The Most Embarrassing Moment of my Life

Let me start by saying that I don't get embarrassed often. I'm not saying that crazy, random things don't happen to me. They do. But I normally just laugh along with everyone else.

Not this time.

~~

It was a Sunday night back in September, and I was in Houston with Brandon. We had just driven in from Corpus, and after finding out that our hotel had us booked for one night, instead of five nights, we drove around the city looking for another place to stay.

This went on for over two hours, and by the time we found a hotel we were both exhausted, hungry, and very frustrated. Those feelings combined made me feel like I was on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Brandon knew this.

At ten-thirty that night we pulled up to the main entrance of our hotel, and Brandon went inside. After checking in he came out with a luggage cart.

He said, "You just sit here and relax. I'll unload the car."

I sat there, still feeling exhausted, hungry and frustrated as Brandon loaded everything onto the luggage cart.

"Take the cart and just wait right over there," He told me. "I'll go park the car, and then we can go in together."

I got out of the truck and slowly maneuvered the large, heavy cart towards the door.

{Photos were taken a week later when we went back to the same hotel}

'I can at least get this thing inside,' I thought to myself.

There were two doors to the hotel, a large revolving door and a smaller door on the right that pushed open. In my exhausted, hungry, frustrated state I only saw the revolving door.

As I pushed the luggage cart closer I noticed how fast the revolving door was moving. It wasn't one of those that you step into and push as you go. It moved all on its own. As the glass panels spun by in front of me I started to get a feel for the timing.

Woosh. 
Woosh. 
Woosh.

I was thinking, 'Man, I'm going to have to run through this thing.' 

I was standing facing the door, and I had the cart in front of me, positioned at an angle so it was ready to be pushed inside. I started leaning forward and back, with each pass of the door.

One.
Two.
Three.

And on three I pushed the cart with all my might and ran inside the door.

The second I was inside the cart came to a complete stop. The doorway was round, and since I didn't turn the cart when I ran in it hit the wall on the other side. But the revolving door kept moving. 

I could feel my legs, ribs, and face being pressed into the bars on the cart, and the glass panel behind me was completely smushing my backside.

I was stuck. 

I yelled as loudly as I could, "Help! Help!!"

No one came. It was late at night, so there wasn't anyone around to hear me.

I was able to wiggle my arms up, and I started waving as I yelled.

"HELP!!!"

I noticed a lady with a stroller walking by, so I yelled louder.

"HEEELLLLPPPP!!!"

........

She heard me!

She quickly waved her own arms, motioned to the hotel staff who were sitting behind the desk and yelled, "She needs help!!"

Four hotel staff members quickly ran over to the door, and there I was, stuck inside with my luggage cart. 

One of them, a tall, strong looking man reached his head inside and said in a deep voice, "Ma'am, you're not supposed to push the luggage carts through this door. They don't fit."

Looking down with embarrassment I said, "I know that now, but can you please get me out??"

He pushed the door hard enough to stop it from smushing me, and he wiggled the luggage cart out the other side into the hotel lobby.

Phew. I could breathe. 

I slowly stepped into the lobby as the lady with the stroller and the other hotel staff members stared at me, their eyes wide open, shocked that this had actually happened.

The strong looking man who got me out pointed to the regular, push through door and said, "Next time use this one."

~~

Brandon walked up a few minutes later and could tell something had happened. As I glanced over at the revolving door he said, "You didn't try to push the cart through there, did you?"

Tuesday Topics: Memories

{via}

Getting Engaged

I will never forget the night we got engaged. It was December 8th, 2009. We were in the middle of finals week, and I went to Brandon's house for what I thought was a night of studying. When I got there he had our dinner, spaghetti and salad, set up in the living room. It was amazing! I suspected nothing, because Brandon had always done things like this. After we I ate {he was so nervous he didn't even touch his food} he asked me to dance, and after the song was over he got down on one knee. The rest was a blur, but I do remember hearing the words "Will you marry me?" And I responded, "Are you serious?" {How unromantic of me!} I was just so surprised! Of course when I realized I wasn't dreaming I said "Yes!" We spent the rest of the evening calling our family and closest friends, and later that week I sent my professor an email explaining the lack of effort that was put into my take-home final. 

