Some days are just worth remembering....

Today was one of those days. But not for the warm and fuzzy reasons I usually like to remember. Tonight my sons and I rode the train to Speed Street with my brother, sister-in-law and 3 nephews. We rode from Pineville to downtown Charlotte where many streets were blocked off for fun events for the whole family.....or so they billed it. I have been to "Speed Street" in years past and have had a great time. But I always left by 7 p.m. That is the time I designate for when the rednecks and drunks come out. Well tonight didn't quite work out the way we planned. We arrived downtown around 4:45 p.m. to meet my mom at her office. Both my SIL and I didn't really want to go up to the 30th floor, but we knew our mom would want to show off her grandsons so we went. About 5 minutes later we see the fire alarm lights flashing - no alarm - so we thought it was a mistake. No mistake. There was smoke on the 27th floor and everyone in the building was being evacuated. Now, I worked in that same building for 5 years and my mother for almost 10 and this has never, EVER happened. So off we went. My mom guiding the two older boys down 30 flights, my poor brother carrying my youngest and his middle child (who are 5 months apart) in each arm, I'm carrying the stroller and my shoes, and my poor pregnant sister in law carrying her youngest who is a year old. It's a story right out of the Hallmark Channel I tell you. What a nightmare. Our kids did fantastic even though they were scared and were covering their ears because of the announcer saying "PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY" Thankfully they didn't have the visions of planes flying into the building as my sister-in-law, brother and I did. My poor sister in law. I prayed for her all the way down. As we reached the bottom I wavered between being so thankful and cursing the fact that I ran that morning....my calves were killing me! So, that behind us, we moved on to dinner at Fuel Pizza. Thirty minutes after ordering, we realized they put our Extra Large 19" pizza on the shelf to serve by the slice. My mom was "livid" (her words). As we waited for our pizza, my youngest nephew, little Conley fell and ended up with a golf ball sized bump on his head. Again, my poor sister in law. More prayers and I swear if she could drink I would have bought her a beer. We did end up getting our dinner for free. I mean, we were order number #1 with no other customers.....why they dumped our pizza in the "serve by the slice case" is beyond me. On to Speed Street. Unfortunately by now the crowds were thick and loud and tipsy and smoking. My sister in law and I were never so thankful to be married, with children, and happy to be in bed by 9 p.m. We walked to find the Home Depot tent where the kids can build cars. By the time we got there they were just closing. I thought my oldest was going to cry. Enough free stuff, smoke and people around who, quite frankly, scared the crap out of me - we were heading home. The kids did at least get to see the professional bike and skateboarders on this huge ramp and a lot of cool cars......anyway. Lots of free stuff too: M&M's, Go-Gurt, ziploc bags, key chains, race car driver posters, etc. We went to the 7th street station and got on the train. After sitting there for 5 minutes, a guy came on and said "this train is out of service". Ok, we moved over to the next one. Sat on that for a few minutes when the conductor came on and said "this train is out of service". I thought my brother was going to pummel him to the floor. Ok. We'll walk, I said. We walked about a city block, caught the next train and rode about another city block to my mom's office. My mom and my husband (who decided to walk anyway) met us there - and had been waiting for us over 10 minutes. "Where have you been?" my husband decided to say. My sister in law was sweet and decided to explain in a funny way what happened. I just glared at him. We all went to the potty and rode the train home like sardines to I-485, where we were greeted by a throng of young people standing in line to buy tickets for the train to ride to "Speed Street". Save your money, I felt like telling them.....you know, you can DRIVE there....and it's so NOT worth it! That's our lovely night. I am praying hard for my sister in law, whom I love and worry about being pregnant with a night like tonight. I know she can handle it - I can't, but she can. I have 2 buck chucks to help me! She has a positive attitude. On my way home I saw a guy in a convertible Mercedes worth about $85,000. His license plate read " GPA 1.5". It made me laugh out loud. Even through this rough night, I am thankful to have a brother and sister that I love, and 3 nephews with one on the way that I adore. Even as bad as this night was, I still wouldn't trade it because I got to spend time with them. I just pray we all can walk tomorrow....and that my brother at some point will regain full use of his arms!