Coldest Walk of my Life

We sent Mindy back to California safe and sound and I convinced Laura to try Southside again. Now that she was with me, it was also time to get more involved. We decided to visit a Small Group which met twice a month on a midweek evening.

Small Groups are also called Care Groups because that is where people can be better cared for and care for others. It’s hard for the pastors to take care of everyone well but if someone is involved in a Care Group, then the Care Group leader and the other members of the group can do so. So when someone has a baby, the ladies can make meals for the family. If someone moves, the Care Group can help, etc.

Care Groups are also a context for spiritual accountability and growth. In the meetings, the group discusses the messages from the Sunday service or some other subject and talks about how they can apply it to their lives. The men and women also break down into men’s and women’s groups for more pointed discussions and accountability. 

We visited a Small Group that was for couples without kids and it was a lot of fun. There were some great couples and we found that one of them, Mike and Susan Gimotti lived just down the street from us. They were renting a townhome but were buying a house just a few minutes away.


Laura had always wanted a Honda Accord. I didn’t know anything about cars and we didn’t have the internet for research. We probably got ripped off at a local dealership for an ‘87 Silver Accord. It was a stick shift and the headlights folded up and down. 

At 26, this was my first car so it was exciting for me. I figured it should be alright, as Hondas were supposed to be good cars. I ended up having a lot of stress over that car because it seemed to have a lot of structural issues. As I didn’t know anything about cars, I had to trust the mechanic I was using. He seemed to be reliable but when money is very tight and the repairs keep coming, you start to wonder.

We wanted to do something special for Christmas. We had kept in touch with a couple from Hawaii who had been in the couples-without-kids group there. They had moved back to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota where one of them was from. She had been pregnant but tragically, they had lost the baby. We decided to go visit them for Christmas.

That was one of the coldest places I have ever been. If you could help it, it was best to just not go outside. Our friends lived in an apartment with the parking lot underneath the building so that you wouldn’t have to. Laura, however, has a tradition of always taking a walk on Christmas Day.

We all got bundled up to walk around a lake near their apartment. They loaned me a ski mask, which grew icicles in front of my nose as we walked. I’m told a walk in the cold like that will kill all germs but right after that, one by one, we all came down with one of the worst flu’s I have ever had. It was one of those that all you can do is just lie in bed groaning. The other guy got it first, then I got it. It had you for about 24 hours. Unfortunately for Laura, she got it on the trip back to Virginia. Having that on a plane is just miserable. The other girl got it after we left.




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