A Blessedly Normal Day

After seemingly countless busy days and a weekend filled with company, activity, and unexpected events, this morning's cancellation of activities due to icy roads was a welcome relief. Well, for me anyway. The kids were exactly thrilled, but they got over it.

The weekend began with a house full. My niece and nephew were here with their mom. Jake and his family were here too. It is always fun to have everyone together, but with nine kids around, it does get a little crazy. Saturday we decided to go to Hillbilly Hot Dogs, and to a movie. We left the 100 Acre Woods, 16 people in 3 vans, and headed to the restaurant.

This is a local establishment here that celebrates hillbillies and hot dogs. It is hard to explain unless you've been there, but it is an experience. The website does have quite a few pictures, and I think Delilah will probably post some too. The dining room is an old school bus. It is heated with a gas heater. I didn't think much about it. The kids were playing, and Vivian burnt both of her hands on the heater. She cried the whole meal. Tim talked to the owner, who felt really bad she had gotten burned. He said he was going to build something around the heater. I hope he does.

I didn't really realize how bad the burns were until the next day. Her one hand especially blistered up pretty badly. It is healing nicely, but still a bit sore.

We then all piled back into the vehicles. We had a bit of time to kill before the movie, so Mamaw and Papaw were going to give Amy a little tour of Huntington, and our van , and Jake's planned to walk around a shopping area near the theater. Mamaw and Papaw left a few minutes before we did. We drive maybe two miles down the road, and see Mamaw and Papaw's van off to the side, kind of attached to the front of a little pickup.

Quickly we pull over, as people are piling out of the vehicle. The horn of the truck is going off. Broken pieces of lights are everywhere, and fluids are running out of the vehicles. Tim calls 911, and soon there is a fire truck, squad, and sheriff on the scene. Everyone was okay, shaken, but okay. The man that gets out of the truck is old, very old, and frail.

He was turning left to go to the little store there, and turned right in front of my parents. Dad tried to stop, but there just was no time. The man is well known in the store. They have been asking the family for two years to not let him drive. He has had several strokes, one right in the store, a couple of heart attacks, and earlier in the week had pulled out in front of a semi. The accident was avoided only because there was no traffic coming in the other direction and the semi was able to get around the man.

After an accident, any normal family would probably head home. Our family is not normal. We all waited there for sheriff interviews, checks by EMTs, a tow truck to take my parents' vehicle, and for someone to bring back a different vehicle. Of course, by then we had missed our original movie time, so we picked up with the original plan, did a little shopping, and went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. I know, we aren't quite right.

The rest of the weekend was busy, though thankfully, not quite so eventful. Everyone went home yesterday, and today we were supposed to have co-op, and roller skating. Thanks to the icy roads those events were canceled. The kids did school, and whined, and fought. I did laundry, cooked, cleaned, assisted with school, and broke up fights. Ah. . . a blessedly normal day.