Speaking of water ...

You might have heard it’s hot in Texas.

I mean REALLY hot.

Like record breaking,  above 100 for days in a row, hot.

And no rain.

We are on mandatory water rationing now and can only water two times a week … after 8:00 PM and before 10 AM.  I read somewhere that there has been less than an inch of rain since January - or something crazy like that.

So basically it’s really hot and really dry.

And if you are outside for anytime at all you start muttering to yourself … “I think I’m gonna die”.   Yesterday we had a lemonade stand in the neighborhood.  I wondered if the kids would mind if I just sat in my car … with it running - but instead I stood out there and wondered aloud why I had bothered to shower that morning.

Speaking of being REALLY hot …

Last Saturday I took Brittany and Caroline to go run some “before school” errands.  After we had tackled school supply shopping we stopped off at Orange Leaf yogurt.  (Yes … it was just two days after I went with Bill - don’t judge).  :)

When we got back into the car,. it wouldn’t start.  Completely dead (turns out we needed a new battery).  We called Bill and he didn’t answer so we went back to the yogurt store and bought a water bottle and enjoyed their a/c.  And we called Bill.

All told we called our house and his cell a total of FIFTY FOUR times.

He never answered.

We were across the street from the mall … you know … air conditioning and clothes …. so I thought we’d just go hang out there.  The girls had other plans.  For reasons TOTALLY unexplainable to me they wanted to walk home.  In the heat.  The brutal afternoon heat. 

It was pure craziness.  Brittany was almost giddy … “I’ve never walked home before!!!".  As we started out it seemed like she almost thought it was the most fun thing she had done this summer.

It was at least a two mile walk … much of which I spent furiously dialing Bill’s cell phone.  I finally decided that he, Savannah and Jacob had surely gone on a bike ride and that he hadn’t taken his phone with him.

When we got to Memorial Drive we got really tired, hot and thirsty.

Brittany was saying things like she was lost in a desert like … “water … water … is that water I see up there?".  And so when we passed a little neighborhood grocery store we decided enough was enough and went inside to cool off.

We stuck our heads in the ice machine.  We opened the freezer doors and welcomed the fresh air and I honestly felt like I should apologize when the girls began eating all the fruit samples in the produce section.

In the freezer section Caroline wrote “HELP” on the frosty glass and I was pretty sure someone was going to think I had abducted them.  Except that we all seemed to be having a good time. 

We finally found an area of the store that sold individual cold water bottles and as we were grabbing one I heard someone say … “what kind of adventure are y’all on?”.

As I turned I saw that, sweet mercy, my friend Missy Coward from our Sunday School class was standing there.  Her car had a working battery and a/c and she gave us a ride home.

We fully intended on telling Bill we walked the entire way …  leaving out the part about getting a ride for the last mile.  But that is when we thought he hadn’t been home. 

When we walked in the door … there he, Savannah and Jacob sat …. at the kitchen table …. playing the game of “Life”. 

YES!!!!!! …. while our car was broken down they were driving little plastic cars around a game board.

They assured us the phone hadn’t rung and said …. “try it … you’ll see”.

So, for the 55th (and final) time, I dialed our house.

And lo and behold, it rang.

Bill over and over said … “I never heard it.”  (hearing aid perhaps?!).

Savannah said … “oh, I heard it, I think”.

And with that Bill put up the little plastic car he was driving and took us out to dinner.