Friday Flashback: All Stars:)

Currently Reading: Tried to read Barb Huffert's Questing, but soon lost interest. I've saved my place, though; I don't think the nursing home was the right place to try to read it. I enjoyed Chaos, and since it picks up right after Questing, now I'm eager to return to the first one. I also finished Nicole Morgan's Sudden Devotion and while I found the heroine's lack of confidence a turn-off at first, I DID enjoy the story and found it hard to put down. I started Amber Carleton's Kentucky Woman and am on the second or third chapter.

Print book: I'm more than halfway through Phillipa Gregory's The White Queen. I enjoyed this story at first, but now it's getting tedious. Thankfully, the author differentiates between the characters with the same name, such as 'brother Richard' and 'son Richard'; otherwise, it would be hard to keep up with everyone. Since I loved The Other Boleyn Girl, I was looking forward to this one....but now I'm wondering if I'll even bother reading The Red Queen. Guess time will tell.


2000:
My oldest son made the All-Star team in baseball, and did well. Since it was double elimination, I think they played three games. My SU was roped into being an umpire, and when he called one of our boys out, we thought the kid had made it safely to the base. I cracked up my friends when I muttered, 'A rope, a tree, hang the referee!'

Slow Down!
In the middle of the Girls' Softball Tournament the following weekend, I received a serious lesson in what happens when a) you hit the ground running every day and b) you don't listen to that little voice in your head.

Mon July 10th:
I'd stupidly volunteered to be a 'walker' for the Cub Scouts at Day Camp. My mind was not on the kids' activities; it rained; I nearly broke my ankle when we first arrived at the park by stepping in a hole; later, I fell flat on my face going down a small hill. I was mad at myself for taking on the job, and was looking forward to getting back to the ball field. At the end of the day, I hustled all five scouts into the van, told them to buckle up, and put the van in reverse.

At the turn off to our home, something told me to roll up the windows. But since I'm not a fan of a/c when I'm 'comfortable' (translation: Everyone else in the world is HOT), I left the windows down. Five minutes later, an insect landed on my leg as we were following a slow-poke truck going thirty mph. Yes, I was irritated.

I casually slapped at the insect, then brought my hand up to see what it was. A bee was now crawling across my palm, and in my haste to not get stung and to get it off my hand, I started blowing at it. Next thing I know, the kids are screaming; I've gone off the road and into a cornfield. No problem; I'll just turn the wheels back to the right and get us back on the road.

WHAM! We hit a tree. I put the van into park and look back to see if the kids are okay. The scout beside me in the passenger side is pulling the airbag from his face and one kid has his arm wrapped around the head rest of my seat. I order everyone out, and ignoring the pain in my knee, struggle out of the van and around to the passenger side.

People were already pulling the scouts from the van, and one took me by the arm and tried to get me to lie back. One scout was holding his shoulder and crying; another was holding his mouth; the only thing my son could say was "Mom...Mom...."

I did a head count; everyone was accounted for. A phone was brought; I looked at my watch and called home. No answer. I called a neighbor, and told her to flag down my SU when he went by her house. She told me to hang on; she'd already spotted him. I spoke to him; told him we'd been in an accident, and to please come get us. And after I hung up the phone, I felt faint.

I put my head between my knees, and didn't understand why hands kept pulling me back. I heard the sirens and knew ambulances were on the way. Since we had friends who worked for the ambulance service, I tried to cheer up my panicked eight-year-old by telling him we might see 'Uncle C' and 'Aunt K'. I looked up just as C hopped out of his ambulance, but instead of greeting me with a smile, he looked horrified. That's when I learned my forehead was split open all the way to the nose.

Three of us went to the hospital. The kid who had been in the front had bitten his tongue when the airbag deployed; I had hit the steering wheel as mine hadn't deployed. The child behind me who had NOT buckled his seat belt was okay; his buddy by the door had a broken collarbone from the shoulder harness. The two in back, who had also ignored the 'buckle up' command, were okay, although one was limping and the other had glass in his hair from hitting the window.

We made the paper the next day, and for several weeks later, I was known as 'The Bee Lady'. And I was also not happy, because the EMT's had to cut my favorite shirt from me, in case of a neck injury. I was fine; just a concussion and a banged up knee. Nothing broken; just nineteen stitches in my forehead.

Slowly Returning To 'Normal'
The mountain of food is slowly disappearing; Mom's clothing has been sorted; today we drop off the donations in her name and figure out what to do with the flowers. My SU also has to get his butt over to the unemployment office, as another extension has been approved. I also finished his disability application yesterday afternoon, so we have to drop off paperwork at the local office. And tomorrow I go back to the Farmer's Market again. Wish me luck:) Apparently, some of the ladies who had come to the funeral had seen me last Saturday. At the bereavement dinner, one of Mom's dear friends came up and asked, 'Molly, are you an author or something?'

Nice to know the community is finally beginning to notice me!