Summer 2010

This morning before church I got to thinking about how it is already August 22. School will be starting in just a few weeks, and it occurred to me to start reflecting on this summer; what I did and didn't do. There is still enough time to check a few things off the list!

Here is what I HAVE done:

• Went to Mall of America with two of my best friends
• Went to summer camp for a week
• Spent 3 weeks in Tennessee
• Painted a piece of pottery with my sister
• Gone canoeing
• Painted 2 pictures
• Read all of The Count of Monte Cristo (Thanks, Josh.)

May seem like a lot, right? Well, wrong. Most of all that I did while I was in Tennessee, which was only 3 weeks as aforementioned.

I spent the last half of my summer doing basically nothing. It included a lot of TV-watching, Facebooking, and trips to the mall.

I'm starting a check list for next summer!

Bigger and better things.

I went to see Toy Story 3 with my sister and brother-in-law while I was in Nashville a few weeks ago. I had never been to this particular theater before, and was pretty surprised when I found out they had 27 different theaters. 27. Need I remind you, our only theater in Three Rivers has 6? I didn't think so.

The day I leave Tennessee every year is extremely depressing! It's no wonder, when you consider I just spent 3 weeks in one of the biggest towns of America, and have to come back to our puny, population of 7,000 town in southwest Michigan.

One thing that bothers me the most is when I hear about someone who has lived in a small town their entire life, and have never left a 100-mile radius.

There are bigger and better things out there.

Bigger and better things.

Nashville, Tennessee

Three Rivers, Michigan

Nashville picture: www.improveverywhere.ning.com

Three Rivers picture: www.city-data.com

What should have been "Airplane Adventures"...

Every summer since the third grade, I've gone to visit my sisters that live in Tennessee. I have always stayed for two weeks, and this year I wanted to try something a little different: 3 weeks. Two weeks is too short. Plus, I'm older. This is where the story gets interesting.

We booked a flight for me to fly to Tennessee. I would fly from South Bend to Chicago, have a 3 hour layover, then go from Chicago to Nashville. Seems pretty simple, right? I can handle this.

We drive to South Bend. We go up to the United Airlines counter, and want to check me in. (I'm not sure what the employee's name is, so we'll just call her "Frizzy Hair Lady".)

Mom: "We need to check Brittney Schermerhorn in."

Frizzy Hair Lady: "Sorry. Her flight's been cancelled."

Mom: "What? Do you have anything else she could get on?"

Frizzy Hair Lady: "No."

Ashley: "Not one flight, one seat?"

Frizzy Hair Lady: "No. But she could get on a bus and try to catch her connecting flight in Chicago."

Mom: "A bus? She's a minor!"

Frizzy Hair Lady: "Well, it's up to you."

(A BUS? BY MYSELF? TO CHICAGO? I'M FIFTEEN! Is she nuts?)

By this time, my family and I had been trying to figure out what we could do so I could get to Tennessee. After we thought we had a plan, we had to go talk to Frizzy Hair Lady again to see if I could get transfered to my sister's flight with Delta. No one is at the counter, so we ring this bell. She comes up front, and says that she can't help us, the airline needs her help with a flight that just came in. There is three other people standing in line.

Frizzy Hair Lady: "Sorry. Can't help you. Flight just came in they need my help with. Be back in 30 minutes."

Ashley: "You can't just help us really quick?"

Frizzy Hair Lady: "No. I can in 30 minutes."

Frizzy Hair Lady exits.

We decide this is the final straw. My sisters flight kept getting more and more delayed, so we decide to just rent a car and drive it.

I got my hopes up for nothing. Thank you, Frizzy Hair Lady. Your courtesy made it all the better.