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But… (Part 3)
On Friday 01/07/2011 myself, my husband, our 17 month old daughter, my mother, my sister, my brother-in-law, and my 7 month old nephew embarked on a road trip from PA to FL to surprise my grandparents for their 60th wedding anniversary. I had visions of sleeping in and sitting around the vacation villa writing blog posts to my little heart’s content while my daughter played with her cousin and was supervised by the four other adults present. BUT…things didn’t quite work out like that. This is Part 3 of my story…
Read But…Part 1 and But…Part 2 first!
We managed to get Adaline to take her medicine and her fever broke after only a day. When asking my husband to fill up her bottle with some fresh soy milk before bed he and my mother discovered that for the past day I had been giving my daughter spoiled soy milk (and the Mother of the Year Award goes to…not me!). Poor baby. No wonder she didn’t want to take her bottle. The milk didn’t give her the fever since she had the fever prior to me opening up the brand new, factory sealed container of soy milk (with a May 2011 expiration date) for her in the van on Saturday. It may, however, have contributed to the vomiting experience we had.
Adaline decided that after be traumatized by a long, grueling ride strapped into a car seat with a fever while being force-fed spoiled soy milk that the only way that she was going to sleep on Saturday night, and Sunday night, and Monday night would be directly on my chest. She would take naps the same way (if she napped at all). That’s okay, though, right? Because with all of the sleep that she’s getting now surely she’ll be in a great mood during the days and I can get some rest while her Grandma and others take turns fawning over her.
But…
Adaline napped on Mommy throughout the trip
Adaline also decided that she would want to be attached to me every single minute of every single day or incessantly cry “Mama!” until your ears would bleed. Daddy? No, thank you. Grandma? No, thank you. Aunt Jessie or Uncle Matt? No, thank you. Mommy? Yes, please! All Mommy, all the time.
Mommy while sleeping, Mommy while awake, on Mommy’s lap while she uses the toilet, Mommy in the bathtub with me when I take a bath, on Mommy’s lap while she tries to eat.
Walking with Mommy? No, thank you. Strapped to Mommy in an Ergo Baby Carrier? Yes, please. Sitting next to Mommy? No thank, you. Sitting on Mommy’s lap clinging to her like a baby monkey? Yes, please.
Oh, the separation anxiety…it was extreme, intense, severe, and unlike anything I’d ever experienced in my life. Luckily as the week went on she became a little more herself. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights she slept in the pack-n-play. And while she still wanted to be attached to me a good bit of the time she began to warm up to the rest of the family again and let them hold her on occasion and she began playing a lot more. We would be heading back home soon and hopefully the return trip would go much better since Adaline was feeling well.
But…
Adaline's attached to Mommy
On Thursday we spent all day at the Magic Kingdom and it was cold. Friday morning Adaline woke up with a wet sounding cough and a mildly runny nose and…her diaper had exploded. I’m not talking about some wet jammies…I mean that the diaper busted open and she was covered in pee-filled gel. We had to go right directly into the tub to try to wash the junk off of her. The runny nose and cough must’ve made it hard for her to sleep, so she slept on my chest again on Friday night (and left an outrageous amount of drool soaking on my shoulder). We left for home around 9am on Saturday morning. We planned on stopping to stay at hotel again since the whole “driving straight through” thing didn’t work for us the last time. Adaline did really well. Although she had her moments from time to time she was pretty quiet through most of the trip and took regular naps (one of them lasting three hours).
Adaline sleeping during the trip home
Dominic, however, did not fair so well. On the first trip he slept most of the way and was quiet and happy when he was awake. Not so this time. He didn’t sleep as well and when he’d wake up he was screaming and it was near impossible to calm him down. He wanted out of that car seat in the worst way. He was kinda driving us all crazy, waking up Adaline from her naps, and the whole thing was really upsetting my sister. She wanted to stop at a hotel (so that he could wake up screaming in his pack-n-play every 45 minutes rather than the van?). We were making great time and Adaline was really behaving so we wanted to keep driving as long as we could.
