Walk Down Memory Lane

I have been inspired by my brilliant cousin, Mindy, to "walk down memory lane" every Wednesday. I have enjoyed reading her stories about the boys and today's about a very exciting horse back ride with elk! Head on over and read it because I remember her telling this story when we were just kids and her eyes just lit up remembering it.

My walk down memory lane goes back just a few years to when Kylee was about 3 or 4. We had stayed at my parent's house the night before because they were out of town and we were dog sitting. It was mid-late October and for some reason where they lived the trees always died off late and theirs were still leafed out and green while everywhere else the colors had changed and leaves had fallen. This particular night we had a very heavy, very wet, very substantial snowfall. Since the trees were still in posession of ALL of their leaves, branches were breaking like crazy. First it was just the little ones, but as I sat listening, I could hear bigger and bigger branches just snapping and falling. Kylee was terrified of all the noise, certain that a tree was going to come through the window or roof and had a terrible time sleeping. Her fear was actually very legitimate though I tried to convince her otherwise. I too struggled to sleep that night, not in fear for our safety, but concerned about damage being done to the property. Not to mention that the noise was quite hard to tune out.

When we woke the next morning, all in one piece, I did a check of the ceiling and windows. Everything seemed to be intact! It was when I went outside that I realized how great the mess was. On top of the branch laying across the roof of my car, there were big branches lying everywhere in the drive way. I was wondering how in the world I was going to get out of there to go to work. Under the big branches was a blanket of small branches literally covering the ground. It was impossible to see even one piece of the gravel beneath. Leaving Kylee inside, I began moving the biggest obstacles out of my way. As I did so, I realized that the small branches covering the driveway were SIX inches deep in most places! At that point, I just prayed to make it out of the driveway without a punctured tire!

Finally, we were ready to leave for our day. I had succeeded in calming Kylee down enough to get her to the car. She was VERY worried that more "trees" would fall on us or the car. We made it to the road without a puncture! The roads looked snow packed but I knew that once we hit the interstate, it wouldn't be too big of a concern.

Now, I should probably go into this next part saying that Kylee was just beginning to notice and understand the significance of traffic lights. She knew that if we were stopped, in what seemed to her like the middle of the road, that the light must be red and that we would have to wait for it to turn green before we could continue on.

We got maybe, and I mean MAYBE, 5 miles down the interstate before we came to an absolute standstill. This is just very rare on any street, road, highway or freeway in Montana. I figured that there must have been a wreck due to the icy roads and that we would shortly be on our way. Wrong! After about 30 minutes of trying to entertain Kylee and keep my frustration at bay, I hear from the backseat, "Mommy, when is the light going to change?" It was all that I could do not to burst out laughing.

Finally traffic began moving about 15 minutes later and we reached our destination unscathed. What Kylee had so innocently asked just made my day. It completely turned my frustration into a smile. Aren't kids great?