No worries.. She congratulated me and gave me just enough credit to keep my 'A'. 

Getting Married

You can read all about our wedding day here. 

Winning Cheer Nationals

I did competitive cheerleading for about eight years, and when I was a senior in high school my team won at nationals. Most of us had been cheering together for years, and winning nationals had always been our goal. I will never forget the feeling we had when we finished our routine. The energy we had was unbelievable, because we knew we had nailed it! I'm getting chills just thinking about it! 

Getting Princess

My parents surprised me when I was a freshman in high school and took me to pick out a puppy. I'll share more of this story in another post, but I came home that night with Princess. 

Our First Texas Football Game

I think I was in the third or fourth grade, and my parents took Michelle and I to our first football game at DKR. I remember Ricky Williams was playing then, and Michelle was in love with him. {She would run around the house singing, "Oh, Ricky you're so fine..."} Throughout the game my dad taught us all the Texas traditions. We yelled "Texas Fight" for the first time and sang every verse of "The Eyes of Texas". I even ate my first foot-long hot dog! {Michelle had one too, but she dropped hers.} From that day on we were Hooked. 

Graduation: The University of Texas

My graduation weekend was absolutely perfect! My family and closest friends came to Austin, and we had a great time celebrating. On Friday Brandon and my friend, Kayla, graduated, and after their ceremony we went to Pappasito's to eat fajitas. My college's ceremony was Saturday morning at The Erwin Center, and  after it was over we headed to Maudie's {my favorite!} for brunch. That night was the final ceremony at The Tower. Gathering with the entire class of 2010 to sing "The Eyes of Texas" one last time was something I'll never forget. It was such a memorable weekend!

~~~

I had a really hard time choosing only six memories! I would have loved to mention our family trips to Georgia, my senior football season at Texas, and my first rock climbing experience. Thanks so much for reading, friends!

P.S. I typed this really quickly, so I apologize for any mistakes!

Friday's Letters

{Life Lately via Instagram}

Dear Friday, Why do you always take so long to come around?? I look forward to you all week! Dear work schedule, I do not like you. At all. I remember telling everyone when I accepted you, "If Brandon was working a regular eight-to-five job, I probably wouldn't have liked this schedule." Wellll, Brandon is now working eight-to-five a lot more often which means we hardly even get to see each other. Thanks to you {work schedule} our only face-to-face conversations are when he surprises me and brings me Chick-fil-A to work. {Insert pouting face here.} Dear B, If you want to bring me Chick-fil-A to work every single night that's okay with me. Dear absolutely perfect weather, I love you! Princess and I have really enjoyed spending our mornings outside on the swing, and you have made my runs this week so enjoyable. I know we live in Texas, so there's a good chance it will be cold and rainy next week, but you are more than welcome to stay as long as you like! Dear C25k, Thanks for coming back into my life. I took a month long break from running, and you are just what I need to get myself moving again! Dear old DCMC friends {you know who you are}, Thank you for the encouraging phone calls and emails. Your support means more than you know. Dear Princess, It seems like you're getting used to our family's new schedule. I'm glad we found a cozy place where you like to hang out while we're at work. I think you're starting to like it in there! Dear Brandon, P says thanks for letting her hang out in your closet. Dear Shell, I miss you. We had so much fun together during the fall, and I got spoiled seeing you every other weekend. Oh yeah, I heard that Vince is back on campus. If you ever see him try that "accidentally-run-into-someone-and-drop-all-your-books" trick we used to talk about. Then call me right away and hand him the phone. I want to tell him about INVINCIBLE. Dear B, Thank you for being so supportive. I know I complain a lot about our schedules, and I really appreciate you listening and reminding me that this is only temporary. I think we've gotten into a good routine, though. I cook lunch and leave dinner for you, and you clean up the mess if I don't have time. Thanks for your help. I couldn't do any of this without you. Dear readers, Thanks for being here. I know I've said that I blog for me, which I do, but knowing there's a few people actually reading what I write helps me feel like my voice has been heard. Thank you.