But…
(To be continued on Friday 01/28)
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But… (Part 2)
On Friday 01/07/2011 myself, my husband, our 17 month old daughter, my mother, my sister, my brother-in-law, and my 7 month old nephew embarked on a road trip from PA to FL to surprise my grandparents for their 60th wedding anniversary. I had visions of sleeping in and sitting around the vacation villa writing blog posts to my little heart’s content while my daughter played with her cousin and was supervised by the four other adults present. BUT…things didn’t quite work out like that. This is my story…
Read But…Part 1 first!
West Virginia decided to greet us with a snow storm. It was dark and it was snowing quite a bit. You couldn’t see the lines on the road. You couldn’t really see the road itself. Had it only been dark and not snowing or had it been snowing but in the daytime, there wouldn’t have been any problem. We were creeping along at 30 miles an hour. I envisioned us needing to pull to side of the road trying to keep the tired babies warm and then getting slammed into by another car that lost control. Never underestimate the ominous feeling of an intuitive woman (or me 😉 ). I spotted a sign for a Sleep Inn in 8 miles. My husband reluctantly stopped at the hotel. We weren’t making good time so there was no need to put our lives in danger braving the elements. At the hotel we decided that the ladies and kids would stay in one room and the fellas and the cold medicine would stay in another room. This way the guys will be sure to get the sleep that they needed to drive in the morning and we could get our tired babies a good night’s sleep in the pack-n-plays versus the car seats.
But…
Adaline would not sleep in her pack-n-play. I had to put her in bed with me (something I’ve never done before). She wouldn’t lie next to me, but rather slept on my chest the whole night. I did not sleep at all because aside from the fact that I was afraid to fall asleep and either crush my daughter or send her rolling off of the bed, I was also kept awake by a freight train driving right through the room my mom snoring and hungry screaming pterodactyls my nephew waking up crying every 45 minutes (*sweet dreams, Jenn*). Nonetheless I wasn’t too concerned about myself and rather just wanted my precious daughter to get a good night’s sleep so that she’d be more pleasant for the rest of the drive in the morning.
But…
I'm so refreshed after my night of (no) sleep and the pack-n-plays that weren't slept in
On Friday before we left on the trip I thought that Adaline felt a tad warm. In the van I thought she felt even warmer but figured it might just be from all of the screaming and crying she was doing. In the morning she felt just as warm if not warmer and after making all of the other adults touch her forehead we agreed that she had a fever. Naturally I had no thermometer to confirm this and no infant medicine to administer to her anyway. The poor darling girl screamed and cried and fussed most of the day. She didn’t want her bottle, although she drank it from time to time. She was miserable and she wanted me to hold her. Of course I could not because she needed to stay strapped in. Finally we were able to get some infant medicine at one of the convenient stores. Now I could give her medicine to break her fever and she’ll feel better much better for the rest of the trip.
But…
This irritating toy kept Adaline quiet for a short time while Cool Daddy was trying to get some rest.
I put the medicine in…and it came right back out. Adaline threw up for the very first time in her life in a van in a parking lot of some random rest stop. She had it all over her sleeper, on me, and on her cousin Dominic’s Glow Worm. I wasn’t going to try to give it to her again. She was nearly hysterical while crying and grasping onto me for dear life. Somehow I managed to get her cleaned up and back into her car seat. It wasn’t pretty, but we made it to Orlando after 10pm on Saturday night. Once we could get settled into the vacation villa and get Adaline some medicine and some regular sleep in her pack-n-play she’ll be back to normal.
But…
(To be continued on Wednesday 01/26 and Friday 01/28. Read But…Part 1.)
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But… (Part 1)
On Friday 01/07/2011 myself, my husband, our 17 month old daughter, my mother, my sister, my brother-in-law, and my 7 month old nephew embarked on a road trip from PA to FL to surprise my grandparents for their 60th wedding anniversary. I had visions of sleeping in and sitting around the vacation villa writing blog posts to my little heart’s content while my daughter played with her cousin and was supervised by the four other adults present. BUT…things didn’t quite work out like that. This is my story… Pay no attention to the sleeping old woman with the monkey on her head, this photo is about me having the flu.
On New Year’s Eve I got the flu. And the flu decided to hang on to me for a week wherein I drowned myself with some sort of disgusting liquid medicine (with an ice cream chaser to kill the taste) and slept as often as I had someone around to watch my daughter. By Friday January 7 I was feeling 95% better.
