The Not So Simple Trip

We awoke Saturday to the rumble of thunder, flash of lightning, and sound of pouring rain. Lovely. Another rainy day. Despite the weather, I was determined to get to the library.

Armed with my back-up, we loaded the girls into the car. When we reached the library, the parking lot was packed. What gives? It’s never this crowded….especially on a rainy day. I pulled up in front, let the girls and Dave out, and parked the van.

I grabbed my library card, car keys, and started running for the front door. Bringing an umbrella is just too much trouble sometimes. A little rain never hurt anyone, right?

So I enter the front door of the library and started heading toward the children’s section when I came to a dead halt.

It was wall-to-wall people watching a show of some sort. Great. All I wanted to do was have the girls pick their four books each, check out, and continue on with our day. But no.

There was no simple way to cross over all the people to actually reach the books so we were stuck. Sit down girls, we’ll be here a while.

The show? A group of Irish dancers.

You’d think that would be fun to watch but you don’t know our history. Katie competed in the Irish dance world for six or seven years. I love the music, the dance, and the friends we made. Not so much the expense, the travel, the dresses, the shoes, the drama, and I could go on and on and on.

But as I sat there critiquing watching these girls, I started thinking about those dancing days. We traveled to many places in the US and even into Canada. Lots of friends were made here in Georgia and across the eastern seaboard during her years competing.

As I grew wistful remembering good times, I thought, in a tiny place in my mind, that maybe the little ones would enjoy Irish dance as much as Katie.

Snap out of it, mom! No way. No way at all. I will not subject myself to the torture again.

I have tons of dance pictures but very few on the computer. Here is a little taste of what Katie looked like dressed for a competition. This was taken six years ago when she was twelve. Wow….



Oh, and the guy in the picture is her dance teacher. Off the boat Irishman.

Once the dancing was done, book choosing commenced. I left the girls with my back-up daddy and went to find my own selections. I just was not into helping out anyone under four feet.

Success. We met back up in the lobby and prepared to check out. But instead of books, I was given two shirts and a pair of pants in return.

What’s up with that?

Oh, this could be the problem.



Yep, I tried to check out books using my Eddie Bauer card. Good grief.

Back out into the rain I run to get the real card.



How I got these two mixed up is beyond me. Just something I have a talent for, I guess.

Mission accomplished. New books for mommy and girls.

But what should have been a simple trip was far from it.

I’ll spare you details of our grocery shopping trip right after the library. I’ll just leave you with this image: mommy man-handling an uncooperative child Anna Grace through the store, struggling with a basket on one arm and an irritated child in the other because I was too dumb to get a cart, then realizing I needed to buy five gallons of milk.

Yep, fun day.