Some of my favorite moments in life are the ones you don't expect. I'm sure it is the same with others. I love hearing stories from my elders that have an age limit. They usually start out something like, "I think you're old enough for me to tell you the story." Well, here it is. I think Michael and I are old enough that I can tell this story now.
It was a sunny weekend afternoon, we think it was a Saturday. It was a day we were babysitting K, A, and L. The afternoon started out as original as it could have possibly been. The girls wanted to have chicken strips for lunch, yum. I believe it was Uncle M that was home with us, cooking the food, but I may be wrong. As time went on we realized there was no ketchup and it'd be nice to have some with lunch. So Mickey and I set out on our adventure with one goal: to retrieve the ketchup.
The local grocery store seemed to be the best choice as it was closer than any other store and had a wide enough variety to include ketchup. I wish choosing a grocery store was the biggest of our problems that day but it wasn't. We left the store, ketchup in hand, and got in the car to return for lunch. This is where our afternoon took a turn for the worst.
"Let's drive down Wienert Road." I suggested. We weren't in a hurry, I'm sure Mickey didn't pay for his own gas at the time, and we were in the mood for a random, completely innocent, detour. Being the invicible, reckless teenagers we were, Mickey had an idea.
"Wanna see me fishtail?" He asked.
"No." I replied without even considering it. He fishtailed anyway. At this point in the story the opinions are split. First I will tell you Mickey's version: After intentionally fishtailing he hit some loose gravel and the car, on its own, fishtailed to the side of the road where it was stuck in about 6 inches of loose gravel. My version: Mickey intentionally fishtailed against my will and landed us in about 6 inches of loose gravel. I will leave it up to you to decide who has the better memory.
So here we are, stuck on the side of Wienert road, between Johnny's house and Coleman Road. Flashbacks of the time we got the Mule stuck ran through my head as Mickey went into a panic. Relaxed, I suggested the old "dig out the tires and shove sticks underneath" trick. No luck. Two teens trying to push a boat of a nineteen ninety something Mercury Cougar out of quicksand in the middle of the country is a frightening thought to me now. Apparently it was also frightening for an aged, overweight, toothless man passing by. His rusted car slowed as we dreaded what was about to happen. The car came to a stop on the side of the road, right in front of us. He came out and my mind raced as I saw a tangible Jeff Foxworthy joke right in front of me. As he asked if we needed help we had a hard time replying, "Yes." He must have gotten part of the message because he proceeded to help us out of the loose gravel. We got back into the car, safe, and on the way to lunch once again with our ketchup and a vow to reveal the story "at the right time."
It is safe to say I've consulted with Mickey on this and he agreed that we are both old enough to disclose this story. You might be wondering what happened when we finally returned with the condiment in hand. When asked, "What took so long?" we simply answered a generic answer that neither of us could recall. I'm sure there are some misalignments with the real happenings due to the fact that it's been about 4 or 5 years since it happened but somewhere Mrs. Grabmeyer might have it on a VHS tape. The next week in school we both used it as our speech in Speech class. Finally, don't worry, there aren't more where this came from.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
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15 comments:
I will tell you my memory of this situation. When you came back with your crazy excuses of why it took so long, I remember saying to Marv "there's more to this story". Secrets are good. Just don't blab everything. I don't even want to know.
When Joni and I were talking four or five days ago about her posting this story, we talked pretty in depth about it.
What I thought was funny, more than how ridiculous this situation ended up, was the fact that yes, we each used this story as a speech in Mrs. Grabmeyer's class. The same speech, in fact (the taped one). So, for some reason, we were completely unwilling to tell anyone in our family, but were more than willing to tell the story on tape.
And by the way, yes I did pay for my own gas.
Pretty sure, with maybe the exception of the first couple months of driving, I've always paid for my own gas.
You know, J, that works both ways. There are things your parents (and aunts and uncles) did that you haven't been told either. Little by little those stories will come out.
I do remember the first time we told our mother what we were really doing outside all day. I believe we had been told not to ride on the oil wells and climb the derricks. Ha! And that is all I am going to say about that.
I remember being at lunch with Aunt C and Mom and maybe Grandma? Regardless, Sarah and I were there and we were quite intrigued by the story of Aunt C growing a pot plant in the window of Grandma and Papa's house at the some point... THERE'S a good "when you're older" story!!!
Haha, I feel like this was a very enjoyable post.
That pot story was going to be future blog fodder at some point. I didn't know you were actually paying attention to our stories.
haha the pot one always stands out to me too
i want to know why mickey was trying to fishtail with a front wheel drive car.
and the whole pot plant thing, i don't even know where to start with that one.
Kids, they don't think we know what they are up to but they forget we were once their age too.
I too will have future post about things in the past. Stories that most have heard already but what you may have heard are rumors or half truths. I am going to tell the "real" story.
Just so everyone knows there was a grow light on that pot plant too.
Since everyone thinks they know the story about the pot plant, where did I get those seeds from?
Fly or K. Methner.
It's not an "or" question. She got them from Kim. I believe at this stage, Fly was still claiming to be drug free.
Yes, cousin Kim.
Actually, Joni, come to think of it, there is one more (and only one more) where this came from.
However, I think we should wait quite a bit longer to disclose that.
Since we waited, what, five years for this?
So in another four, we can tell the next one.
Ha ha.
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