But…
On Friday we (myself, my 17 month old daughter, my husband, my mother, my sister and brother-in-law, and my 7 month old nephew) intended to drive from PA to FL in order to surprise my grandparents for their 60th wedding anniversary. The plan was to leave in the evening around 6ish, which is normally my daughter’s bedtime, in hopes that she would drift off to sleep in the van and snooze her normal 13 hours while we drove over half of the trip.
But…
Adaline about 2 hours before we left.
My brother-in-law got tied up at work and one thing led to another and they didn’t end up getting to my house until 7pm or later. I’m not really sure as I think I blocked a lot of it out. Between the excitement of so many family members descending on the house at once and the fact that it was over an hour past her bedtime sweet Adaline was overly tired. Surely she’ll drift right off to sleep in the van.
But…
We strapped this poor over tired baby into a car seat (which she normally doesn’t mind) and she was very upset. I tried going through her night time routine in the van giving her the same doll and pacifier, reading the same books, singing the same songs. It was all for naught as she continued to cry and request “up” out of car seat (She would also randomly request “Elmo”, “Bottle”, and “Baby” but each time I attempted to fulfill her request she shoved the item away and said “No!”). She would repeatedly say “itchy” and then I would attempt to scratch her neck or back while she was still strapped into the car seat. She would fall asleep from time to time but while awake she was just miserable. We weren’t far into our trip, maybe about three hours when it was time for my husband to take over driving the midnight shift. He’s used to working shift work for his job, so driving this time of night should be no trouble for him.
But…
Despite getting the flu shot my darling Cool Daddy had caught my flu. He had managed to keep it away all week while he was taking care of me, but on Friday it hit him. He got worse as the night went on and he was coughing and sniffling and just plain tired. He hadn’t taken any medicine because he needed to drive. Good thing we would be driving straight through and getting to FL on Saturday afternoon so that my man and my baby girl could get some much needed sleep. But…
(To be continued on Monday 01/24, Wednesday 01/26, and Friday 01/28)
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Age 17 12th Grade: In School Suspension
This is the 14th and final post in a 12 week series joining
Mommy’s Piggy Tales to record my youth!
I’m also linking this up to Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop
2.) A rule I broke. Note that the other links embedded in my first paragraph are also of the same topic so you’ll want to check those out. I never realized how many rules I’d broken until I started writing about my childhood!
1996-1997
12th Grade
In School Suspension
While sharing my “Piggy Tales” with you, I’ve repeatedly said what a good, compliant, obedient, child I was and how I never got in to any trouble. I’m not sure if you believe me now after reading about how I lied about my birthday, took my bra off at school, tricked my friends out of their money, wouldn’t stop talking in class, ditched my friend to go to a concert, and got grounded at age 19. As if that wasn’t enough evidence already that perhaps I wasn’t exactly the angel I claimed to be, I shamefully present to you I.S.S. …
In 12th Grade at the young innocent age of 17 I got sent to In School Suspension after showing up to school late several times the first semester. I was particularly upset about this because I was supposed to be teaching a lesson in our dance/choreography class that day while we had a substitute. My sister and I were put in a room with other students and all of the desks were butted up against the wall. In my anger, frustration, and boredom I wrote the following letter to the people in charge. I apologize in advance for the ridiculous excuses you will read herein including my opinion that extra curricular activities are more important than education. I read this letter now, and while I smile at myself for my all too familiar sarcasm and humor obvious in this letter that I seemed trademarked for at even such a young age, I also roll my eyes in disgust at my own blatant stupidity. Enjoy.
