This is my happy family. The occasion is my brother's graduation from flight school circa 1984. The family traveled to Ft. Rucker, Alabama to a military ball to celebrate my brother's achievement. This is the story of how I ended up in this photo when I was not supposed to be within a country mile of the celebration.
My brother Clay, that's him on the far left, was supposed to line up a babysitter for me, that's me, shortstuff in the middle. The baby sitter fell through and so my parents had to resort to plan B. I am thinking that this military ball was a must attend event because none of my sisters were willing to sacrifice a night of revelry to stay with me at the motel. So the decision was made, I am sure against my mother's will, that I would be trusted to stay at the motel room by myself while the rest of the family went to the ball. Looking at this through the eyes of parents of today, this seems like a really bad idea, but it was a different time.
In the beginning, this was a big adventure to me and I thought that I had stepped up to the big time staying alone in a motel room with a TV all to myself. It was a little like Home Alone, but before that movie idea was ever pitched, and my parents left me on purpose. My Dad, as an extra precautionary measure, had the idea that he would call me on the room phone every 30 minutes or so and check in on me. The first call came and I answered and everything was fine. The second call came 30 minutes later and all was good. Then I became very sleepy and my eyes became very heavy. I thought I heard a noise outside so I turned the TV up a little louder to keep out the other noises. While listening to the droning of the TV, I fell into a deep sleep. I was not your run of the mill heavy sleeper, I took it to a Sleeping Beauty level. Now if a pencil rolls off a table at the opposite end of the house it wakes me up, so sometimes I wish I still could sleep that well.
My Dad called to check in on me after another 30 minutes, but I was in a deep slumber by now and the phone wouldn't wake me because the TV was too loud. The phone rang and rang, but no answer.
My Dad panicked and without telling my mother what was wrong he ran to the car and raced to the motel. Inevitably, on his way to the motel he was stopped by the local police for speeding. He explained to the officer the situation and the officer agreed to escort him through town to the motel. As a parent of an eleven year old myself now, I can only imagine the worst case scenarios going through my Dad's mind at the time.
When they arrived at the motel room, my Dad unlocked the door only to find that I had attached the inside security slide lock(remember the outside noises). The motel was the type that had the long narrow window that ran the length of the door so that you could actually see into the room if you peeked through the window. My Dad and the officer could see into the window and see me lying on the bed, but no matter how hard they knocked or how loud they yelled they could not wake me. They began to worry that something maybe wrong with me or that I might be dead.
They made the decision to break down the door. As the door fell away, my Dad rushed to my side and gently nudged me awake. As I was finally awakened my first question was "Is the party over already?". My Dad couldn't be mad with me of course, my only fault was being a heavy sleeper and relying on the TV as my companion. As the motel management tried to get the door back on its hinges my Dad calmly had me get dressed and said that I was going with him to the ball.
We made it back to the ball just in time for the family photo that you see above and that is the story of how I ended up at the military ball. I know that I don't look too happy in the photo, but I was really sleepy.
Comments
Post a Comment