There has been a "Mothers Day Curse" hanging over my head and attached to my immediate family members for quite some years now. It all began one sunny Mothers Day several years ago. We were living in Wyoming and Shilo and I had driven across the mountains to the beautiful little town of Buffalo where her team was competing in a soccer game. Riff had Kevin and Brittany with him in another part of the state for their games that weekend, so Shilo and I were on our own. Shilo's team played two great games and we headed back home, winding our way through the Big Horn Mountains, down steep switchbacks with huge canyon drop-offs on the side of the road. This is beautiful country where you are more likely to pass more Bighorn Sheep than people. We were chattering about the game and singing along with Mary Chapin Carpenter when I noticed that something wasn't quite right with my Ford Explorer. We just happened to be at the entrance to the Shell Falls parking lot, so I pulled in, we got out to use the facilities and gaze over the canyon wall at the falls. Back in the car, I threw her in reverse...I threw her in reverse...okay, I tried again...nothing. There was not a single gear left working properly. My transmission had decided it was through, no more winding mountain roads, no siree. I didn't have a cell phone and even if I did, you can't get service in the middle of God's country. Not gonna happen. Finally, another Cody family pulled in, so we squeezed in with their family for the hour and a half ride back to Cody. Kind of scary when I look back. Those deep canyons would not have been kind if things had been just a bit worse. YIKES!
The following Mothers Day, Riff and Kevin were in Idaho on a great white water rafting adventure. They had been gone for several days, with Riff checking in by phone every evening. Kevin worked at a local restaraunt and had gone in for lunch the day before they left, sharing a sandwich with his girlfriend. On Friday afternoon, I learned that Jessie, Kevins girlfriend, was in the hospital with Salmonella poisoning, along with quite a few more cases linked to this restaraunt. I waited by the phone for Riff to check in, as he always does, to tell him that if Kevin wasn't feeling well that it was not just the flu and to get him to the hospital. The nightly call never came, nor did it come Saturday. I learned later that they happened to be in a remote camping area and had no phone signal. Well, by Sunday, Mothers Day again, I was frantic. Both girls had soccer games, but in town this time, so I went to the games and raced home to once again hang out by the phone. Dustin had wandered over to our local rec center to go swimming and I decided to work in my flower beds with the doors open so that I could hear the phone. The rec center was only about a half a mile from the house ~ a straight shot down the road. As I'm pulling weeds, I hear an ambulance at the same time that my phone rings. Hoping that it's finally Riff, I race to the phone. "Mrs. Niziolek? This is Rick from the rec center. You need to come over right away. Dustin has just put a pitch fork all the way through his hand. The ambulance is here. HURRY!"
Turns out that Dustin and a friend had gone outside to climb the straw stack that had been used for an archery tournament and there was a rusty old pitchfork hanging out at the top. The friend had reached the top of the stack while Dustin was still climbing, had picked up the pitchfork and dropped it over the edge. It slid neatly through Dustins hand, missing any bones or important tendons. Dustin had pulled it out, leaving rust and what-have-you inside his hand. Surgery to clean it out was in order. I left Brittany at home by the phone waiting for the phone call from her Dad. He finally checked in about 10 pm as they were finally on their way home. Brittany told him that I was at the hospital with Dustin, so he called the nurses station to get ahold of me. Sure enough, Kevin had been sick as a dog for several days now. They rolled in about 2 am, just a few minutes after Dustin and I had gotten home. Back to the hospital, where Kevin spent quite a few hours hooked up to an IV. Everything turned out fine and to this day Dustin is very proud of his scar that is on BOTH sides of his hand.
Last year wasn't quite as climatic, just the old gallbladder surgery the day before Mothers Day. I was a bit sore, (okay alot sore!) but I managed to go to opening day of the Sunday Market anyway, with tiny baby steps. It was a little bit scary, as I was awfully afraid of getting bumped into ~ and of sneezing! That would have hurt!
This year, things were going along quite smoothly. Riff and I went to the Sunday Market while Dustin was at work and Shilo was sleeping. I got that beautiful bouqet of flowers in the picure below, and then we wandered around some of the downtown shops for awhile until we were ravished and had to hurry down to the Bowpicker for fish 'n chips. In the evening, Shilo took me to movie, "Georia Rules". On the way home I mentioned that the curse had not reared it's ugly head this Mothers Day, but coming around the corner to the house, I had an eerie feeling when Riff's suburban was not in the driveway. It's 8:30, where could he have gone? The note on the table explained it all. "Skateboarding accident. Have taken Dustin to the emergency room." The Doctor thought his elbow might be broken. He came home in a soft cast. Turns out the elbow is not broken, but the curse? It continues...