To Whom it May Concern, 11-15-96
Do you want to know where I am right now? I’m in I.S.S. Skipping, smoking, bad conduct…no, of course not! I was late for school. I’m a good kid. I get above average grades, I’m involved in plenty of afterschool activities, not to mention being Captain of the Dance Line and Vice-President of the Bible Club. I’ve gotten detention a few times but only because I was late. You can ask any of my teachers, I’m a good kid. So why am I in I.S.S.? It’s not like I was late because I was outside smoking, or flushing some kids head down the toilet. Sometimes the alarm clock doesn’t go off and my mom doesn’t wake me up. An alarm clock is not enough motivation to get me to get up early and come here every day. My mom has to get up before she should to make sure my sister and I get driven to school every day. Sometimes the car doesn’t start or it gets stuck in the snow. Sometimes you just can’t get out of bed because you were studying till 3:00am, who can get by with only 3 hours of sleep? I have to. There is always a test, homework, a report to do. And for me I have extra things to do, make up dance routines, studying lines for the play, go over music for District Chorus, practice my flute, occasionally make up a lesson for Bible Club. You think those things won’t keep you up till 3 in the morning? They do if you want to be good. If you want good grades, if you want to put on a good show. And I know that I’m not the only busy person in this school. There are other people that are at dance or play practice till 5:00. When you come home hot and exhausted and you hadn’t eaten since noon. And there are practices for other things that I’m not involved in. I’m sure that many athletes and the cheerleaders can relate to what I’m saying. There are people involved in very active clubs such as FBLA, SADD, Usher’s Club, and Student Council. School isn’t easy. Maybe for someone who is just a brainiac and isn’t involved in anything, maybe for someone who was just born with an I.Q. higher than what most people weigh, maybe for someone who is just a punk and doesn’t care. But what about those of us who are split down the middle by activities and schoolwork. If it came down to picking one over the other I would pick the activities. But it doesn’t work that way, you have to maintain a 2.5 or above or you can not participate in those activities. So what am I going to do? Blow off my school work and go to bed early? Blow off my activities and come home after school? Create a device to dump water over my head and toss me out of bed every morning? Keep the car running all night long so that it’s heated and ready for school every morning? Or the most sensible thing, pack my bags and go live in the L.G.I. High school kids lead busy lives and most of us don’t want to give up the things that make us busy. What I’m asking for is some understanding when we walk into the attendance office and use a cheap excuse like “my alarm clock didn’t go off”, just think they might be telling the truth. I think everyone should be happy that we come to school at all. We don’t get paid to come here. Our reward is a good report card, good performance, and for some it’s making it through and getting the heck outta here. But none of those things come easily, they all require long, late nights and early mornings, 6 hours cramped up in a desk (without bathroom privileges, but that’s another letter). Why do we get punished for making an effort? When I know I’m going to be late I could just stay home, but I don’t. But when I come to school, I miss class anyway. Instead of making the effort and coming to class I get locked up in here. I’m writing this while one kid’s unconscious, drooling down his arm, another one has been staring at the wall and not blinking for the past hour, one that I’m pretty sure had cat for breakfast, one that I’m pretty sure ate my notebook during the bathroom break, one that is going through a nicotine fit, and one I could’ve sworn went to school with my dad. But don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to stereotype I.S.S. students. After all, I’m one myself now. But not all kids in I.S.S. are wearing stolen license plates for earrings, even “A” students with active social lives deserve it sometimes. But not for being late. No one should get I.S.S. for being late, even the kid that ate my notebook (I forgive him.). Let’s face it, it’s a stupid rule. And I’m not upset because this is going on my permanent record or anything. It’s because I have things to do. I have to be in class. Now all I have is more work to keep me up late again. That’s okay because I wonder if I come back tomorrow…would that kid still be staring at the wall? I seriously think this rule should be changed. Not just for me but for the poor boy who was late because his cat wasn’t cooked in time, I’d rather be late than hungry too. Why do you think all these kids are late in the morning? How many possible “bad” things could someone do in the morning to make them one minute late. Are you worried because they might be late because they were smoking or something? Well then, take care of the problem before it comes into school, not afterward. I shouldn’t have I.S.S. because of someone else’s cigarette. I think I’ve made my point. This rule has been bugging me for awhile and I finally decided to do something about it. I’m going to try my hardest to abolish all rules that get good kids in trouble (or bad kids that really didn’t do anything wrong). Maybe it won’t work but I have to try. If there is anyone that agrees to changing or banishing the “late” rule, please see me to sign a petition. I may even get in more trouble because of this but too bad! If there are any other rules that you think should be changed, we can try! So please think long and hard about this and then see one of the following people to sign a petition. I appreciate the time you took out to read my novel. I’ll be autographing free copies in the Commons Area during…just kidding!
