Nov 5, 2008

Writing Assignment!




It's that time of the week fellow bloggers......time to join Kat for another fun writing assignment.

Last week I sort of took the easy way out of the assignment but not this week! I am going to take on two of the five prompts. Don't all cheer at once!

For the first prompt I choose:
"Fictionalize an event that happened to one of your parents, friends or siblings."

This is a story of a lovely lady who was...........just kidding, I tried to go fictional, but you know the saying that the truth is stranger than fiction. Well, here is the story of one of my Dad's shining moments as a parent.

Flash back to the summer of 1979. I am 12, my younger brother is 10 and we are on a road trip with our Dad. With our burnt orange VW van packed to the gills we spent two weeks of our summer vacation visiting a variety of state parks and tourist traps on our trek from Southern California to the State of Washington to visit family.

My brother and I took on two hours shifts riding shot gun. We sat for hours in anticipation of our turn in the front seat. When we weren't on front seat duty we would lounge around on the bed in the back of the van. That was fun for a while, but if you laid down it was inevitable that the hum of the van's engine would lull you to sleep.

This brings us to my dad's shining moment as a parent. While driving home from Washington my dad made a pit stop at a gas station in Oregon. When we stopped I was asleep in the back of the van. Instead of waking me up, my Dad and brother got the gas started and then went to use the bathroom.

In my pre-teen state I was a little bit annoyed when I woke up and saw that both of them had gone to the bathroom without waking me up. I'm mean, sheesh, how rude! It is common knowledge that if we don't use the gas station bathroom the next bathroom stop might be that tiny bush beside the freeway and homey don't tinkle in public.

So I gather my pre-teen belongings and trudge towards the disgusting gas station bathroom. I was probably in the bathroom for about 5 minutes before I emerged to discover that my Dad's van was no longer parked at the gas pump.

Ok, really funny dad! I stood there tapping my foot looking around wondering where he had hid his ORANGE van. After a few minutes had passed I found myself getting really annoyed with this little practical joke of his.

A few more minutes passed by when all of a sudden I went from being annoyed to having this scary feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then it hit me........"holy crap, my dad just left me in a gas station in the middle of no where Oregon."

Yes people it is true, my Dad abandon me in a gas station! It probably could have been a very scary scene if it wasn't for my brother. He turned around a few minutes after they left and said, "Ahhhhhh, where's Michelle?"

Can you just imagine the horror you would feel if you forgot one of your kids at a gas station in a strange state? That would have freaked me out as a parent! Knowing my Dad I'm pretty sure he just thought it was funny and potentially $200 less dollars a month he had to pay in child support!

Even though I didn't think the story was very funny at the time, I do now and I know that my Dad wouldn't mind me sharing it. Not to mention that he doesn't know I have a blog so I can say what ever I want.

Now on the next Prompt: 10 of my absolute worst pet peeves!

  1. Word verifications! Trust me blogger friends, you won't get slammed with spam if you get rid of your WV's!
  2. People who have a wimpy hand shake. I size up new people by the way they shake hands. Come on people.....put a little umpf behind your shake. Ladies, please don't offer me up the tips of your fingers like we are in a reenactment of Gone with the Wind.
  3. People who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom! I'll skip shaking your hand.
  4. Spitting.
  5. Hair in the sink.
  6. Globs of toothpaste in the sink.
  7. People who don't replace the toilet paper roll (you know who you are).
  8. Smokers who think the world is their ash tray.
  9. Pet owners who don't pick up their dogs poop.
  10. Finding a typo in my newly published post!! It always happens!

That is it, my writing assignment is done. Not sure what grade I will get this week, but I tried and isn't effort worth something?



Want to play?
Click here: Mama's Losin It

31 comments:

Liz {Learning To Juggle} said...

I read #1, I agreed...then I quickly ran over to my settings and double checked that I had turned this off...we're good...I have.

Great list!!

Mrs Anne said...

oh my goodness about your OREGON story! (come back and visit!! :) ha!)

as for your pet peeve list... i can agree with the majority of them.. odd how many similarities there are!

wish you lived here you would totally be invited to go crafting with us!

xo!

K said...

My travel motto- leave no child behind! When we took the trip to TX this summer with the team from church, I had a moment where I thought I left someone else's child behind! AUGH!! I can't describe to you the panic I felt. Turns out she was sleeping on her sister's lap- I woke her up when I screamed her name at the top of my lungs!
You're remarkably well adjusted for being abandonned at such an impressionable age... :-)
Later!

stefanie said...

