Last weekend my parents and I visited my sister Kathy and her family in their home in the hills west of Dallas. Afterward, we drove into Dallas to spend a couple of days visiting museums with my sister as our guide. First on our list was the JFK Sixth Floor Museum in downtown Dallas.
We drove into Dallas - myself, driving with my dad in his car, and Kathy in her brand new car, with Mother as her passenger. We had already purchased our tickets online for the specific time slot of 3:00 - 3:30 pm and were on track to arrive at the museum at that exact time. We just had to locate our hotel and drop off Dad's car and drive to downtown Dallas together.
I punched in the address of the hotel into my Google Maps but true to form, let my phone die before we could reach the destination. Kathy took charge and loaded the address into her phone and we took off in the direction of downtown. While Dad and I were following my sister's car, well, we began to clearly drive in circles ...... at least three times. Apparently her phone was not accepting the address of the hotel and was leading her back to the point of origin. Driving a car in circles in the middle of Dallas with my dad in the passenger's seat is a distinct experience that one would only wish on.......oh, let's say Al Qaeda.
With the clock ticking we decided to just pull over and drop the car off at a random spot and go onto the museum together as planned and pick the car up afterward, perhaps better prepared to find the hotel. As Dad and I got into my sister's car, something was clearly wrong. Mother, who was impeccably dressed in her green top and white pants, was covered in melted chocolate.
"Get in, hurry," my sister said as we were silently studying the situation at hand.
Mother appeared to be as confused as the rest of us that she had gotten chocolate all over herself and the interior of the brand new car. It had apparently melted in her purse and unknowingly gotten all over her.
"We need to clean up Mother.....this mess...." I stuttered. "She has more clothes in the trunk of their car....."
"There is no time." said Kathy, tossing a small towel to my mother as we peeled out onto the expressway, "We will miss our time slot."
After a bit, Mother spoke up, "Well, I'm certainly not going into the museum like this."
We drove on, my Dad for once in a stunned silence, myself in the back seat with Mother and her chocolate clothes, no one daring to speak. I made eye contact with Mother and both of us overcome with the hilarity of the situation broke out into fits of giggles. No one the in front seat joined in our amusement.
We arrived at the museum and Dad and I jumped out of the car with our tickets and into the building while Kathy parked the car with Mother. Apparently Kathy had some extra clothes packed in her trunk and Mother changed in the back seat of the car while Kathy kept the parking attendants from peering into the window.
When we all arrived at the sixth floor, we meandered through the exhibits, but eventually found a bench to sit on and decompress from the previous hour's activities. I looked at my mother sitting on the bench in clothes not her own, with tear stains on her face. Yes, we had laughed until we cried in the car, but these tears were fresh. From the minute she walked onto the floor, she was overcome with that moment of horror..........when she lost her President.
The chocolate and the car were cleaned and we eventually found our hotel........and I wouldn't have changed that afternoon for the world.
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