Thank you,
Jenn
I never did show this letter to anyone as far as I know. The process of writing the letter, starting out upset and ending with humor, ended up being therapy enough for me. I never did get I.S.S. again, but I can’t say that I learned my lesson. I’m still late. A lot. And I tend to procrastinate too, which is probably why I posted 6 weeks worth of “Piggy Tales” in 3 days (just in time to link up before the series ended).
Oh well. Some people just never learn.
Thank you so much for joining me on my Piggy Tales journey. I’ve so enjoyed sharing (some of) my stories with you and I hope that you enjoyed reading them 🙂 If you’re interested in reading about the shenanigans I got into after high school, scroll down and check out the 6 links under “My Young Adult Years”.
To the other ladies participating in Session 2, I’ve loved reading your stories (up to 5th grade) and I have a lot of catching up to do…but I will get around to reading all of them. Thanks for sharing!
My Piggy Tales:
*My Birth Story: I’m always late!
*Ages 3-5: Dancing in a box
*Age 6 First Grade: There’s a bra in my lunchbox!
*Age 7 Second Grade: Bossy Wheels and Shady Deals
*Age 8 Third Grade: I will not talk in class
*Age 9 Fourth Grade: I didn’t really need those fingers anyway!
*Age 10 5th Grade: Nothing’s Scary in the Fifth Grade
*Age 11 6th Grade: Jenny Got Ran Over by her Grandma
*Age 12 7th Grade: Youth Camp Stinks
*Age 13 8th Grade: “Talent” Show
*Age 14 9th Grade: (N)O Christmas Tree
*Age 15 10th Grade: The Newsboys Wouldn’t Ditch Their Friends
*Age 16 11th Grade: Acrophobia Gets You the Good Seats
*Age 17 12th Grade: In School Suspension
My Young Adult Years
*Dreams and Aspirations: The Long Road There
*Friends and Fellowship: Friends Don’t Get Friends Grounded
*My First Job
*How I Met Cool Daddy Part 1
*How I Met Cool Daddy Part 2
*Colonel Mustard on a Rollercoaster with a Plastic Fork
Coolest Family on the Block is committed to helping you find creative ways to have fun and make memories with your family all year-long. Don’t miss an idea, tip, or trick…subscribe and have updates sent directly to your email!
Age 16 11th Grade: Acrophobia Gets You the Good Seats
This is the 13th post in a 12 week series joining
Mommy’s Piggy Tales to record my youth!
1995-1996
11th Grade
Acrophobia Gets You the Good Seats
In 1995 I turned 16 and entered 11th Grade. I was in my second year on the Dance Line for the marching band. The band took a trip to Toronto, Canada. It was the first time that I’ve really traveled anywhere (except for visiting my grandparents in Orlando, FL every summer).
One of our first nights in Toronto we went to the Rock ‘N Roll Diner (I think that’s what it was called) to eat. And we got to dance, which I love. This was the first time I’d ever heard/saw the Macarena. Obviously my life was changed from that point on. We had a blast 🙂 After all of the dancing it was time to get back onto the bus and go to a show.
We were going to see Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. I was pretty excited because, not only do I love the theater, but I’m a huge Disney fan and Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite movies. We got into the theater and made our way up to the balcony. I entered the doorway to the balcony and only took one look before I hit my knees. It was high. It was very, very high. I have a fear of heights. I’ve been in balconies before and usually if I shield my vision of “the drop” and sit with the program in front of my face until the lights are off…I’m fine. But this was very steep. Just taking one step into that room I felt like I was going to fall into the orchestra pit. So here I was in my green velvet evening gown crawling on the floor in the balcony of the Princess of Wales Theater. My friends managed to somehow get me to a seat and then promptly put a program in front of my face while fanning me with others. It didn’t help. The seats alone freaked me out more. Basically the top of the back of the chair in front of me was at my toes (at least that’s how it felt to me). It was very steep and I felt like I would fly right out of the seat. Did I mention that it was very high? And also very steep? Well. It was very high and very steep!!!
