The Weekend Saga

The weekend started out great. Steve and I took the boys to a park on Friday around 11am. The weather was beautiful, and we saw a boy from Seth's class there. They played together and had a grand old time. Seth sometimes forgets that not EVERYONE lets their kids pee outside, and since there was no bathroom to be found.....

He christened the wood chips. Pretty much right next to where everyone was playing. The funny thing was, no one really batted an eye.

Here is Caleb. Enjoying his swing. Running free. Totally unaware of what awaited him later that night.



That evening, we had plans to go to THIS conference. When Steve used to work at Starbucks, a guy named Lonnie used to come in all the time and they hit it off. He ran into him not long ago, and Lonnie works for Right Now, which was organizing the conference.

He was going to be there. And he was too. And him. And these guys. (And Steve said this guy rocks his world.)

So the tickets are $199 per person. Steep....and not in our budget. Lonnie so graciously gave us two tickets for free to attend the conference. Wow! Thanks Lonnie! (he doesn't read this blog, just thought a shout out was due.)

Seth and Caleb were set to stay with my parents. We left around 4:30 and headed to Irving, which is almost an hour away. We were just pulling into a restaurant to eat, when Steve's cell phone rang. My mom.

"Ummm, Courtney. Caleb fell and hit his head and I am not sure if he needs stitches or not."

Honestly, it is by the grace of God that he hasn't had stitches before. He falls all the time AND hits his head all the time, but he has never had a cut bad enough to need stitches. Yet. Until now. I felt so bad for my mom.

So she takes him over to our friend Robert's, who is a fireman. He determines that yes, he is going to need stitches. The cut was deep and also in a place that has a lot of tension on it (right between the eyes). My mom takes him to the Acute Kids Urgent Care. This place is awesome, we have been a couple times. It is open in the evenings and on the weekends. They can do a lot of things that the ER can do, but it is totally kid friendly.

At this point, my mom is saying that she wants us to go ahead and go to the conference. There is no wait at the Urgent Care place, Caleb will get his stitches, and she will get back home before his bedtime. Not a big deal, enjoy your evening.

I was definitely torn, but I knew how bad Steve wanted to go to this conference. And by the time we drove all the way back, Caleb would already have his stitches and there wouldn't be much we could do.

So we eat dinner here, and probably will never go back. Slow service and mediocre food. We head to the church that is hosting the event, and as we pull into the parking lot, the cell phone rings. My mom.

"Ummm....the doctor at the Urgent Care says that we need to take him to the hospital ER. They can't sedate him here, and because of where the cut is on his face, they want to make sure they can keep him really still in order to stitch it well."

I know at this point that no matter what my mom says, I am going to meet her. You just never know what might happen at the ER. On a Friday night. Nuff said.

So we are in Irving, at the doorway of this amazing conference, and I have to get back to Plano. Then, I have an epiphany!

"Let's try to find Lonnie (the guy that gave us the tickets) and see if he can take you home!"

We walked in, and there were tons of people swarming around everywhere. What are the chances that the first person I walk up to and ask, "Do you know Lonnie that works for Right Now?" would respond with, "Ya! Let me call him and find out where he is." Score.

Long story short, we are escorted through the throngs of people, down a hall, down some stairs, around a corner and we find ourselves walking towards a room with a sign above the door that says, "Green Room". The guy that is escorting us points to Lonnie across the room, and we make our way over to him. "Steve Horvath, my man!" He is the kind of guy that makes you feel like a rock star because he seems so genuinely happy to see you. We chat a minute, tell him our sad story, and he says "Of course I can take Steve home." Then he sort of laughs and says, "How did you guys get down here?" We're like, what do you mean? What exactly is "down here"....

Then, we look down at the people sitting at the table eating with Lonnie, and it is...

TO BE CONTINUED...