this is how my morning began

The phone in my Econolodge motel room rang at 7:25am this morning, 5:25am LA time. I'd been up until midnight southern time this morning and, being stuffed full of crappy Mexican Food, slept terribly. My family has congregated in Charleston, MO, and by family I mean every brother/sister my father has with all my many cousins plus their spouses and 2nd cousin children. We'd eaten late, got to bed late, and at 7:25am, I was up too early.

Mom was on the other end of the line. "May-ree. I need you to come down here this very minute."

"Mom, why are you calling this early...actually, why are you calling?" I was too tired to be mad but I mustered up a tone to my voice.

"Please just come down here," she said and hung up. 'Down here' meant her room two doors down. I sat up in bed and tried to guess. Snake in the room? Rat? Alien? I couldn't imagine anything could be wrong with Dad cause if he'd had a heart attack or something, she'd be screaming and panicked. Instead, she just sounded scared.

I got up, yawned and looked over at my sister in the other queen-sized bed. She'd pulled the covers up over her head and curled into the comforter as if in a cocoon. Lot of good she was going to do me. I then decided just to walk over to my parent's room in my nightshirt and panties. It's the south, we're in the middle of nowhere, so who cares? I shuffled to the door and opened it. There stood Mom, looking sheepish and ringing her tiny hands.

"It's okay," she said with that 'please don't be mad at me' tone and looked up at me nervously (she knows how petite she is and uses that to her advantage from time to time). "I found him."

"Who?" I asked, giving her the 'I'm not mad but why do you do these things?' look.

"Your father," now here her tone changed. She was pissed. "He's been out since 2:30 this morning! Didn't get back here until now!"

"Out?" Huh? "Doing what, Mom?"

"Riding his bike!" She said this as if she'd answered, "Screwing a hooker!"

"Dad's been out riding his bike since 2:30am?" Mom continued. I was truly impressed if not a little baffled. Turns out that Dad, who normally works at night, couldn't sleep. So, he got up and just rode around for hours around the parking lot and local streets in the dark. Mother thought he'd been run over by a truck or, worse, abducted by an alien (I'm kinda not kidding here as she believes that's possible).

I found humor in all this even if I was beyond exhausted and was in the middle of a wonderful dream when she had called a few moments earlier. As I began to snicker, Dad pulled up on his bike, and we all proceeded to their room two doors down. My father then got his ass handed to him (somewhat...Mom really loves him and really was worried) and I was told to hurry up and dress so that I could have breakfast in the lobby (the free one that Econolodge provides).

That's how my morning began. Since then, it's been a lot of southern food, cousins, time with Grammy and a short but gorgeous ride on the completely flat back roads.

It was so pretty out there, with farms, horses and tractors. The air is so thickly perfumed with honeysuckle, you can almost taste the nectar as you ride. It's definitely humid and a bit warm, but when riding, the air is cool to the skin. I only spent an hour out there.

I knew my Dad was anxious for me to get back and visit. He was going to ride with me but he was torn between a ride or visiting with his brothers. I insisted he stay at Grandma's house while I rode solo. He doesn't see all of his clan but every five to ten years and this was a good chance to do so. However, I needed a ride and was determined to get one! With the food I've been eating the past few days, I'm just barely holding on to 'pudgy' and dangerously approaching fat if I'm not careful!

After the ride, I finally showered, put on makeup (like all the women in my family do) and got dressed. We have the big picnic reunion in the afternoon (catered in a local park) but we (Mom, Dad and JT) decided to head to Boomland for lunch. Boomland is this giant touristy fireworks/grocery store with a cafeteria in the back. I had a pork steak, green beans (boiled with salt) & baked beans. I'm craving a salad. Not getting any fresh greens until we return to TN tomorrow. Oh, well, when in Rome...(or in this case, when in BFE...)