Beef for Thanksgiving?

We had a pretty crazy Thanksgiving ... crazy at the end. The beginning was fairly average for Thanksgiving ... maybe even a bit better than average because I did a killer job this year of timing my meal just right. The biggest problem was that I was still learning how to cook with the new convection oven that I got, so some of the dishes didn't cook exactly the way I like them. Still good, just not quite right. After our nice dinner as a family for lunch we had a pretty relaxing day watching football or just relaxing together. My brothers, Joe and Ryan came to eat with us while my parents were in Kansas City visiting my aunt and uncle for the day. Joe helped Ryan all day, but he had to drive back to St. Louis for the evening so that he could eat dinner with his girlfriend and her family. 

Herman volunteered to hang out with Ryan until my parents returned in the evening. I would be in charge of helping the big kids run the "Black FridayThursday" shopping. I can't even begin to tell you how much this freaked me out. I do not do Black Friday shopping. Ever. The crowds absolutely freak me out. I go into a mini panic attack every time I see it, and it would have to be a crazy great deal to get me out in that. Herman is the guy who does that. The kids and he have a tradition of waking up super early on Black Friday, planning their routes, and braving the stores to find some really good sales. Now that the sales start on Thanksgiving things aren't quite as exciting. Friday crowds are actually pretty tame here in the Waynesville/St. Robert area. Still, Herman and the kids wanted to come to Wal-mart and see if they could get some of the good deals. This time they had a great plan. They came earlier in the day and left a car parked in the back of the lot (easier to geto out later). Then my job was to drive the kids to the store and drop them off at the front. Once their shopping was done Savannah would drive the car home. Piece of cake. It was still half a nightmare trying to navigate the parking lot just to drop them off at the front door. The cars were backed up all the way down the street in front of Wal-mart. But we made it. Mission accomplished. 

After I dropped the big kids off I drove to my parents' house to hang out with Herman and Ryan for a bit while we waited for my parents to get home. I called to see where they were, and Dad said they were about an hour from home. No big deal. And then ...

(For this section I'll just repost the account I wrote to Laney in Chile when I wrote her my weekly email).

Here's where the holiday got CRAZY. We were expecting them any moment when I got a call on my phone from a number I didn't recognize. It was my dad. That was weird. He said that they had hit a cow south of Crocker on Hwy 17. Apparently a herd of cattle had gotten loose and were crossing the road. It was dark at night, and Dad couldn't see them until he was right on them. He couldn't avoid hitting one of the cows. The Highway Patrol was on their way along with an ambulance. He sounded kinda loopy, so Dad and I called the kids who were just leaving Wal-mart. Spencer came over to watch Ryan, and we drove up to the scene of the accident. 

Let me tell you ... it was surreal. There was a line of emergency lights for several hundred feet down Hwy 17. Emergency personnel were everywhere. I jumped out of the car and ran toward the ambulance. I passed by their car, and it was demolished. The front end was pushed all the way in, and the windshield had shattered. I couldn't see how anyone could make it out of that wreck okay. I am so glad I had actually talked to my dad or else I would have been FREAKING out. I opened the ambulance and saw three HP officers talking to my parents. An EMT came out and told me that they were basically okay. The main problem they had was that the shattering glass had cut them up a lot. G'ma was okay physically. She had a tiny cut, but mentally she was struggling. She has been doing okay with the bipolar stuff for a long time, but she has been struggling with anxiety ... and, Oh Man!, she was anxious after this event. She was shaking a bunch. G'pa's hand was wrapped like a mummy. It looked awful, but the EMT said that it was just cut up with a ton of shallow cuts ... nothing terrible. Still, he said that we needed to get him seen by a doctor to make sure there were no pieces of glass left in the cuts. G'pa didn't wait to ride in the ambulance, so we drove them home. I stayed with Ryan, G'ma and Spencer while Dad drove G'pa to the emergency room in Rolla. 

My dad's shredded hand before the glass was removed.

While at the accident site I dug around in their car trying to find G'pa's glasses, but they were nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, there was glass EVERYWHERE, and I think I ended up getting some embedded in my pinkie finger. No big deal. Still, it hurts a little. I can't imagine how G'pa is feeling with his whole hand cut up with tiny shards of glass. For this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for SEAT BELTS, because if my parents were not wearing theirs, I am sure they would not have survived that accident. Intense! 

Dad and G'pa got home around 1:30 in the morning. The doctor had to dig all around in his hand to get all the glass shards out, and he got some mega doses of meds for his back, but he is pretty much okay. You can see the pictures we sent of the car, G'pa's hand, and the unfortunate cow ... "Not the livestock, George." (We've been watching that scene from O Brother Where Art Thou" quite a bit today. So funny, especially after G'pa's encounter with a cow).

Funny thing about our unplanned trip to Crocker ... I was not prepared to be seen in public. I had been wearing PJs all day long. My intention was to take a shower and get dressed, but after the work of the morning and afternoon getting ready for our feast, I just didn't have time. Oh well. I wasn't horribly disgusting. When I drove the kids to Walmart I debated about whether or not I should change out of my PJs. My fear of maybe having to come rescue them in the shopping chaos forced me to at least throw on a pair of jeans. But I didn't put on a bra, I wore my old Drury music sweatshirt, and I had on flip flops even though it was 30 degrees. And my hair. Oh my hair. Katie has become quite the hair stylist, and today I let her "do" my hair. She did some sort of elaborate braid along the top that seems pretty nice, but she just pulled my shorter hair into a "pony tail" in the back that just stuck straight out like some sort of mutant alien was boring its way out of my skull. None of my hair could stay in that style, so half of it was just flopping around without a purpose. I looked ridiculous. That was okay to stay and lounge at G'ma and G'pa's house, but not so cool to show up at the scene of an accident. Oh my goodness. I'm sure I looked completely bonkers when I stuck my head in the ambulance. Oh well. I'm sure they've seen worse. 

(End of my account to Laney).

So that was our crazy Thanksgiving Day. My parents are doing okay. My dad's hands are healing quite nicely. His back has recovered fairly well, all things considered. I don't think that my mom is suffering any undue anxiety from the event. Ryan is a bit freaked out still. I think it just got him to thinking about how precarious his situation is. If something happens to my parents, he is in a bit of trouble. We need to make appropriate plans so that he doesn't worry about things quite so much. The insurance has sent Dad his settlement, so now we are in the market for a new car for them. Dad said that he hasn't been in an accident since he was in high school. He hardly knows what to do in a situation like this. Luckily, Team Blau has had a bit of experience taking care of things after accidents. We took care of him. I am extremely grateful for seat belts. I am grateful to have my parents so close so that we can help them in times like this. I am grateful it was just a cow that hit them (or more accurately, that they hit). Happy Thanksgiving!

The unfortunate cow the next day.