Don't Laugh 'Til We're Back in the Car!

It makes no difference what day it is, how long HC Baker has been dead or what holiday is just around the corner.  No matter how you look at it, our family has had a few hurdles to jump in the past few months.  Of course HC's death was a shock, but my sister Linda being diagnosed with cancer also hit us very hard.  The chemo was working and she and I would try and do something outside the house every day.  We'd pick up our sister Mary and got out to lunch.  And you didn't have to ask any of us twice to go shopping!  

Linda and I fell into a routine we loved.  When out and about and we really needed something, we'd tell the "helper" in a hushed tone, "My husband just died" or "I have cancer"!  The first time we tried this we needed a new chain on a chain saw.  My grandson Daniel was coming to Linda's to cut down a tree.  She said it needed a new chain and I was just the driver, so off we went.  We went into one of those big box stores (un-named but it wasn't the orange one - I hate them and one day when I have nothing else to write, I'll tell you why!)  In that kind of store we don't look around.  We walk in and ask where to find what we need.  We were directed to the aisle and did find a man there who took us right to the item.  He looked at us and said "You won't have any trouble changing the chain."  (Whoa Baby!)  Linda (with very little hair left on her head) and I looked at each other knowing full well we were not going to be the ones to replace the chain.  I turned to the man and said "my husband just died and would you fix this for us?"  He looked at both of us and said "of course".  It worked.  Several days later we decided we needed a deep freeze in Linda's garage.  The main reason for this need was Linda just had too much frozen food in her kitchen freezer.  Back to the big box store (a different location) and we find the freezer we want.  The man tells us he'd put it on a 4-wheel dolly and we could push it to the front, pay for it, and roll it out to our car.  (Right!)  This time Linda (with very little hair left on her head) stepped up to the plate and said "I have cancer.  Can you do roll it out to our car for us?"  He looked at both of us and said "of course".  We've got this down!  

The next week after a "3 sisters lunch", we decided to go to a local discount store for some additional mulch.  Mary is with us and we have not informed her of our little one-act play.  We go into the garden department of the store and tell the person in charge of mulch we want 20 bags.  To make it more convenient for us, he says to pull our car up to the exterior garden entrance to load.  Once again Linda (with even less hair on her head) says "I have cancer.  Can you load it for us?"  Mary says "Oh for heaven's sake.  I can load it."  And she did!  This time when we all got into the car and pulled away, Linda and I told her she had just ruined our routine!  We explained what we did and she told both of us we should be ashamed of ourselves!  Then Linda and I laughed! 

Moral of this story - Don't take Mary shopping with us anymore!!!