Blackout

Last Thursday was the famous blackout game.  A university-of-utah-football-fan-favorite where the whole stadium wears black.  This is one game I try to never miss.  However, this year I decided it was best we miss it due to illness and the continually decreasing weather temperatures throughout the day.  With Andrew barely getting over his ridiculously awful cold, I suggested we go up to his grandma's timeshare in Park City.  I figured we could finish fighting off his cold in the hot tub, steam room, and sauna while watching the game from the comfort of a four-star hotel room.  To Carter's dismay Jane was also sick.  I however found this a lovely stroke of luck because that meant that one of our favorite couples could join us.  

The Marriott is one of my very favorite hotels in Park City.  Mainly because of the hot tubs.  There are at least five different hot tubs that each waterfall into one another.  So we spent all night being mischievous and not minding the "PLEASE DON'T CLIMB ON THE ROCKS" signs and "cliff jumping" from hot tub to hot tub.

We watched the game and we were all quite disappointed we lost.  But at least our team looked fabulous in all black.  I couldn't seem to get over our matte black helmets.  Classy if you ask me.  

After the game we decided we needed to head home.  When we left the hotel I was completely shocked to find that it was snowing.  Snowing during the first week of October.  Upset was an understatement seeing as fall is my very favorite season.  Andrew was ecstatic because he lives for skiing.  And the earlier it snows the happier he is.

The snow was all great and dandy until we started actually driving home.  It was one of those snowstorms where the headlights and the falling snow combine to make the view out of the windshield look psychedelic.  Or as Jane described it... like the stars in Star Wars when they are traveling through space at light speed.  It was kind of sickening if you concentrated too hard on it and ultimately blinding.  It was nearly impossible to see anything, including the lines on the road.

The longer we drove the more psychedelic the snow became.  And soon we couldn't decide if we preferred the whiteout that occurred with the headlights on or the less dizzying blackout that occurred with the headlights off.  The darkness was our best bet until we got really deep into Parley's.    Then lights became necessary as canyon walls and drop off's became a concern.  It not only got darker the deeper we got but it got colder... meaning more snow and higher winds.  

As the snow became even more wild I became more worried until I saw it...  a construction cone.  One of the those big, fat, orange, barrel cones.  I was filled with immediate relief.  Because those cones became a bright and easily seen guide down the rest of the canyon.  One every few feet made navigating the canyon a million times easier and I silently thanked Heavenly Father for those hideous construction cones.

As my mind became less consumed with worry it wandered to my gratitude for those construction cones.  I realized that it was the first time in my life I had ever been grateful for road construction.  Most of the time hitting construction results in me cursing under my breath.  I HATE CONSTRUCTION.  Slows my whole life down.  And it seems like there is continuously construction somewhere on a road I need to be taking.  But for once I was really grateful for the construction.  And I began to relate that to my own life...

How often am I grateful for the construction and reconstruction in my life?  For those moments when I feel like I am being torn apart and being built all over again.  Not very often.  Generally not until the newly-built-stronger-me has to deal with my next life blackout... or in other words the next life trial that leaves me feeling totally alone or helpless.  Most of the time I can't appreciate the construction until much later.  And most of time I waste time and energy complaining and whining about it instead of just putting on a smile and realizing it is for my own good...  And that is when I made my newest resolution...  to no longer curse the construction and those lovely construction workers.  Both the literal construction and the figurative construction in my life. Because the construction only makes the blackouts that much easier.  

-beth