I'm Afraid To Ask...

..."What else can happen?"

I am painfully aware that this blog is filled with one story after another concerning the drama in my world. But it just N E V E R ends! Sometimes it's funny, sometimes not so much. In cases like the one I'm about to write, it's not funny when it's happening, but a few days later it is something to laugh about.

Last Tuesday, Sister went and bought our tickets to the rodeo for this past weekend. She picked out really awesome seats and we were so excited all week long. Before the rodeo, we ate Mexican with my aunt and uncle and Cousin and her family. As a result, we picked up two extra passengers from the restaurant to the Civic Center - two of Cousin's kids. As we were parking, Sister said, "I'm going to get my ticket out now so that I don't have to search for it when we get in there." "Good idea," I said. "I'll do that too." So I reached into my wallet and pulled out my ticket. I distinctly remember doing that. I know that at that precise moment, I had my ticket in my hand. However, that is the last recollection I have of said ticket. As we were on our way inside, we were almost blown over by the wind. We got inside and used the restroom, then met up with everyone to head on into the arena. Wait. Where's my ticket? I know I had it. It's gotta be in this purse. It's not in here... Where is it... I had it right here... Great. Now I'm gonna have to hike my happy tail right back to the car. Back to the car I go. It's not anywhere in plain sight, so I started to dig. I found a flashlight. It didn't work. I'm getting all wind-blown, and have no brush because it too is hiding someplace in my car. The ticket is nowhere to be found. Needless to say I was having a total come-apart by now. Sister was there with me, and she was trying to help and make suggestions. Bless her heart. I was just screaming and yelling my head off like I had been possessed. She just stood there and took it. She was so understanding. Feeling I was at the end of my rope, I remembered that a few months ago, I had misplaced someone else's tickets to an event and it was very easy to get them replaced. We headed to the ticket office. I was right. In less than two minutes, the wonderfully sweet lady had printed me a new ticket. We took our awesome seats and the rodeo commenced. Not that it was waiting on us to get started...

I went outside to smoke during the intermission. There were three different times when the wind literally almost knocked me over. I didn't even have to flick the ashes of my cigarette because the wind was taking them off for me. And of course, I saw several people that I knew out there. Sis went out with me and was on the phone with her friend. He was home watching the news and giving us an update on the weather. A strong storm system - the one that wiped a town in Arkansas off the map - was on its way in and should have been arriving just as we would be leaving to head home. Great. Driving in tornadoes. That's my favorite. When we left, everything was wet but it was not raining anymore. The wind was still blowing though. As we were on our way home, the radio was reporting on the storm; it was about 10 minutes behind us. I was driving and Sis was with me - on the phone as usual. I had my window down while I was smoking, and then continued to cruise down the highway with it cracked. It occurred to me that Sis might could hear better if I rolled up the window. I pull the little button, and wouldn't you know it... the window did not budge. What the crap! I'm jiggling the window and the button... nothing. For whatever reason, I thought that it might help the window get back on track if I rolled it down further. Wrong. That was one of those moments when common sense flew out the window - so to speak. Riding down the road with the window down wasn't bad at all. The weather was cool but comfortable. What had me concerned was that the rain was just minutes behind me and there is no place at home where I could park it under a covering. I dropped Sis off at her car and wasted no time getting on to the house.
The story goes a little "white trash" right here. Hmmm... what could I do to keep my car from getting wet? Hey, I could put something in the crack of the window. But what would stay? A blanket? No, it wouldn't stay and might not hold out the water either. A tarp? Yeah, that would work, but who knows where I could find that. What about a garbage bag? That would work, but how would I get it to stay? Think. Think. Think. I ran into the house and grabbed two garbage bags and some Scotch tape. How ridiculous is that? I ran back out and taped my little heart out. Roommate came home right about then and helped me. The wind was whipping up pretty good and I was afraid that the bags might not hold. That was around 11:30 or so. By 12:30, it was coming a flood and the wind sounded like it was ripping through the house. I almost had a panic attack wondering if those garbage bags were staying on my car. I went out to check on them, and mercifully, they were holding. I left my car parked in the driveway yesterday and drove Roommate's new car. Which I love by the way. Today I had to drive her truck to work so that a man from church could come to the house and fix my window. He called me at lunch. "Was it just off track," I asked. "No," he said. "There was a piece of trash under the switch. So it wouldn't let the switch do it's job. I just took that little piece of trash out and it's working fine." Hmmm... I wonder if that piece of trash was my ticket to the rodeo?