Sunday afternoon ice bath

I should have figured the Thanksgiving holiday couldn't have gone as smoothly as it did without something ridiculous happening.

We traveled to see family in Ogallala last week and stayed for five days. The week was filled with food, family and fun, and the weather was gorgeous. To top it all off, all five of us managed to escape the holiday without getting sick. That in itself, is somewhat of a miracle.

It wasn't till Sunday afternoon that my holiday took a turn. There were several of us that decided to go to eat Chinese after church. It wasn't my first choice, but whatever, as long as we didn't have to do any more cooking. The restaurant was small, a converted old ice cream place, but not very busy when we got there, so we were able to push some tables together and all sit with each other. I was looking forward to chit chatting with family and munching on some yummy egg rolls.

Because of the time change there, my girls and I were always an hour ahead and so by Mountain Standard meal time, we were starving. As a result of their raging hunger, my girls, who I purposely sat all together and at the end of the table, were super grouchy and whining 'cause I wouldn't order them pop and that the kid's meals would be too small. I was desperately trying to catch up with my aunt and cousins at the other end of the table, but had to keep turning to address the pouty faces and remarks about starvation.

My hubby was on the other side of me, also trying to deal with the crabby kiddos, as well as handle an important phone call and texts he was receiving.

The lunch, by no means, started out stress-free, but what's new?

My cousin and I were getting to catch up a little and get in a few laughs here and there before the bomb went off.

No, not a real bomb, just the bomb that ruined my lunch. As I was turned in my chair towards my family, laughing about this and that, trying to ignore the complaints from the kids, it happened. I actually heard it before I felt it, just a mere second of the sound of ice clinking against glass. Then ... WHAMMO!! Several large glasses of freezing cold ice water gushed down my back! "AAAHHH," is all I could muster, while arching my back and throwing my arms in the air. The poor skin down the middle of my back was doing its best to sidetrack the continuous path of ice water pouring from the tray.

Of course, instead of a big coat or hoodie protecting me, I had on my church clothes which that day was a thin sweater with a tank top underneath, and leggings. The hundreds of ice cubes that were in their glasses a second ago, were now heaped at the bottom of my sweater. It wasn't like the waitress just "kinda" spilled a "little" water on me, she flat out DUMPED A TON of freezing cold ice water down my back.

It took the breath right out of me. I just sat there stunned, while listening to the waitress repeat "I'm SO sorry" over and over again. I couldn't even answer her. Plus what was I supposed to say? "Oh, that's OK. No problem. Don't worry about it." I know she didn't mean to, but I still had no words for her.

Once the water stopped pouring and the waitress and staff ran off to get towels, I looked up at the reactions of my family. My aunt was crying laughing and my cousin wanted to laugh, but looked at me cautiously, holding back his laughter. My hubby was busy drying off my phone and gathering up ice cubes and I honestly don't know what everyone else was doing. They were probably just still staring at me, waiting for some response. At this point, I still hadn't muttered a single word.

As reality set in and I realized the whole restaurant, which was completely full now, had just witnessed me getting drenched, I became incredibly humiliated.

As a result, I started laughing hysterically and then asked my family, "Did I win?" I was mentally comparing the ice water bath to a gatorade bath that the winning coach gets, so that seemed like a logical response to the ridiculous situation. I then asked, "Am I the 100th customer or something? Do I get a prize?"

I'm sure I sounded like a moron and looked even worse, but it was one of those situations that I could either laugh or cry or completely flip out, so I decided laughter would suffice. It was clear the damage to my outfit was severe, so I excused my sopping self from the restaurant and went to the house to change. I contemplated not returning to the restaurant at all, but I swallowed my pride and faced the ridicule.

Needless to say, the ice water bath shocked my warm blooded system, taking my appetite away and giving me a whopping headache but I managed to finish the lunch without any more drama. I really thought at the end, we'd get at least my meal compensated, maybe more but the Chinese owner thought differently.

For my time and trouble, heart attack and instant hypothermia, we were give six free wontons. Ooo, that makes it all better.

Oh well, again, as is most things with me, it was entertaining and comical and something will laugh about for years to come.