Rollin' On The River

It’s just not safe when we get together. My husband has suggested that we should come with a warning label. That might have been helpful this past weekend, when I celebrated a little early with my sister in Little Rock.

The only day Gary and his Mom both have off is Christmas Day. That happens to be the day the rest of my family are going to be down in Little Rock with everyone else. So we are going to celebrate with the Jonesboro side Christmas Day, and the Little Rock side....well, we haven’t quite figured that part out yet.

They are a fluid bunch, spreading out in all directions. I can’t seem to keep all of them in one place at one time long enough for all of us to get with all of them. Throw in my husband’s unusual work schedule, and, of course, the almighty, not-to-be-messed-with deer season; and things get complicated.

Since I knew I wouldn’t see my sister again before Christmas, I bummed a ride with my Mom and Dad when they had to go to Little Rock. We planned on a little quiet conversation, very subdued. Not.

We planned on eating as much as possible, as often as possible. We planned on shopping until the credit cards melted. We planned on staying up and staying out and playing and laughing as much as we could in the 24 or so hours we had.

The only problem with that on-the-go scenario is that I had to be in a wheelchair. My mom has a brace on her knee, after injuring herself cleaning house. She’s pretty serious about a clean house. That’s another column entirely. I will say that, after knowing she was hurt, she continued to clean for several more hours. Like any good southern lady, she knows any injury short of death is no excuse for a less than spotless home.

So here we are, my mom limping along with a brace on her leg, me rolling along in a wheelchair, and my sister. Oh, and my son. The wheelchair driver. The 12- year-old wanna be Nascar driver wheelchair navigator. Did I mention it has been suggested that we should come with a warning label?

Logan had to continually reminded to slow down. He wanted to help by pushing me, but his version of slow was our version of very fast. The only threat that seemed to work was for Aunt Teresa to offer to push. Teresa was darting in and out and over and around, trying to take care of all of us.

My idea of looking at something is to read everything on the box, read everything on the other boxes of other brands around it, and then to compare them. Logan’s idea of me looking at something was for me to be able to glance at the box and possibly speed read it as he drove me by that particular section. Shopping is not his thing.

We made it through. Little Rock survived, and so did we. We ate as much as possible, as often as possible. I drank really excellent coffee, something that always makes me very happy. I met my niece’s new significant other, and we all stayed up talking so late that my Dad fell asleep on us and Teresa was about asleep between sentences.

It was exactly the weekend I had hoped for, although it might have been easier on Teresa if Mom and I had been a little more mobile. We did manage to get around though. The credit cards coming due in a few weeks will be proof. It was too early for Christmas, but it wasn’t too early to get the holiday started.

A little fun, a lot of family, some silliness and some saneness. We didn’t blow anything up, we didn’t shut anything down. We were perfectly safe, with no warnings needed. This time.