The Helicopter Ride
I was going to post this under the daily thread but then I thought it might get lost and some expressed a desire to see how it went. The helicopter pilot, turns out, was a former student of mine. You would think that I might have a little more confidence but I was a little skeptical because I thought he might be too young. But he flew a helicopter in Afghanistan, so he convinced me he was experienced enough. His father owned two helicopters and he flew one and the father the other and both have pilot license for flying helicopters and jets.
At first, I didn't think my granddaughter was going to go, but Jon, my former student, talked her into going. Jon told me to if I wasn't going to go, I should run to Starbucks and hang out that he was taking them to see all the lights in Fayetteville and they were going to go to Rogers, which is about 20 minutes by car away. I thought that was all in the twenty minute helicopter ride, so I did run to Starbucks and got me a coffee and the kids some hot chocolate and I got back to the lot where they took off and waited and waited and I started getting a little nervous and the person taking the money radioed Jon and Jon said, tell Doc Waller to enjoy her coffee, we going to go see lights...so an hour later, they come back and the kids and DH were smiling from ear to ear. He took them over four major cities and they saw enough lights to keep them talking for a year. Granddad took pictures of the kids in the helicopter but he didn't take pictures from up in the air. After their ride, we went to the square for the carriage ride and the kids were talking on and on about the helicopter ride. When we got home, DH got a message that our charge for the helicopter ride had been refunded...I am going to go by tomorrow evening and try to make Jon take the money, but I suspect he won't.
Now we are home and the kids said that lights from high up in the sky are just as pretty as they are up close. Mathew has decided he wants to be a helicopter pilot and Baby Girl thinks that we should go on helicopter rides every weekend. They had fun.
But, they had fun in the carriage ride too. But, let me tell you about clumsy me. I bought the kids a funnel cake and after they rode in the carriage and had fun on the square, we were headed to the car and we parked on a hill...we live in the Ozark Mountains so we are always on a hill. We were almost to the car and something happened, I still don't know what, and I tripped and the next thing I know, I am running down the hill...funnel cake going everywhere and my grandkids trying to catch me to stop me from running...I was trying not to fall but couldn't stop and a man and his wife were coming up the hill and saw me and the man, bless his heart, grabbed me and literally lifted me off the ground but stopped me. He was such a nice man and his wife was so kind too...the kids caught up to us and the man put me back on the ground and he and his wife kept saying, are you okay, and I kept saying, yes, thank you so much and finally DH caught up to us and he was afraid I had messed up my knee...So, here we are home and my neck feels like it has a million pounds of pressure pushing on my vertebrae...I will be so sore tomorrow...My grandson said, Nana, I didn't know you could run so fast. LOL. That was not running, that was trying not to fall.
So, I made a big pan of hot chocolate and fresh whip cream and the kids are filling up on hot chocolate and I am thinking of taking two pain pills.
Ladies, I wish you could be here to see the Lights of the Ozarks...the walk through the lights is splendid but...before I forget...some jerk was there with three dogs...all the dogs were on leashes but the three dogs all pooped on the sidewalk and the jerk didn't pick up the poop...I saw it happen and warned the kids and DH and those around, but a woman and her little kids all walked right in the middle and got dog crap all over their shoes...How rude of that man....
Just think, tomorrow we post our Christmas stories. I cannot wait to read your stories...and I will probably post two stories but one until everyone else posts and then I may add one.
Ladies, I wish we were all neighbors and could all have morning coffee and afternoon tea together. As my dear Aunt Daisy use to say, sisters are forced upon you and sometimes you like them and sometimes you wish you could pass them on to another family but friends are the jewels you are gifted from God so guard them with the same love that you guard your best piece of jewelry...they last a life time. My aunt Daisy was the lady of the evening that my great uncle married when I was in Children's hospital being treated for polio...my grandmother hated her but she sure did make my great uncle happy...she dyed her hair bright red and when she was 87 and my great uncle had prostate cancer, the doctor told her that his plumbing wasn't going to work the same that it had before the surgery and she said, well, we never had no kids and I suspect that we can finish our life without kids...as if she could, at 87, get pregnant...yes, Aunt Daisy was a character for sure.
What a wonderful experience for the grands! You and your husband are wonderful grandparents. I'm sorry about your trip...it sounds like a doozy. I fell up our two steps the other day...such a klutz, I have no idea what happened but it wasn't a bad fall for me. I do understand the tripping though. You are fighting to regain your balance but in the end you are doomed! Aunt Daisy sounds like a hoot...
Girl, Aunt Daisy was a hoot...she was shunned by all the other great aunts and my grandmother couldn't stand her. I loved her because she cursed like a sailor and hated that women were treated less than men...My best memory of her was shelling peas and her telling us about a woman who kept killing her babies and how the cops wouldn't arrest her and finally the husband caught her and he shot her in the face....yep...she was full of horror too.
Hi Jeannie.....your grandchildren will have these memories forever. They are so lucky to have you and their grandpa there for them. To love them and care for them and show them there are happy things in the world. You two are so special!
Sorry about your near fall. I am so glad that couple caught you!! I had a vision of you flying into them and all three of you rolling down the hill together!! I would have lost my balance long before you did!!!
I already have fallen in love with your Aunt Daisy!!
Please forgive me but I will remind you that I will not be writing a Christmas Story. I will more then likely not even be able to read the stories at this time. I will after the first of the year or when I can. I am sure all the stories will be very beautiful. I apologize but I just can't. I did talk to my therapist about this and she agrees that I need to step back for now.
I love you my friend...hugs....connie d
Connie,
I know how hard it is for you and I,nor anyone else, wants you to suffer unduly. I probably would have fallen before the man caught me but I didn't have gloves on and I knew that I would scrape my hands and we have too many crafts to do today for me to have bandaged hands.
Rest up and know that every grandparent makes memories with their grands and they remember them forever...my grandmother was very poor as were we but she was never able to buy us gifts but she taught me how to crochet and knit and do embroidery...and quilt...and think my memories of she and I sitting in front of her old coal stove crocheting together is about the best memory in the world...of course, I don't like to remember the scoldings I got for not doing what she said.
Rest today...and be careful.
