Okay so I'm back from an unanticipated month-long hiatus. I wanted to get a lot of my things bought and ready for school before I went on vacation so I turned out to be pretty busy, then I went on vacation (which ended up being more of an "adventure" than I thought it would be, which I'll explain later), and now that I'm back, I only have a week left until I'm back in Mil-town (I can't wait!)
But backtracking a little bit here... vacation. What to say about vacation?
Well... let's just say things got a little... wacky... towards the end.
Not in a good way.
So the original plan was for my mom, my dad and I to fly out to Philly the 22nd of July, rent a car, and drive to my Uncle's house. The next day my cousins Nathan and Lydia were going to hit the road from North Carolina early in the morning to get to my Uncle's by early afternoon. So far so good.
The next night, my dad and I headed off to Citizen's Bank Park to see the Phils play the Padres.
One word: Unbelievable.
One of my dad's high-school buddies has season tickets between first and home right in front of the Phillies dugout!
Why so great?
That's where the Phanatic does his thing at the bottom of the 7th every home game. It also so happened that the Penn State Nitanny Lion was at that game and, let me tell you, hilarity ensued. (Check out the video I took on my phone
here... you won't regret it.)
Also, Cole Hamels was pitching which is always a wondrous thing, and the Phils won 9-4. Overall... it was amazing!
Meanwhile, back at my uncle's house, turns out that my cousin Rachel's boyfriend is going to be staying with us at the shore for the weekend... (well... until Tuesday). And everyone is fine with this (let me just mention that Rachel is 24, I don't really see how this is exactly a scandal) except my Aunt.
I suppose it's understandable that Rachel's mom didn't want her boyfriend to stay with us because no one likes to see their little girl grow up... especially when it gets this close to marriage.
But by Monday, the rest of the family was kind of with my Aunt. Rachel's boyfriend was very nice... but turns out Rachel is one of those girls who, when they get a boyfriend, that is literally all they care about. She was uninterested in her entire family the entire time her boyfriend was there (including her sister, who just came back from an entire year in Japan, and her extended family who she only sees once a year for a week).
Let me put it a little more simply: She acted like a 16 year old the entire time.
Then, to top it all off, her boyfriend absentmindedly (that's my "nice word") booked his flight incorrectly and my Uncle drove him all the way to the airport in Philly only for him to realize that his flight left the day before. They decided he was going to stay at a hotel in Philly and get a flight the next day and Rachel decided she wanted to stay with him and come back to the shore when he left. Her mom and dad said no.
Cue her acting like a 16 year old girl again.
She was miserable all week. Wouldn't talk to her sisters, wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't talk to her mom and dad... it was really irritating.
But I'm gonna move on from that subject because I can't really handle it right now.
Now I'm going to talk about my cousin Nathan and my Grandma (because the drama with Rachel wasn't enough for the week. Remember, we're making up for a whole year of not seeing each other which basically means we're making up for a whole year of no drama).
So anyhow, Nathan somehow cut his hand while he was doing something with mulch back home. And we're not talking a regular cut here. It was HUGE, really... gross, and it was really painful for him. By Friday, his right hand was useless. (There's more to this story but I'll get back to that later.)
So, Thursday morning my mom gets a call from my grandma who tells her she doesn't feel well. That night she's at the hospital... but it's looking like just an overnight thing.
Friday night my Uncle, mom, Rachel, Nathan, my Aunt, and my other cousin, Sarah, get back to my Uncle's house.
Later, we get a phone call. My grandma (still at the hospital) apparently was so confused from the medicine they put her on she kept trying to get out of bed and they had to actually put a restraint on her so she couldn't get out. Let's just say it was looking pretty serious. By the time we all went to bed my mom and aunt had made plans to go to the hospital first thing in the morning.
Fast forward to 4am: the phone rings. I'm the only one who heres it. I got so freaked thinking it had to be the hospital. (I mean who calls at 4am right?) So I rush upstairs, wake my mom and aunt up, they start freaking out. My mom rushes downstairs trying to look through the caller ID and we can't find anything. After 15 minutes we decide to just go back to bed... it must have been a wrong number.
But of course, me being me, I was still scared and didn't get any more sleep that night.
(Hint: This is the part of the story where I look like an idiot).
Fact: in my state of panic/the fact that I was half asleep when the phone rang, I failed to distinguish my Uncle's cell phone from his home phone.
Fact: the last person Nathan had called on his cell phone was my Uncle
Fact: Nathan's phone has a redial feature
Fact: Nathan sleeps with his phone
... Do you see where I'm going with this?
Turns out, at 3:52 am Nathan had an outgoing call to my Uncle's cell.
Yeah... it wasn't the hospital, it wasn't a wrong number, it was Nathan sleep-dialing.
But even with that scare out of the way, Nathan's hand gets worse. My grandma gets worse.
My mom and aunt go to the hospital Saturday morning bright and early to see my grandma and she's really REALLY confused. Confused and depressed.
So what do my Uncle, my cousins and I do back home?
We sit, watch Boondock Saints, and pretty much wait for bad news.
By 1pm, my mom tells me I'll be flying by myself the next day back home and she'll be staying back east.
By 2pm, Nathan is flying back home asap so he can go to the hospital for his hand.
By 3pm, Nathan AND Sarah are flying home asap because my aunt is staying in Philly as well.
By 4pm, my cousins are gone.
My Uncle and I get back from dropping off my cousins at the airport and we go back to sitting, watching tv (opting this time for King of Queens instead of Boondock Saints, it's not really a mood-lightening film) and waiting for more bad news.
By 11pm, turns out Nathan might have
MRSA. (Note the "MRSA might be fatal" part, and even if it's not, note that Nate kinda needs his hand since he goes to the Citadel and is in the Army).
Anyhow, the next morning (9:30am EST to be exact) my Uncle drives me to the airport, and at 7:30pm CST, after many flight delays due to storms, I'm finally at Chicago-Midway getting my suitcase (which, turns out, is soaked from the outside in from God knows what).
And that's the end of my sob story.
In case you want to know, my mom is still out east but she's coming home tomorrow.
Nate's doing alright, it's not MRSA, thank God!
My grandma should be released from the hospital on Monday.
Despite the end of vacation... it was a lot of fun while it lasted (despite Rachel successfully channeling her inner teenage angst)... and I'll update soon with pictures and happenings while I was at the wonderful shore.
