A Summer Highlight
One of the highlights of my summer was when we kidnapped Julia and Lisa for a weekend in Chattanooga back in August. A lot of planning went into building the suspense. Sharon and Jolene cut out letters and pictures from magazines and subsequently designed a note of instruction for Julia and Lisa. They were told to be ready with bags packed at 6:30 on Friday night. We had pre-approved this with Elwood, of course. We knew they had received it because of the text messages that Jolene and Lisa exchanged. Jolene would pump Lisa for information on this mystery weekend, and Lisa kept downplaying it because she didn’t want to hurt Jolene’s feelings because she hadn’t been included. The original plan had been for Lisa to spend the night with Jolene, and suddenly she wasn’t interested anymore.
It was highly suspenseful, however, as Jolene, Sharon, and I made our way over to Elwoods to pick them up. Their long lane was akin to that of the long lane going back to CBS. We imagined all sorts of reactions when they figured out it was us. “Oh, it’s just the Schmucker girls,” we knew they’d say disappointedly. Thankfully, the actual reaction was a jubilant “It’s the Schmucker girls!!” What a relief!
We made our way down to Sara’s place in Chattanooga. We arrived about the same time Sara got off of work. Unfortunately, a powerful storm had preceded our arrival and had knocked the power out for a good portion of Chattanooga, and so our plans were slightly altered. Instead of relaxing in the cool apartment on the air mattresses we were going to have blown up, we had to improvise. Sara and Julia got the bed, Sharon and I started out on the couch, and Jolene and Lisa lay on the flat, airless mattress. The plan was to leave the light switches on so that we would wake up when the electricity came on. We could then blow the air mattresses up and continue on. Well, eventually half a couch wasn’t enough for me, so I pulled some cushions off the chair and lay down beside the girls on the floor. Oh, but it was hot and uncomfortable.
About 6 am, the lights came on, and there ensued such a state of confusion, it was a wonder we accomplished anything at all. But how good those mattresses felt! And Julia managed to sleep through the whole thing, lights, noise, and all. Amazing.
The rest of the weekend went according to plan. We shopped and shopped and ate at all our favorite restaurants. And talked and talked. What a lot of fun!
It was highly suspenseful, however, as Jolene, Sharon, and I made our way over to Elwoods to pick them up. Their long lane was akin to that of the long lane going back to CBS. We imagined all sorts of reactions when they figured out it was us. “Oh, it’s just the Schmucker girls,” we knew they’d say disappointedly. Thankfully, the actual reaction was a jubilant “It’s the Schmucker girls!!” What a relief!
We made our way down to Sara’s place in Chattanooga. We arrived about the same time Sara got off of work. Unfortunately, a powerful storm had preceded our arrival and had knocked the power out for a good portion of Chattanooga, and so our plans were slightly altered. Instead of relaxing in the cool apartment on the air mattresses we were going to have blown up, we had to improvise. Sara and Julia got the bed, Sharon and I started out on the couch, and Jolene and Lisa lay on the flat, airless mattress. The plan was to leave the light switches on so that we would wake up when the electricity came on. We could then blow the air mattresses up and continue on. Well, eventually half a couch wasn’t enough for me, so I pulled some cushions off the chair and lay down beside the girls on the floor. Oh, but it was hot and uncomfortable.
About 6 am, the lights came on, and there ensued such a state of confusion, it was a wonder we accomplished anything at all. But how good those mattresses felt! And Julia managed to sleep through the whole thing, lights, noise, and all. Amazing.
The rest of the weekend went according to plan. We shopped and shopped and ate at all our favorite restaurants. And talked and talked. What a lot of fun!
posted by Kris at 9/24/2006 09:22:00 PM
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