Cubson’s Valentine

Happy Valentines day from Cubson’s Lair. We had the most memorable valentines day this year. The day itself was normal and average (class cancelled for snow, more snow and naps). But once about 5:30 hit, all the fun began.

I was sound asleep on my chair with the first line of a news release written when my phone rang, “Jessie, can you come get me from Brittany’s?” Sure May, I’ll be right there but first let me wake up so I can be a fully functioning driver. Five minutes later, ring ring, “Uhh…Jessie, I’m stuck in the ditch and I need you to tell me what to do to get out.” Yikes. Nike shorts on, Bean Boots on, sweatshirt on…..looking HOT. I walk outside and there she is, nurse Kaylee stuck in the ditch. This is the part where I’d like to say I was the hero who coached her out, but then that wouldn’t make for an exciting Valentine’s day, would it? Nope.

At this point I realize I am not going to attempt getting my car out for fear of nailing Kaylee’s on the way down. Ice wins again. So I call May, “blah blah blah, can’t come get you. Who do you know that can pull people out of ditches in the snow?” Needless to say, we all pulled together and called all the boys we knew with towing capabilities and ended up making three new friends last night (well, four new friends, but you’ll meet Doug later). Basically, friends of a friend came over with their 4×4 Jeep and started towing and then wouldn’t you know, that Jeep ended up in the ditch too. This Valentine’s day just keeps getting more and more exciting.

This is the part where I become a really proud mom. Someone suggests that the Green Bean pull the Jeep out. ABSOLUTELY! The only other time the Green Bean has done such a thing was during break when I pulled my brother out of his muddy front yard. But I wasn’t actually even driving it. So this was it, my time to shine. So I drove down, pep talked the Green Bean, and we gunned it. I have almost never been more terrified than I was when I looked in the mirror and saw that Jeep sliding left to right to left to right on the driveway as I pressed my gas pedal all the way to the floor. But then I’ve never felt more proud when the Jeep was freed and it was all thanks to the Green Bean.

But the problem had yet to be solved, Kaylee was still in the ditch. Those poor boys tried and tried and tried some more to get her out, but it just wasn’t going to happen (I might add that my machete made an appearance yet again). After about an hour and a half the sun had gone down (I was still in shorts) and the boys left. Car still in ditch.

We finally decided to call AAA and the poor lady on the phone I guess was running late to her Valentine’s date because she was less than thrilled to be talking to me. While we waited for our new friend to arrive, we decided to eat a very classy dinner (frozen pizza for me, pancakes and bacon for Kaylee and microwaved ravioli for May) and start Pearl Harbor. Cause why not pretend you’re in love with a very attractive WWII soldier and evidently his best friend as well? But about two hours later, Doug arrives. When he first shows up, we all assume he doesn’t know what he’s doing because he’s asking us for advice.

“Well Doug, if we knew how to do it we would have towed her out ourselves. I know we look like three very strong and capable college students, but we are not that capable and I somehow left my tow truck at home. I’ll try and remember that next time I come up.” 

“OK girls, I’m just going to put these snow chains on my tires ($75) and then I’ll try and swing around this way and not hit her car in the process.”

“Thank you Doug, we would greatly appreciate that.”

Doug finally gets his (2) chainz on his tires and does like a 35 point turn to get in front of the car. I can’t blame him, he had about 2 inches to get around and one of those trucks with like 15 tires on it. I don’t get why that’s necessary, but whatever we’ll go with it. The three of us are sitting in Kaylee’s car waiting for him to get around and he steps out of his truck and we look back and Doug eats in on the ice. And then Doug doesn’t get up. And Doug won’t answer us when we ask him if he’s ok. Finally, in a very thick and difficult to understand Boone accent, Doug tells us he threw his knee out but it’s okay because it happens all the time. “Well Doug, doesn’t seem to look ok because you aren’t getting up.” Next thing we know, Doug pops his knee back in and makes a painful noise in the process. No worries though, nurse Kaylee has drugs in the car and Doug is back on his feet in no time.

About an hour and half later, Doug tows Kaylee a whopping 100 feet back to her parking spot in front of the house. While Doug cleans up all his rope and flashlight and tools he tells us why he hates Valentine’s day.

