Sunday, December 7, 2008

My Family Tree Bears A Few Nuts!

So last Saturday was an interesting day for me. I got the wonderful pleasure of going clear to Rapid City to Christmas shop. Yay, sounds exciting, right? Umm you are highly mistaken.. This lovely Saturday started off with a phone call from my mother telling me that I should be ready to leave in about a half an hour because Aunt Jeanne and the Grands would be on their way to pick me up. Now, I had probably fallen asleep between 2:30 or 3:00 that morning and really had no idea what time it was when she called. After I incoherently mumbled ok and goodbye to her on the phone I checked the time and had to rub my eyes to make sure I was seeing this correctly. 4:55 in the AM!?! Are you serious? I layed back down and cuddled up in my nice warm blanket dreading the long day I was about to face with only two hours of sleep. I soon hopped right out of bed, knowing if I had not I would undoubtedly fall back asleep and be rudely awakened with another phone call telling me that they were outside of High Rise and I need to get my butt down there! So I got all beautified (well to the best I could at 5 in the morning on 2 hours of sleep) and then went downstairs to start my day. Now I get outside to get into the car. (which by the way was still pitch dark outside because even the sun was still too tired to get up so early!) Well I of course have to sit in the back seat of Aunt Jeanne's car right smack dab in the middle of Grandma and Grandpa! And when they first arrived Grandma didn't want to get out of the car so I literally had to crawl over Grandma, in fear of falling down and smothering her with my body. But after I ninja-ed myself over her and got situated I realized I still had the task of buckling my seat belt ahead of me. This seems like a pretty easy task, right? WRONG! First of all, I had to dig and search all over the stupid car seat trying to find the belt after that was accomplished I then had to safely secure it. I struggled and struggled trying to get my seat belt at the safest and most comfortable size and when I finally did that, the real fun part.. I physically had to grope my own grandfather, maneuvering my hands to places that they most definitely DO NOT belong! Then finally, yes, success!! So now that I am safely secured in, we were headed out of Chadron. Now about 5 miles out of Chadron my Grandma already insisted on telling her oh so famous, but not appropriate jokes. I of course start off, politely listening to her until the pun is totally destroyed and the joke ends up making no sense to me whatsoever! Soon after her several attempts, Grandpa then realizes that he really has to pee! Oh great! We are barely out of town and the bladders are already full! So we drive a little farther and then pull into a rest stop. Mom and Grandma then are yelling at Grandpa and Jeanne that they should not go down to the outhouse because who knows what kind of nutjob is sleeping in there just patiently waiting for full-bladdered truckers. They of course, ignore them and go to the outhouse anyways to do their deed. Ends up Grandpa takes alot longer than expected and have Mom and Grandma in a paranoid state the whole time. Grandpa finally comes back and of course has to mention the situation in WAY too much details, which has us all laughing and slightly disturbed. Back on the road again and in strange conversation, I grabbed for my heavenly ipod. As I turn it on and start to jam out, my ipod starts frantically skipping from song to song in a chaotic manner. In panic mode, I start freaking out. My only escape to sanity and it fails me!! Nuh Uh! Not happening! As I start to whimper and complain out loud I finally got it fixed and was at rest. I then was at peace for around an hour until we reached Rapid! When we entered Rapid we headed to our first shopping destination, Shopko! I was pretty excited, simply for the fact that I didn't have to be smushed like a sardine any longer. We go into the store kinda go our separate ways and all do our thing. After we meet back up and are ready to leave Mom then realizes that the weather has shifted and it is starting to snow! Oh man! Of course, she starts to immediately freak out and obsess about how if it starts to snow and freeze that she does not want to stay here. She then began constantly yelling at Jeanne to slow down because if its slick outside she will slide right into something! During all of this we stop at a few more places and get our shopping done, all feeling quite successful with our purchases. Then noon hits and a decision must be made! Where are we gonna eat?! Of course, no one cares, wherever, but oh man not there and definitely not there! And we can't go there.. So after some yelling and fighting and stubborn minded individuals we agree upon Burger King. We finally arrive to our second choice Burger King across town to eat. Grandma and Grandpa stare at the menu in awe and confusion having no idea what to order considering nothing on the menu is from Arby's! We then all order our food and start to eat. We then argue some more and then laugh about everything that has happened throughout the day and of course laugh some more when the family curse occurs and mom spills food all over her chest and must go to the restroom to clean it up. Then everyone finishes eating besides Grandma and mom starts walking out to the car, causing Grandma to inhale her food just so we wouldn't leave her there in the Rapid Burger King. I watched her in fear that she would start choking and I would have to give her the hemlich or worse, mouth to mouth!! We all were growing rather weary and tired already and were excited to know that we only had two more stores ahead of us. After some more shopping and some calloused feet we were ready to head back home!It had been a long and tiring day and I think we all were ready to crash. The ride back home made me realize that even though my family might be slightly crazy and I can become annoyed that I am soo lucky to have them as my family! We all just drove home in good conversation, some good singing christmas songs (who cares if the lyrics are completely wrong), and some good ole road trip games. After we returned to Chadron I definitely was ready to go back to the dorms and be myself and unwind, but I realized that I do have a bunch of amazing relatives and am so lucky to have them in my life. I love you all even if you are crazy! :)