*It lived.

Brandon and I drove up to Virginia this past weekend to attend the beautiful wedding of family friends. Driving through Virginia in early October was probably one of the most pleasant drive experiences (aside from the time in the car). Interstate 81 runs parallel to rolling mountains and valleys throughout the entire ride. Although it was a little too early to catch the brilliant fall leaves, some trees were just starting to change colors. And even though we did not catch the vibrant leaves, I bet this drive is gorgeous anytime of year, through any season. Poor Brandon had to hear about it the WHOLE way, too. Every 15-30 miles I would point out a section of rolling landscape and say "Let's move there! I can see us living there!" Had it been up to me we would have been purchasing property and packing boxes before the weekend was over. Unfortunately (or..more accurately, fortunately) we do not leave the big (and spontaneous) decisions up to me.

These pictures below are from I-81. Please note I did not take these pictures, this is simply to show how gorgeous the scenery is along the interstate.







As we were tooling our way North through beautiful Virgina, Brandon and I shared our first near death experience together. Earlier in the ride we had both commented on the fact that we would probably see deer and that we needed to be cautious of any deer wandering onto the interstate. Obviously, because I just mentioned all that, we saw a deer.....on the interstate. A large buck (I think...it all happened so fast) strolled onto the right side of the interstate. He stood there for a brief moment and then darted out into the road. Naturally, I yell "BRANDON (the caps...because I am yelling)- DEER! WATCH OUT FOR THE DEER!" We were driving in the right hand lane, there was a car about 100 yards in front of us and a car about 50 yards or so in front of us in the left hand lane. The car on the right managed to miss the deer, unfortunately the car on the left, a minivan, was not so lucky. The deer RAN directly into the front passenger side of the van. Ramming it at full speed and shattering the glass and denting the passenger side door.

It looked like the deer was attacking the van, but we all know the deer did not win. Once it rammed the passenger side door the deer catapulted into the air, spun around and came down on the back driver side. Where it again had full contact, but was not actually "run over". Glass lay all across the interstate. The van quickly pulled to the side of the road. There was a passenger in that seat and he or she had a front row seat to the amazing attack. The car in front of us pulled off to ensure everyone in the van was okay.

Brandon and I watched in shock. It all happened so fast, yet seemed to move in slow motion. The deer darting across the street, the passenger side window shattering into a million pieces, and then the confused and injured deer stumbling on the side of the road. *It wondered off to the woods and out of harms way!

During this entire event Brandon and I are yelling. OH MY GOSH, WATCH OUT. CUSS WORDS, lots of CUSS WORDS. HOLY *MOLY. Screaming. Loudly. Like you do when you see something completely insane or stunning. More cuss words and finally more Oh my gosh's.

You might be thinking....So what? Deer are struck on the interstate every day. But, I failed to mention that throughout this entire ordeal, I was on the phone. Yep. I was talking to a verizon wireless representative, who had not two minutes earlier explained to me that our conversation was going to be recorded as a learning tool for the future. Needless to say my loud screaming and cussing into the phone had startled the VW representative. She was silent and I had completely forgotten I was on a phone call. Finally, she spoke in a mousy/tentative voice..."I can certainly call you back at another time." No, no..I said. This was the fifth time someone from VW had tried to reach me. I managed to avoid their calls for two weeks, we were getting this taken care of today, violent deer accident and all.

I assume she was curious at this point and asked if we were okay. I would say the loud screaming and cussing had tipped her off that something was not right. I explained the situation to her and she again offered to call back at another time. Once she was convinced I was no longer distracted by the fact that miraculously, no was injured by the outrageous events that had just occurred....she explained that she was ready to upgrade my phone plan. Wow. Really? I told her I was not interested in the upgrade she was offering. Then I proceeded to tell her she was lucky to have said events recorded, because I was sure it would be a wonderful learning tool for her co-workers in the near future. There is no doubt in my mind she was glad to have the accident on tape, too. I am certain that message was listened to by her and her co-workers....where they probably laughed and laughed at the crazy lady who lived through the deer accident and refused to get off the phone. That's life! Now please, VW, stop calling me...I do not want your upgrades or whatever it is you are trying to get me to buy.

Also, visit Virginia...it's gorgeous! Pictures from this beautiful wedding to come!

*indicated words or things that may not have necessarily true or are not known, for certain, that they are true