“My fiance left me on Valentine’s day for my cousin two years ago.” 

Yikes, I would also hate Valentine’s day. We finally convince Doug to take some of Kaylee’s homemade blueberry bars and he responds with, “Thanks for the brownies.” I guess when you’re 31 and working through the night on Valentine’s day to tow people out of ditches, any home baked good is a brownie. We couldn’t end the night like that. It was obvious that Doug needed something more than blueberry bars. We asked him if we could pray over his knee and he said yes so we did. I think he was blessed by it. He seemed thankful, and he seemed to be in a little bit of better mood when we left than he did when he first arrived.

We came back inside, laughed at how hilarious this entire evening had been, opened my Symphony bar that Kaylee had given me, and hit play on Pearl Harbor. Definitely a Valentine’s day I won’t forget and for sure one of those college memories I’ll have forever. But like I said, we made four new friends out of it.

So happy Valentine’s Day to all. Hope yours was as memorable as ours.

xoxo, Cubson’s Lair.

Headed to The Cape

Ok, I have some really exciting news. Some news that is actually a miracle. And I have no excuses or reasons for why I haven’t shared it yet, but today is the day. I’m super excited to announce that I will be spending my summer in Cape Town, South Africa! When I say this is a miracle, I mean every bit of it. If I’ve ever wondered what it means for “doors to be opened,” I don’t wonder anymore. It’s a long, long story, but ultimately, God is good. We have close family friends who live in Cape Town and work in the music industry. I was 14 when we first met them, and we have stayed close ever since. “Close” is a funny term to use to describe this situation, because we’ve only seen them in person four times now, but none the less, close. Ever since meeting them, I’ve wanted to visit South Africa. I’ve never really had anything specific in mind as far as what to do when I’m there, but I’ve wanted to go. And I (or the Lord, apparently) never really shook that desire.

During Christmas break, the whole gang (mom and dad and two adora little boys) came for a visit in NC. The day after they arrived, we sat in the kitchen and chatted about life and would you believe it, the topic/stress/don’twanttotalkaboutthissubject of “what am I going to do this summer” came up. Imagine that. So I proceeded to tell them “yeah, I really need to find an internship or at least something that will look good on a resume and maybe one day help me get a job.” Aka, “I can’t spend another summer nannying/working at Gap.” Then mamafriend says “well your mom tells me you want to come to South Africa sometime.” Yes mamafriend, IN MY DREAMS…good news, as you already know, my dreams are becoming a reality. So we keep chatting, and the doors start opening. It’s like I was in a giant warehouse where they only sell doors and EACH ONE WAS OPEN. Not kidding, not being dramatic. I would never. But seriously, from there the whole thing just literally fell into place. Papafriend tells me that I can work directly with him doing “agenty” stuff (helping with shows and interviews, emails, social media, etc.) So I’m like “ok, this is just casually what I’ve wanted to do since high school.” But how does one find an internship like this…well let me tell you, the Lord hands it out.

Aaaand the doors continue to open. Living arrangements, plane tickets, class credit, encouragement, it goes on and on. So here I am, still totally in shock that this is actually happening and kind of freaking out. South Africa is very far away from NC. If you need help figuring out how far, here is this map:

It’s very far. And that means if I freak out half way through the summer and miss home, sucks for me. It means that when I want to call my parents before bed, I can’t because of the time change. It means that when people starting speaking to me in Afrikaans, I’ll have to say in my sweet southern bell accent “I’m sorry but the only things I know in Afrikaans are ‘your finger is cold’ and ‘you look like a corpse.'” That’s actually 100% true, so if you need me to tutor you, buy Rosetta Stone instead. It’s means is very far away and there’s no backing out. But quite honestly, I could not be more excited. I’m not oblivious to the challenges that will come, but I’m also no oblivious to the fact that the Lord is taking me there and he’s not dropping off. He’s going with me. And that’s all the comfort I need.

Maybe I’ll be better about blogging when I’m there, who knows. Don’t count on it. I’M SO EXCITED!

Just to be clear, I also know how to say “thank you very much.” If you’re wondering, it’s pronounced ‘buy-uh-donkey.’ There you go, now get Rosetta Stone.