visitors spoke of "people on the outside." It sounded so much like prison and made me think of this email I read recently:

Jails and Nursing Homes

Here's the way it should be:

Let's put the seniors in jail and the criminals in nursing homes.

This would correct two things in one motion:

Seniors would have access to showers, hobbies and walks.
They would receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment, wheel chairs, etc.
They would receive money instead of having to pay it out.
They would have constant video monitoring, so they would be helped instantly if they fell or needed assistance. 

Bedding would be washed twice a week and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them.
A guard would check on them every 20 minutes.
All meals and snacks would be brought to them.
They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose. 

They would have access to a library, weight/fitness room, spiritual counseling, a pool and education...and free admission to in-house concerts by nationally recognized entertainment artists.
Simple clothing - ie., shoes, slippers, pj's - and legal aid would be free, upon request.
There would be private, secure rooms provided for all with an outdoor exercise yard complete with gardens.
 Each senior would have a P.C., T.V., phone and radio in their room at no cost. 
They would receive daily phone calls. 

There would be a board of directors to hear any complaints and the ACLU would fight for their rights and protection. 
The guards would have a code of conduct to be strictly adhered to, with attorneys available, at no charge to protect the seniors and their families from abuse or neglect.

As for the criminals: 
They would receive cold food. 
They would be left alone and unsupervised. 
They would receive showers once a week. 
They would live in tiny rooms, for which they would have to pay $5,000 per month. 
They would have no hope of ever getting out.

"Sounds like justice to me!" 

 I'm not suggesting that all nursing homes are bad or even that the ones I visited were. I am, however, saying that some can be and certainly are. Not even counting neglect, there are reports of elder abuse that average out to an elderly person being abused every 5 seconds. A woman who works with a rape/abuse prevention and treatment center told me that there are even cases of 80+ year old women being raped in nursing homes.

If you have a family member or know anyone currently living in a nursing home - "on the inside" - PLEASE go visit them this holiday season (and throughout the year) to check on them, to love on them, to simply be with them.

Though I know our visits on my mission trip certainly brightened the days of several residents, real difference can be made through relationships developed over regular visits.

I highly encourage you to take a trip to your local nursing home.
Bring pictures, magazines, movies - things like that to entertain them.
Listen to their stories.
Tell them your own.
Expand their little worlds so they can know more about things on "the outside" - and that at least someone (YOU!) remembers them and cares.