Mark and Cassey: "IN YOU I FIND MY REST"

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BE STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORM TO FIND YOUR PEACE

Well, let’s see… where to start. Where to start! This past weekend, Rose and I headed to Houston to meet with my cousin (Ben)/architect on our house plans. I felt that things just were not progressing via fax and email, so the easiest way to get my house ideas on paper was a quick trip to Houston. As far as the purpose of the trip goes (the house planning) – It was a total success. We spent about 7-9 hours working on it. We moved columns, and roof lines, and sketched the front. I am getting very excited now as I can see this is really happening!!!!

On another note, I was also very excited to spend a weekend with Rose in Houston. I had researched all the things to do – the Zoo, the Aquarium, the Children’s Museum, the Splash Pads, and the Galleria Shopping mall. There was TONS to do – TONS to keep us moving and busy! I promised Rose we would see the new baby elephant, and ride the train thru the shark tank, and go up on the Ferris wheel. I had Big Plans for our Mother/Daughter weekend! Big Plans!

Rose and Otis

So… things started out wonderfully! We sat next to Otis Day (from Otis Day and the Knights) on the plane. That was cool! He was such a nice man! I honestly would not have recognized him except that he performed in Jackson the night before and was on the front page of the paper. The lady next to me on the plane had the paper – we put two and two together pretty quickly! Rose did amazing on the plane rides – both going and coming. She never once winced at the turbulence, take off, or landing. The only time she ever showed fear was leaving Houston to fly back home, we had to walk outside to get on the plane, and I put her down to attempt a picture in front of the HUGE PLANE and she was not letting go of her momma! She was definitely intrigued at the big plane, just not so sure she would venture off and smile for the camera!

We got to Houston, and I felt really good about our trip! I mean, things were going perfectly…. Right up until I was informed my driver’s license was expired and Thrifty refused to rent me a car. WHAT??? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!! So I attempted Hertz, Enterprise, and Avis… Apparently, that is policy – to only rent cars to persons with valid driver’s license! So this totally bombed my entire weekend plans….. “it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok”… I’m telling myself… I’ll call a cab, they can take us to the zoo, Ill rent a locker and put all of our stuff in there… It will be fine…
Um…. Not even close to fine! We walked outside to the POURING DOWN RAIN! I’m not talking about a little drizzle or it may pass over – I’m talking – black skies, can’t see 5 feet in front of you kind of rain. At this point I told Rose the elephants had to go inside and didn’t like the rain and we couldn’t go see the elephants today…. Wowsiers….. I know she could care less about the elephants and she doesn’t know what I’m telling her, but I felt like a terrible mother who couldn’t keep her promises… So I decided to take the Taxi to Ben’s house and just hang out on his front porch until he is done with work to meet us. I think he really felt bad for us, and took the afternoon off work to come let us in. It turned out fine and we got a head start on the house planning anyway. Rose, my angel child, was as sweet as could be. She entertained herself and played, and watched Mickey – nothing ever seemed to bother her.

Saturday – the next day – we woke up, ate a Grand Breakfast at the coolest little café and got Ben to drop us off at the aquarium. Let me note that I did leave my luggage at his house but I am still toting Rose, the stroller, AND the car seat. The plan was for him to drop us off, and then Rachael to pick us up. The weather was beautiful. I bought the full day pass with unlimited amounts of rides. We were finally going to enjoy our day. Well, So much for my parental planning. 10% chance of Rain my behind!!! It POURED. AGAIN. Out of nowhere!!! Rose and I hovered under an umbrella in the concession stand part – and the stroller. And you ask – why not go inside? There was no room in the small space which merely consisted of a few fish and a gift shop – the rest was outdoors – so needless to say, the Aquarium pretty much shut down. We were stranded in the rain. We waited it out for an hour and the skies were still black and it was still raining, so I called yet, another, cab. We went back to Ben’s and camped out until the weather cleared and Rachael picked us up. In the cab, Rose gently reached over and patted my knee, as if to say “its alright momma.” What a bust – and I have nobody to blame but myself for this stupid mistake of not getting my driver’s license renewed!!! Not that it would have changed the weather, but we would have at least had shelter!!!! I spent more on Taxi rides than I would have renting the car. I was unbelievably frustrated. Rose, on the other hand, was laid back about the entire ordeal. She was just glad to be with her momma. She loved on me, hugged me, gave me a million kisses, and never complained about being soaking wet with nowhere to go. At that moment I realized that my little Rose was the calm in my storm. Her little smile let me know that even in the middle of what felt like a hurricane, I was with the only thing that mattered. The rest of the trip seems a blur – a little shopping, some good food, a hot bath…. Everything turned out fine, just not how I had originally planned. I have now Re-Promised Rose for a fun day soon! I’ll have to come up with whatever “fun” we can do. I haven’t gotten that far yet. I’m still resting from this weekend. Rose was not any trouble – NONE. She was an angel. Its just all the stuff that goes with Rose that gets tiring – like the stroller, and the car seat, and the doll, and the passy, and the IPad, and the sippie cup, etc… the keeping up with half of it and carrying the other half. I’m just one tired momma, but I sure do love my Peaceful Child. What a blessing she was to travel as my carry-on!