I was almost hyperventilating when my friends got the chaperons involved. One of them offered to get me water and I accepted, but they came back and said that they weren’t allowed to bring drinks into the theater. Now they wanted me to get up and go sit in the lobby to calm down. GET UP?!!! Do you know how hard it was to get into this seat to begin with, and you want me to get up? I’m never getting up again! I will live and die in this seat! If I get up I’m just certain I’ll fall right over the edge! From what I remember a lot of people stood up in the row in front of me hoping to shield my vision and I swear about 18 people had their hands on me helping me to the aisle where I once again tried to crawl my way up the stairs and out of the door. I sat in a chair in the lobby where I drank water and tried to calm down. Eventually one of the ushers came up to me and told me that there were some empty seats downstairs that I could sit in. I didn’t want to go alone and they said that I could take one person with me. My good friend/boyfriend, Michael, volunteered to go with me (there was no way he’d let me out of his sight once he was in protector mode).
Once I was settled into “the good seats” on the ground where the good Lord intended human beings to be, I was able to calm down and enjoy the show. I loved the show! There were songs in the live show that weren’t in the animated movie and the choreography for “Gaston!” was awesome. I loved every minute of it. Once I was on the ground, mind you 😉
While this was the most traumatizing part of the trip it seemed to be the beginning of a theme which was, “Hey, let’s visit every place up high that exists in Canada and freak Jenn out!”. We went to some big famous ball park stadium place (yeah, you can tell I’m not into sports) for some sort of tour. I’m not sure what we were actually doing there, because they had us up high again and I opted to stay out in hallway or whatever you call it. Then we also went to the CN Tower. I’m not sure if it serves any purpose other than to be up all high and frighten poor little girls like me. I went up the tower (I had to stay with the group) but didn’t go look out the window and certainly did not go walk on the glass floor.
We went to see Phantom of the Opera and luckily the Pantages Theater’s balcony was more normal and not quite so steep. With lots of help from my friends shielding me and supplying me with programs I was able to remain in my balcony seat for the entire performance. I really wasn’t familiar with “Phantom” prior to this and had been looking forward to it since everyone and their brother seemed to think that “Phantom” was the best musical ever. I didn’t like it and I think I even fell asleep during part of it. My friend, Meghan, and I would blame it on the fact that the cast that night was mostly understudies (and their understudies) and there must’ve been a malfunction with the chandelier that made it creep down slowly rather than crash. But the truth is that I really didn’t care for the storyline…at least not for a musical. It didn’t have enough dancing for me (by the way, I like the dancing if you hadn’t caught on). It’s not the tragedy of the whole thing. I can get into a good tragic love story as much as the next gal. It was just weird with the whole “It’s my theater, but I haunt it, and I’m a father-figure to you, but I love you…”, it creeped me out. West Side Story…now there’s a musical love tragedy that I can get into. Having the love of your life die in your arms shortly after he purposely/accidentally killed your brother is something to sing and dance about, in my humble opinion. But I digress…
We wrapped up our trip to Toronto with a visit to Niagara Falls. Maybe I was just in a pessimistic mood after “Phantom” had disappointed me, or maybe all things pale in comparison to a near-death experience crawling in a balcony while wearing an evening gown…but I just couldn’t get all excited about a bunch of dirty, smelly water rolling around. Perhaps if I visit it in my adulthood with a fresh touch of optimism I can see what’s so great about all of the water. As long as I don’t have to go anywhere up high first.
THE END.
P.S. Just FYI despite my obviously irrational fear of heights I have absolutely no fear of flying and have done so on several occasions without incident. I am truly a complex soul.
My Piggy Tales:
*My Birth Story: I’m always late!
*Ages 3-5: Dancing in a box
*Age 6 First Grade: There’s a bra in my lunchbox!
*Age 7 Second Grade: Bossy Wheels and Shady Deals
*Age 8 Third Grade: I will not talk in class
*Age 9 Fourth Grade: I didn’t really need those fingers anyway!
