Hell Froze Over

So I am sure that we have all heard the phrase "...when hell freezes over."

When we first moved to Iowa I remember unloading our moving truck, sweating my guts out and thinking that somehow Sterling and I had just arrived in hell. Sterling had to keep drinking water or Gatorade in order to keep himself hydrated and alive. As for me, I had to simply keep moving in order to keep myself from either sitting down in the apartment and refusing Sterling further help or from getting in that truck and driving back to a dry climate.

It took a good five months before Iowa froze over and I do mean this literally.

I kept hearing rumors of horrible ice storms that knocked down power lines leaving people without power for up to a week. I couldn't imagine what the Iowans were talking about but I had to trust their stories until I could witness it for myself. Well I didn't have to wait long before our first ice storm was announced and found out that the rumors were actually true.

On December 1, 2007 at 7:45 am Sterling and I headed out to do some shopping and other errands for the day. It didn't seem like the ice storm was going to be too bad since at that time there was no ice falling from the sky nor was it raining both of which I thought necessary for a proper ice storm. I soon came to understand that it doesn't take more than a few minutes in the grocery store for an ice storm to go from non-existent to full-on ice storm.

Once we got home from our morning errands we didn't leave the house for the rest of the day and though the ice was outside I could feel it chilling my bones even while I was inside.

So when someone says "...when hell freezes over[.]" you can actually tell the person that it has basically happened and I am living proof that Iowa, on occasion, freezes over.

So if you are wondering what the first picture on the page is of then let me explain. The picture is taken from the passenger seat of the car. I rolled down the window and the sheet of ice remained in place while the window willing rolled down. You can't just scrape off 1/4" sheet of ice that happens to form on the car during a "mild" ice storm.

Supposedly the storms will worsen right before spring and so we would ask each of you to enjoy the weather that you experience because it could be worse, you could live in Iowa.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STERLING

November 29th was Sterling's 24th birthday and I wanted to do something special for him. When your income is limited something really special is a little far fetched so I had to rack my brain to think of something. I figured that maybe something with his classmates would be fun since they are the people with whom Sterling spends the most time. So I hacked into his email account, sent an email to all of his classmates and some other friends and invited them over for a little surprise birthday party.

I did a pretty good job of keeping the party a secret until the night of the party when I was talking to Sterling about the house being clean and asked him if he thought everyone would mind a couple of dishes that were still drying on the counter. Luckily Sterling bought some story that I made up on the spot and let the comment go without further investigation.

Sterling went to donate plasma and I stayed home to finish the final preparations for the big night. I made a cake, brownies, bought the fixin's for banana splits and rootbeer for floats. Finally all of his friends started to arrive, about 15 minutes before he should have arrived at home, and he called to tell me that he got started late and wouldn't be home for at least another 1/2 hour. His classmates had a big project due the next day so I am sure most of them had to get back to the school and get to work so I started feeling badly. However they were nice enough to stick it out and wait for him to get home.

I talked everyone into singing Happy Birthday the way that Sterling's family does which includes an additional first where you sing the words, "many more birthdays" in the place of "Happy Birthday."

When Sterling walked in the door I think he was really surprised but he was really surprised when his classmates and friends broke out the second verse of Happy Birthday as performed by the Sheffield's on every birthday occasion.

We had a lot of fun and it turned out better than I could have imagined. I hope that Sterling knows how much I love him and that I want to be able to give him everything he ever needs. He is the best husband for me and I hope that I can spend the rest of eternity making him happy.