Tory...The Rebel...

I remember 'the Mother Unit', (er,that would be my mother), saying when I was around 5 years old, 'There is no God!'. I have no recollection as to the circumstances surrounding this statement, and as far as I know, that was the first time she ever mentioned God to me. I remember, on occasion, parroting this phrase to people, having no idea what I was talking about. But, that's what 'mother unit' said, so it must be true.
Funnily enough, at 17, I found God. Actually, He wasn't lost, I was! Overnight there was a profound change in my attitude and outlook on life. When I told 'mother unit' about my experience, I will never forget the look on her face. She was absolutely horrified! You would have thought I had just told her I ate one of my younger siblings.
I would laugh to myself when I would hear her on the phone with one of her friends saying, 'I don't know where I went wrong with her, maybe it's just a rebellious stage or something. At least I hope so!' I never, ever preached to her, but she was constantly asking me questions about my faith and I would tell her, only because she asked. In a way, it seemed so personal to me at the time, I really didn't want to talk to her about it much. It was a profound experience for me, and she made it sound like a disease. But I didn't back down, or I simply couldn't back down from her questions.
After awhile, she sort of came to terms with it, when she realized that it wasn't going away. But really, she just made allowances for my 'retardedness'. lol...
A few years later, her mother was very ill with cancer. I spoke to my Grandma often, and prayed with her. She herself had found her faith through the horrendous experience of being so ill. Finally, in January, we got the call that Grandma had been hospitalized and she was not going to be around very much longer. My mother picked me up at work, and we went by car from Toronto to Montreal. It was a terrible day for driving and we came into a major snowstorm. We couldn't see a foot in front of us and it was so bad, we couldn't see to even pull over. I wasn't really worried to be honest as my 'mother unit' was an excellent driver. But I looked over at her and she was sweating bullets, clutching the wheel and leaning forward in her seat straining to try and see where she was going. The only other traffic on the road were 18 wheelers, who because of their weight, felt secure enough and experienced enough to drive at full speed. Every time one of them would go by, it would blow our car all over the road. This was the reason that it would have been unsafe to just park on the side of the highway. They would never have seen us and would have plowed right into us.
Another tuck went whizzing by us and our car spun around and landed right on top of a median at a cut-off. All of our 4 wheels were lifted off of the ground, and there we sat, sideways on the highway, teetering back and forth. The 'mother unit' freaked. A truck came roaring by, just missing our bumper and there was nothing we could do. Mother unit, in a panic told me to get out of the car, then she changed her mind and said I'd better stay in the car. She tried and tried to get 2 wheels to touch the ground to get some traction, but it didn't work. Finally, as another truck was barreling down on us, she turned to me with tears in her eyes and said, 'Tory, pray.' For some reason, I was totally calm and I smiled and said, 'O.K.' And pray I did. I closed my eyes and thanked the Lord for sending us an angel to get us out of this mess. As I was praying, It felt as if someone lifted the car up from the back end and put our two front wheels onto the road. Mother unit gunned it and we were free. Shortly after, the snow stopped. Mother unit was very quiet for the longest time. Finally, she broke her silence and said, 'Did you feel someone lift up the car?' 'Ya,' I said, 'I prayed for an angel to come and help us. They're pretty strong.' 'But I felt it, I really did!' She said. Dead silence...but I could hear her mind turning...lol. Finally after a long silence, she said to me, 'What if we don't get there on time and she dies.' I replied, in all earnestness, 'I'll see her again one day..I'm not worried.' Mother unit began to cry...'I guess that's what's bugging me, I don't think I will see her again.' We had a very long talk after that, about God and His impact on our lives. She actually listened!
Grandma died a day or two after we got there. When it came time to make the arrangement for the funeral service, the family met with my Grandma's Pastor. He asked us which songs, and scriptures we would like. The whole family just sat there, at a total loss. They didn't know any scriptures to be able to choose them. I piped up, with some scriptures, suggestions and songs. I was the youngest one there and I didn't want to impose my ideas into it, but there was a very awkward silence in the room when he asked that. I could see the relief on every one's faces that I was able to come up with something so we didn't look like complete heathens. I looked at the mother unit, and for the first time, I saw she was proud. After that, if there were any questions, Mother unit would say, 'Oh, let's ask Tory, she'll know.'
That day, my Aunt asked if I would sing at the service and I did. It was a very sad day indeed, but I felt satisfied that I had been vindicated for my faith. I'll never forget it.
In other news, Holly went for her beginners driver's licence, and flunked...teehee! She went back and rewrote it and passed. We are never going to let her live this down, and I'm sure she'll be pleased I made that announcement here! My poor wiener kid!! lol...
I just have one more thing to talk about. I finally figured out what google reader is, and now that I have it, I love it. The only thing is, there is no place for putting comments there..at least, I can't find it. Anyway, I've noticed that my comments have dwindled to nil. Is that because we all have google reader and we can't be bothered? Please people, comments are what bloggers live for...don't forget to post comments on your favorite blogs. I know it's a little more trouble, but it means so much to the blogger.
Take care
Tory