*Age 10 5th Grade: Nothing’s Scary in the Fifth Grade
*Age 11 6th Grade: Jenny Got Ran Over by her Grandma
*Age 12 7th Grade: Youth Camp Stinks
*Age 13 8th Grade: “Talent” Show
*Age 14 9th Grade: (N)O Christmas Tree
*Age 15 10th Grade: The Newsboys Wouldn’t Ditch Their Friends
*Age 16 11th Grade: Acrophobia Gets You the Good Seats
*Age 17 12th Grade: In School Suspension
My Young Adult Years
*Dreams and Aspirations: The Long Road There
*Friends and Fellowship: Friends Don’t Get Friends Grounded
*My First Job
*How I Met Cool Daddy Part 1
*How I Met Cool Daddy Part 2
*Colonel Mustard on a Rollercoaster with a Plastic Fork
Coolest Family on the Block is committed to helping you find creative ways to have fun and make memories with your family all year-long. Don’t miss an idea, tip, or trick…subscribe and have updates sent directly to your email!
Age 11 6th Grade: Jenny Got Ran Over by Her Grandma
This is the 8th post in a 12 week series joining
Mommy’s Piggy Tales to record my youth!
1990-1991
6th Grade
Jenny Got Ran Over by her Grandma
In 1990 I entered the 6th Grade and turned 11 years old. This was actually a pretty big year for me, but I wouldn’t realize it until adulthood. I started ballet, met one of my best friends in the world, started getting insanely boy crazy, started writing a lot, and felt God calling me into youth ministry. I was much more used to the Middle School now although I always got nervous in the beginning because there were many new teachers. Once again I had some trouble with my locker and had to carry all of my books around in a back pack everywhere that I went.
One day after school was out I walked outside where my maternal Grandma was waiting in the car to drive my sister and I home. My sister was already in the front seat and I could see that she and my Grandma were having a fight. I got to the car and opened the back door. My back pack was so heavy because I was carrying all of my books with me that I had to toss it into the car first. Before I could even get into the car my Grandmother drove off! She’s down the block with the back door wide open and I’m standing on the sidewalk screaming “Grandma!”. That’s not the worst of it. When she drove away…she ran over my foot with the car! Yep. Kids were standing around laughing and making fun of me, but I didn’t care. I was a little preoccupied with the fact that my Grandma just ran over my foot and then drove away and left me there!
I don’t remember how long it took her to come back around for me, or what made her realize that I wasn’t in the car (I don’t think she made it any further than the stop sign…and I think I even walked over to the stop sign and got into the car). The story that I heard was that my sister was upset for some reason and said that as soon as I got into the car that she was going to jump out of the car. When I tossed my heavy book bag into the back seat, my Grandma thought that it was me getting into the car (since her eyes were on my sister and she felt a “thud”), and she sped off in hopes that Jess wouldn’t jump out of the car. None of us remember why Jess was upset and wanted to get out of the car, but I know that I’ll never forget being run over by my Grandma in front of half of the school!
Don’t worry, it didn’t really hurt that bad and my foot was fine by the next day.
Just for the fun of it, although it’s completed unrelated to being mowed down by one’s own grandmother ;), here is a watercolor painting that I made while in FL that July. I’ve never been much of a painter, but I’ve always liked this picture.
My Piggy Tales:
*My Birth Story: I’m always late!
*Ages 3-5: Dancing in a box
*Age 6 First Grade: There’s a bra in my lunchbox!
*Age 7 Second Grade: Bossy Wheels and Shady Deals
*Age 8 Third Grade: I will not talk in class
*Age 9 Fourth Grade: I didn’t really need those fingers anyway!
*Age 10 5th Grade: Nothing’s Scary in the Fifth Grade
*Age 11 6th Grade: Jenny Got Ran Over by her Grandma
*Age 12 7th Grade: Youth Camp Stinks
*Age 13 8th Grade: “Talent” Show
*Age 14 9th Grade: (N)O Christmas Tree
*Age 15 10th Grade: The Newsboys Wouldn’t Ditch Their Friends
*Age 16 11th Grade: Acrophobia Gets You the Good Seats
*Age 17 12th Grade: In School Suspension
My Young Adult Years
*Dreams and Aspirations: The Long Road There
*Friends and Fellowship: Friends Don’t Get Friends Grounded
*My First Job
*How I Met Cool Daddy Part 1
*How I Met Cool Daddy Part 2
*Colonel Mustard on a Rollercoaster with a Plastic Fork
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Fun and Dysfunction 