I was Hiding

I had an experience with Lil Red this week that jogged a memory. In telling my mom about it she said I should write it down, so here it is.
When I was about 10, my grandparents who lived across the way from us often had charge over my brother and sisters and I. One such time my older sister was off when my Mom and Dad and my brother and I had been given chores to do. I had finished mine and was enjoying doing nothing when my brother came in and was whining about having to pick up the trash that strewn all over the lawn by the dogs which was his fault anyways for not having put the lid on the trash holder. Anyways, he has done NONE of it and comes in and says he needs help and so my push over grandparents ;) asked me to go out and help them. "I did my chores!".
"Just go out and help him! He's younger than you."
So I begrudgingly walked over to the closet to get my coat and go out help him. As I opened the closet door I looked back and realized that noone was watching me. I quickly slipped inside the closet and closed the door and hid behind the coats. After a long while, (or it seemed so to me), my brother came in and asked if I wasn't coming to help. That confused my grandparents since they KNEW I'd gone outside a while ago. Grandma came to the door and yelled for me. I didn't respond. Now we lived in the country on what seemed like alot of property back then and is compared to most these days. My grandfather got around on a tractor because he lost a leg in a freak log accident. When I didn't come after they did a cursory search and alot of yelling, Grandpa came to the closet and reached out to get his coat. I remember holding my breath because I knew he was going to discover me. But he didn't and went out on the tractor and started hunting for me. I was trying not to laugh as I heard all of the commotion, thinking of how I'd tricked them. At the same time a bit of anxiety started to seep in as I realized that I was good and trapped now. Because how could I come out and say what I'd done without getting a major spanking. As I set there pondering my situation I heard my Grandma say to Penny, a cousin staying with them at the time, " I sure hope Lester doesn't have a heart attack." She said some other things as well, but the point that sank in was that I was causing my Grandfather physical distress and I didn't want anything to happen to him even if it meant that I got in trouble. So I came out of the closet and walked into the kitchen which was right next to the closet. My Grandma, stunned face, said, "where have you been?".
Head down, in a mumble,"in the closet".
I don't think I got in trouble, they were to happy that I hadn't run away and gotten hurt. Which brings me back to present day.
I was trying to get out the door to run to Home Depot for Big Red and had loaded Lil Red into the car when I realized I didn't have my purse and I needed to pee really really bad. I ran insided and was back out in 2 minutes. Not kidding, I really can pee that fast. Anyways I come back to the car and no Lil Red. I knew I hadn't seen him inside as I ran through the house. All I could think of is that he'd decided to cross the road and go for a walk like he does with his Dad. And I start screaming for him, hoping he's hiding behind a tree. Big Red hears me yelling and says, "he isn't in the car?"
"No"
"Go check in the house"
He continued to look outside as I headed for the house. I walked back by the car as I was heading inside continuing to yell for him and now a couple of precious minutes have ticked by. And I hear his sweet voice from the back of the car, "I'm here Mom! I was hiding!" accompanied by a proud grin. I think it was karma. And I totally get how I didn't get in trouble the relief was way to great!

Slice of Life#26 The Big Thank you

My big Thank you just came today. I mean I've recieved wonderful 'thank you's' from my husband and friends and kids, but this one was so unexpected it made me cry. Some people may not even consider it a thank you, but I did because I know that it was meant that way. There is a inactive sister in our ward that has been taking the missionary lessons with her common law husband and I have been participating in the lessons. It's been amazing being a part of their journey. Well their family is moving towards baptism and the temple and one of the steps is for them to get married. She cornered me after church today and asked if I would be her Matron of Honor. I was so touched that I almost started to cry. She explained that she didn't have any real family close by and not that many friends, but that she would love for me to be a part of it. The funny thing is, is that just this past week I was thinking that while I had been a bridesmaid for my two sisters weddings that I had never been a Maid of Honor of Matron of Honor, and wondered what that would be like to be chosen b/c you had a special bond with the bride. Now I know :)
It's a major honor and I'm so excited to be a part of Her happy day.

