Uber prompted me to pick up a family on their way to vacation. They were to meet other family members at a reunion. This one is special because the guests of honor won’t be attending. Not in person, anyway.
Their family is celebrating the 100th birthday of their grandparents. The honorees have passed on physically but not in spirit. They’re expecting about 40-50 attendees. As we ride, I listen to my passengers use “code” words to discuss some of their past experiences. These are words only they understand, and many of their stories bring up laughter from deep inside.
I flash back to those times in my own family. Words and phrases cross my mind. “Wrong Lane!” “Happy Birthday Sheet Cake!”
Those “code words” continue to cause deep belly laughs in our clan! Those phrases remind us of a Florida trip more than two decades ago. We were blessed to stay at my Aunt Mary’s home near Lakeland, Florida. Aunt Mary was one of the sweetest women you would ever want to meet. She grew up in a large family but now lived alone.
These were the days before we all had the advantage of GPS with turn-by-turn audio help. So, of course, the first night after the games, we traveled using word-of-mouth instructions from Aunt Mary to my Dad. Now, Dad spent twenty years in the United States Air Force as an air traffic controller, directing some of the busiest air space in the world. Even with that extensive experience, something went wrong, and we entered the incorrect gate through the turnpike.
Shortly after we left the toll booth, Dad realized we were heading away from our intended destination. We drove about twenty miles until the next exit, turned around, and finished the hour-long trip in just over 100 minutes.
This would not happen the next night because, unlike the first night, Aunt Mary would accompany us in person. We approached the toll booths. Dad has this calculated and moves into the proper lane. Aunt Mary is in the navigator’s seat to the pilot’s right. I’m in the back seat, and two of my kids are in the third seat of the van.
Panic set in, and doubts arose. When we were a few vehicles back, Aunt Mary screamed, “We’re in the wrong lane. Switch lanes now!”
“Are you sure?” Dad questions. “I think we took that lane last night.” Then it happens! Dad veers to the left and pays the toll. We get about five hundred feet from the booth when Aunt Mary exclaims, “Oh, no! You were right. We’re in the wrong lane!! I’m so sorry!”
Remember in “A Christmas Story,” Ralphie’s Dad fills the air with a string of expletives? Well, it sounded kinda like that.
“I had it all figured out! Now we’ve got to drive an extra hour again! @#%^#^&&!!!”
Of course, Aunt Mary began to cry and offered apology after apology. Ashley and Finch, in the very back, are doing a fantastic job of pretending to be asleep. It’s time for me to intercede.
“Dad, let’s just look for an opening in the median and make a U-turn,” I suggested.
“It’s against the law! You can’t just cross over. Those connections are for police and emergency units only!” Dad is adamant.
After several more attempts to encourage traffic law violations, I offered to drive the vehicle through the median myself. “I’ll take the hit for the breach if the authorities intervene.”
With my Dad, there was a point where it was best to shut up. This was that moment.
After about ninety seconds of silence, it happened. A sharp left turn, down an incline, back up an incline, another sharp left, and here we are back on course. We completed the remainder of the trip in silence.
So, that would typically be the “end of the story.” The following day, I didn’t know who had apologized more, Dad or Aunt Mary. To make matters more edgy, it was Aunt Mary’s birthday.
Dad pulled me aside. “I need you to go to the grocery store and get a huge sheet cake with the words, “Happy Birthday, Mary!” and a dozen roses.”
Aunt Mary was surprised and touched. That day’s emotions were light-years better than the day before. Time to memorialize the moment in pictures!
I need you to visualize one of those bottom-floor motel rooms with a sliding glass door that opens up to a small concrete patio. My sister-in-law, Angela, grabbed her camera. “Let’s step outside where there’s plenty of light.”
She motioned for Aunt Mary, with her beautiful cake, to move to the right, behind the curtains and out of our view. We can only see Angela directing Aunt Mary’s pose.
“Oh, that’s almost perfect,” Angela tells her. “Just tilt it a little forward so we can read the writing.”
And then it happened. Angela gasped as she focused the camera, and the lens tilted downward–too far downward.
As we consoled Aunt Mary, she fought tears and apologized profusely. We assured her that we were only missing the top layer of icing. “Look! None of the actual cake touched the concrete, and the rest is delicious! We’ve scraped up the best parts! There was way too much icing anyway!”
My Dad and Aunt Mary have passed on. We miss them dearly. As long as these stories stay alive, though, they stay with us.
It’s time for Thanksgiving and family visits. Put aside differences and share laughs about memories with those you love. When things go wrong or crazy, write ’em down and pass ’em along. It’s part of your legacy!! And, most importantly, keep a sense of humor. I’m pretty sure my kids already have a massive collection of stories about me!
God Bless!
Tommy
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