We laugh a lot, my sisters and I. Humor laced with bits of irony, maybe a touch of sarcasm and on occasion a little satire fill our sister weekends, trips, breakfasts, lunches, dinners. During holiday family gatherings and extended family reunions we might keep our more hilarious humorous tendencies to a minimum…. or not.
This particular sister weekend started out to be a Las Vegas weekend on Sally’s January birthday. Since none of us won the lottery or received a really large bonus the weekend changed to the Jeff Dunham* show at the Expocentre arena in Topeka.
There is a lot to be said for having sister weekend in a non-work or home location. Penny was working in between sister activities. Of course she did think our plans were for the second March this year. ** I digress…. Several years ago I hosted a sister weekend and worked all day Friday and had to be to a meeting at 7:30 AM Monday morning. They carried on without me.
Plans were made for Leslie and me to pick up Penny, then Sally and go out to dinner before the show. Sally called and offered to drive if her older sister was too shook up after her morning tangle with the Illinois license plate. Penny called and told us to slow our progress down a bit. She was running about five minutes late. We would still be on time, she said. She only had to change her clothes and put on mascara.
Having knowledge of Penny’s time management history, we slowed down accordingly. We were still pleasantly surprised to pull in the driveway behind her vehicle. Leslie and I chatted for a bit before tapping the horn to let her know we were waiting. Her husband sauntered out to tell us she was almost ready. He said she was dressed and standing in front of the mirror doing something. Leslie mentioned we did not have time for eyeliner, mascara better be the extent of her primping. He said he wasn’t sure what she was doing. I told him if she did not hurry she was paying for dinner. My brother-in-law left in a hurry, calling back over his shoulder the “she’ll be right out” promise. He broke into a trot and then a run as he neared the front porch steps. She appeared almost immediately. I did not see him push her out the door… however… I’m just saying.
We checked out a newer restaurant on Kansas Avenue. Sweet Pea’s is owned and operated by a cousin’s in-laws. The food was good. There were entre options, with sides served family style. The décor was early comfortable. The kitchen stove being used as a side server in one area would look good with my pinewood possum belly kitchen cabinet in the old-fashioned kitchen corner of our family room.
We were laughing and joking about whether Penny had made it out in time to avoid picking up the tab. The check came and I had another cup of coffee while she left to visit the powder room. The next thing we knew Penny was back and grabbing the check off the napkin holder. I heard her say she would pick up the check and tuned out the rest. The next thing I heard was her saying she had on one black pump and one navy blue one, wanting to know if we had time to take her back to the house to change. We three looked at each other and burst out laughing so hard we had tears running down our faces. We disabused her of any side trip ideas to her house. She would just have to deal.
In the Jeep on the way to the Expocentre I called Keri to check on White Storm’s final placement in the derby. I was telling her the story of Penny’s one black and one blue shoe when I was shushed from all sides. It seems Penny offered to pay for our dinner as a bribe to keep the odd shoe story a secret. Oh well, that ship sailed. Keri wanted to know the statute of limitations on Aunt Penny’s shoe story. We arrived at the Jeff Dunham show laughing so hard our sides ached.
After laughing our way through the show and the drive home Leslie and I left Penny at her door. As she left the vehicle we told her she ought to wear the other pair of black and blue shoes tomorrow.
The family who laughs together finds a way to be together always……….
** Lilypad on the road…
©2011 Susan Kendall. All rights reserved
