The "Sur"Real Life

So....................................uhm.....................................................
last night was probably the strangest night of my entire life to date. Buckle in kiddies this one's gonna be a doozy(and long).

The girls and I took Auntie James shopping for a prom dress. We were kinda under a time crunch, since prom is 2 WEEKS FROM SATURDAY! No time like the present to find a dress. We went to BeDazzled in Gastonia at the Westfield-Eastridge Mall. This is an awesome mall. There Belk is absolutely amazing. It's almost worth the drive to bypass Hickory and head straight to Gastonia if you are going for some real shopping.

James found a dress that is absolutely beautiful. You would think this particular dress was made just for her. It was gorgeous, and she truly shined like a new penny when she walked out of the dressing room in it. We had a great sales lady, who was a lot of fun, and was really great at her job. That always helps. It really didn't take us all that long to find the perfect dress.

While James was trying on dresses, we(Mom, Amy, Clayton and myself) met one of the funniest men I have ever met. He was there with his daughter shopping for a dress. He said that he brought her to make sure her "property" was covered and taken care of. Too funny. Anyways, he gave James some really good advice about standing tall, possessing self confidence, and how that knowing you are beautiful will make you look beautiful to everyone else that sees you. That's my paraphrasing. He was a lot more animated than I could ever describe.

OK, here's where the strangeness begins.

After our mall adventures we(mainly Clayton) decided it was time for dinner. We had a few options, and since the GPS was on the fritz, we had to navigate by the stars and the glowing neon signs. After much debating between Cracker Barrel (which I personally do not care for) and Texas Roadhouse(awesome cinnamon butter), we decided on the latter. Truly as David says in Psalm 37:23

"The steps of a [good] man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way."

As we were eating our dinner(I really do love their steak fries) there began to be some commotion about 5 tables back from us. The restaurant was incredibly loud, and there was a half wall between us, so we couldn't really tell what was going on. All we knew was commotion. Here's where the fun begins my friends. Apparently a lady was choking on her food, and I don't mean strangled, something went down the wrong pipe, took too big a bite, or what not, she was choking, the life threatening kind of choking. People were starting to gather around her, then another gentleman yelled "Does anyone know the heimlich?" Well, I actually happen to know how to do that along with a few other simple life saving maneuvers. I jumped up from my seat, abandoning my delicious steak fries and cinnamon butter(not eaten together, I'm pregnant, not insane) and rushed to the lady. Performed the heimlich, removed the obstruction, and helped to try to calm her down, then returned to my seat. Let me say that I have never had to do that before, and really hope I don't ever again, but that's why our Dr.'s train their staff to do such things. The lady was OK, just rattled, and all in all it was a great night.

Here's my tip of the day for EVERYONE that reads my blog. Take a CPR, or basic first aid class. It can seriously save someone's life. They are usually quick classes, and in the grand scheme of things, fairly inexpensive. If you have children in your home, you need to know how to do CPR, and the heimlich on infants, children, and adults. The maneuvers are all different so it's good to know them all. Hopefully you will never need to use your skills, but you might. Also, know what to do in a stressful situation. Most importantly REMAIN CALM, you can be on no help to anyone else if you panic, and if you ever have to use any of your newly learned skills, don't be afraid to use a little force. CPR, and the heimlich both take a lot of force to work, use it. Having a little pain the next day is worth having still having your life. My buddy "Simply Donna", has had to use her CPR training in days gone by, so I'm not the only one you know that has benefited from taking a basic first aid class. That's my soap box for today, I shall have another one tomorrow.

P.S. The boys are back in town. WOOT!

P.S.S. I don't know why the font is different at the bottom of this post, pleas excuse the insanity that i blogger. I tried everything to fix it.