Slice of Life #18 Random Picture and Even More Random Post

I love this picture of me and my Mom. I can remember many a journey in this back back. As we got older and more little ones came along, I can vividly remember fighting over who would get to ride in it. We didn't want to be told that we were to big for it. I think the great love for it was for three reasons. #1 When you were riding back there, you got to see things at the same level that your parent did. It's always cool to be taller and see farther and more, right? :)
#2 Also you were able to be close to Mom and Dad and still have freedom to move about from side to side and not be super restrained. And last but not least, you had no problem keeping up because you were attached, lol! And Mom or Dad got to do all the work, he he. My Mom and I were talking the other day about how we liked these better than the frontal pouches of today. These were great because they lasted for toting the kid around till they were atleast 3. Although my boys are so big, maybe that wouldn't be true for me ;)
I love the scarf in my Mom's hair. Maybe I picked up my love of wearing scarfs like that from her. Never thought about it before. This is a favorite picture of her for me. She told me that we were at Foss Lake in this picture, which is in Oklahoma, where my Grandparents had a trailer by the lake. My Grandpa had a thing for fishing. He tried to pass it on to us grandkids, but unless my brother takes it up, I think it was lost cause. I've been a handful of times as an adult, but I'll never need a fishing license. I would love to go deep sea fishing, just once. I got close to going once, but the trip fell through at the last minute. Anyways, I digress. Needless to say as this picture shows I LOVE my Mom! And I love that people say I look like her. Who wouldn't love that when they see what a cute hottie she was ;)

Slice of Life #17 Chore Memory

The picture on the prompt sparked a memory of a chore that was partial punishement and life lesson handed to us kids by Mom. I remember my Mom coming upstairs to grab the laundry to do and finding a whole bunch of clothes she'd just cleaned down on the floor where they had gotten dirty again but never worn. It must have been like the hundreth time she'd gotten irritated over it, so she and Dad had a talk. They pulled us together and told us that we needed to take better care of our clothes and appreciate the modern conveniences that we had and not take them forgranted. So....(I believe it was for a week, maybe it was longer, it sure seemed like it, lol)....we were to do our own laundry with a scrub board in the bath tub. It worked for me. That was alot of work. To this DAY, I am still grateful for washers and dryers. Most of my growing up we hung out our clothes on the line. That eats up alot of time and hear in Texas near the coast, you have constant little showers that you have to watch out for. I'm thinking I've felt the same way a time or two lately with my older boys. They better watch out or Mom will be running to the hardware store for a bucket and a wash board ;)

My Football Players B-day

That's right! My skinny boy has decided to take on the big and the stocky, lol. He is very hyped. We just got together on Monday to celebrate his birthday and have some fun at a pizza buffet game place. The pics are above. Lil Red was ADD with all the games to play. Kept his Daddy very busy, lol. What was cute was watching him put two coins in the coin slots at a time, hate to see him in Vegas ;)
My lil piglet, now named because he constantly squeals, was wrapped up in Grandmommy's arms because he was so cold. And what does she do, lol, feed him icecream! Although with two teeth coming in that morning, he wasn't really complaining.
And yes Mr. Cool left his sunglasses on the whole time. I would think he was a vampire if I didn't witness myself that he sleeps like a log at night and is very active during the day. Both of the boys are adjusting well to their new schools and it looks like this will definitely be a good year for everyone :)

Prompt #14: Sneaky Snake Goes Dancin'

Okay I don't think the snake was dancing, but it was definitely being sneaky. My story is when a friend and I, we must have been 16 at the time, had been left to baby sit my brother, 3 years younger than me, and my two younger sisters and toddler brother. For some reason I didn't have on my glasses, and you have to realize that the last time a doctor told me my actual vision stats it was 20/200 and this was sometime around then, lol. So I was walking around the house blind, and my friend was getting my toddler brother to stop playing with the phone when she sees this snake right there by the phone! She scoops him up and shaking in her boots says, Miss Sunshine, " there is a snake over there by the phone!" In a very imperative whisper. I think she didn't want to upset the snake and I don't blame her, lol. So I, not believing her and thinking she saw the telephone cord or something, laughingly walk over to check it out. I'm blind, remember. So as I stick my head down to peer at the phone I came almost nose to nose with that snake! I really can't remember point A to point B at that point, lol. But somehow I got everybody screaming and hollering out the door and lickety split over to Grandma's house which was about a yard away. She gave us a stick or a shovel, can't remember which and told us to go back and kill it. So we took my 3 year younger brother and stood on the porch shouting encouragement and let him be the brave warrior, lol. He couldn't find it. I didn't think I'd ever sleep again. My Dad found it about a week later and according to my Mom grabbed the first thing he could get a hold of which was a spatula and kept stunning it while he yelled for her to get him a shovel or anything that would kill it. It turned out to be a copperhead! I've not seen any since moving to Houston, but I know there out there and hope they stay hidden!