Great story. Once when when my kids were little, someone left their toddler at the park. They came back about 30 minutes later, but it was sure a weird feeling to watch that child for that long.

I turned off word verification for a couple of days. I got spammed. Don't have the courage yet to turn it off again. Maybe I will try again.

magpie said...

hahah- love the story- oh dear god, i can't imagine!! and i love your list, too!!

Melissa said...

Great story...I can only imagine what you were feeling at the time!!
Oh and about WV's...how do you even get them off?? (i guess I'm not blogger literate yet..) :)

Claremont First Ward said...

Poor Michelle. I think I'd start to hyperventilate a bit if I were left in a different state. By my parent. he he.

Great pet peeves list, too. I totally agree with every one!

Jo-Jo said...

I give you an A+!

Kelly said...

You get an A+ from me. Love the story of your Oregon adventure! Poop on the shoe is not fun!

Kristin said...

I give you an A+. I could totally see myself doing something like your dad did. I have way to much on my mind most days. Thankfully my kids never sleep....EVER!

Jen said...

you are right the truth is stranger than fiction! And your list, 100% agree!

Los said...

My god - what a great take on "Home Alone," but instead of being fictional, it really happened!

Anonymous said...

Yeah! and as if it's not bad enough to not wash their hands...then they start doing their hair and putting on make-up. EWWWWW!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for letting me know about the bad link!! Your dad leaving you is too funny! Good thing they didnt' get further away ;)

Sam said...

oooh, I've never been left behind anywhere by my parents!!

Rhonda said...

I give you an A++ (just to make sure I beat the other grades that commenters have left, I'm an over achiever like that)

Thanks funny about being left. My dad left my little brother at church once and had to go back. I'm sure all the other church goers were thinking he was a terrible parent. lol I have 6 kids so it's always a fear of mine. We've *almost* left a kid a time or two but since we didn't actually drive away (nevermind that we were reversing out of a parking space) then it doesn't count. I'm still an OK parent. hehe

Love your list!

LazyCrazyMama said...

LOL! I love your pet peeve list! especially the word verification one ;) And the toilet paper thing so happened to me yesterday! ugh!!

Live.Love.Eat said...

Yikes, I better go wash my hands.




Just kidding. Your pet peeves are very valid!!!!!

Lorie said...

Well, at least Oregon is pretty!

Caren said...

That's a great story about your dad...not so great at the time I'm sure but really funny almost 30 years later.

I love your pet peeves and I'm peeved that I didn't think of the handshake one. I hate that and the Gone With the Wind comment cracked me up. I made my husband shake my hand once just to make sure my shake was up to par. He said it was thank Goodness!

Pennies In My Pocket said...

Ohhhh I'm SO with you on every single pet peeve!!!

Some more of mine are those pushy sales people at mall kiosks who follow you after you've said NO 10 times! lol

~melody~

Joy said...

That story so made me almost pee my pants with laughter.

Oh and some of your pet peeves made me rememeber that I forgot to put them on my list!

tiarastantrums said...

#10 - So so true!!!!damn it!

J Cosmo Newbery said...

Definitely agree with #1. I've never had any problems.

Glad your Dad went back for you!

carrhop said...

I'm wondering if I need to hire your girls to help me with my laundry...
;o)
Glad to 'see' you over at my place today!

Hugs!

Gwen said...

Too funny and look at you being an over acheiver posting on two of the promts!!!

Vanessa said...

I can totally relate to #6, that is my 8 year old's MO, no matter how many times I remind her!

I say A+ all the way! :)

Tina said...

Okay, I TOTALLY agree with you on the handshake! I mean, come on??!! What the hell is so wrong with putting some effort into shaking someone's hand? When people do that it almost makes me want to just grab them and hug them and say, "Show some emotion!!"

KatBouska said...

I swear I go back and edit my posts like 20 times after I publish them. It drives me nuts....especially when I'm too busy to go back and fix it!!

KatBouska said...

Oh yeah and the story is hilarious! I can't believe he forgot you there...but I wouldn't put it past myself to do the same thing. :)

angie said...

That story! I can't decide if it's funny or scary!

Yeah, spitting = gross.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...