My Vehicle and the bus

Car shopping was educational.  Brother Craig Shields, (first councilor in the bishopric) helped me out with this adventure.  He would send me e-mails about cars, and I would send him emails about cars.  Once, I received an e-mail about a car from him, but I was finishing an email to him about a car, so I sent it, before looking at his email.  He was emailing me about the same car.  We never looked at cars together because we both work a lot and it was hard to coordinate my schedule, his schedule, his wife's schedule and the owner of the car schedule.  So he looked at some and I and my room mate Stephanie Noyce or my home teacher Jonathan Spencer would look at some.

At one point I missed out on what I thought was the perfect car for me.  Then it was magically available again the next week and I missed it again.  I was not to happy.  Then there was the car that I looked at that I am pretty sure was stolen, and the car I would have bought had a strange string of events not occurred.  Over all I am happy to have wheels again, and am grateful to all involved.  Believe it or not, I found car shopping to be a very spiritual learning experience. 

 

 

I bought this 99 Corolla with  86,550 miles on it. It is basic with nothing fancy, but it has a few things I love.  No kid goo in the back seat! Many of the cars I looked at had car seat stains and scary stuff.  It was only owned by one person, and should last me a good ten years.  While finishing the sale of this car, four other people called for it, and some one else made an offer before me, but was offering 1,000 below asking price.  I still got it below asking price, and I love it!

 

Because I bought it late on a Wednesday night, I still had to walk to work the next morning because I didn't have it registered.  On Thursdays I work 16 hours, and so Brother Shields and his daughter picked me up on my lunch break and took me to get it registered.  It was wonderful when I got off at 11 p.m. that night to be able to drive 7 minutes instead of walking 35 minutes home. 

 

 

So here are a few memories of the bus...........

 

• I use to text Janaye while riding the bus.  One day while texting I told her I was on a bus.  She responded that she too was on a bus.  We were on the same bus.  She was in the back and I was in the front.
• Express busses are fast, but I have had the unpleasant issue of really really needing the bathroom, and then knowing that the bus will not stop for an hour and half.  Not fun.
• I once watched a kid wash the bus window with his tongue while his mother texted on her phone.  Don't worry after ten minutes of washing the window, the mother finally noticed.
• There was the drunk man that was losing his pants and didn't notice.  
• The Weber State busses that were so full that you were literally shoved against people for a half an hour.  Even Toronto did not compare to that type of congestion.
• The time I rode the bus home, and was very blessed that as sick as I was, I didn't throw up until after I got off.
• I have been on two busses that have been involved in accidents, and survived with no injury.
• The time I got on a bus and found out the previous driver had gone home because earlier that day a man pulled a gun on her.

 

 



 

And to end this post I thought I would close with a spiritual bus story.  Yes such a thing exists.

 

Sometime during the summer of  2012 (I think)  I was riding a bus from Salt Lake City to Kayla's house in Bountiful.  I was tired of listening to my music and so I was listening to conversations around me.  It was sometime after ten at night and I was tired.  There was a guy and girl who had just met and they were talking.  I listened to their conversation, and as I listened for some reason my work brain turned on.  I couldn't figure out exactly what I didn't like about the conversation, but the information seeking questions this guy was asking, and his types of compliments made me nervous.  Still there was nothing unusual about two people getting to know each other on a bus, and there was nothing scary about the mans appearance, and nothing obviously wrong with the conversation at all. 

 

The woman got off the bus, and the mans attention turned to me.  Once again, what he was asking and saying was nothing different then hundreds of conversations I have had with others on the bus.  But my work brain was turned on, and not liking the conversation.  So I lied.  I altered my last name, gave a fake home town, and fake family.  I was very anxious to get of the bus and luckily was close to Kayla's and so the conversation was no more than five minutes before I made my escape.

 

I thanked Heavenly Father for getting me off the bus so soon, and with in a week or two completely forgot about the situation.  About three months later, I was at work.  I took my patients out to the court yard.  Another Forensic unit was there.  One of their patients approached me. 

 

He said "I know you". 

I didn't recognize the man, and out right told him "well I don't know you",

He then said "Yes I do.  Your Stacey Strebbson"  

 

He started to give me information that I had given him on the bus.  I quickly ended the conversation, and requested a restriction from this mans unit.  This man was from the highest security unit in the entire hospital.  Most individuals on this unit are rapists and/or murders.  The fact that he could recall with such accuracy a five minute conversation from three months prior, makes me very grateful that I was protected that night.  I am glad that I don't have to ride the bus any more, but even more grateful that Heavenly Father watches over us. I now wonder how many other horrible situations He has prevented that I will never in this life know about.