Holiday shopping with my MIL

SO, Cheryl (my Mother-In-Law) and I had much success at this year’s Holiday Market. Being the “shop till you drop” person that I am Cheryl made me promise that I would only stay out for three hours or else she would not be tagging along. She does like to shop but prefers when we go to estate sales and such. She is NOT what you would call an “All day shopping kinda gal”. With that being said I felt a bit rushed on our Saturday afternoon excursion. AND…you know how that can be. I like to call this my “Where the devil did I park my car at this monstrosity of an event face”?

I mean since when did “You are the one that drove and had the car keys” single you out as the ONLY ONE that needs to remember where we parked? I’m asking. That’s when our CHRISTMAS MIRACLE APPEARED! Meet Erica.

She may not have come to save the world but BY GOD she was here to save two hot messes.

The backstory. While I was looking for the car I unfortunately tripped over Cheryl’s mother’s (Edna Merle or Maw-Maw to the children) library cart and it hit me square on the shin. Dang it!! I paused to gather myself and that’s when the urge hits me to take some photos of some of my finds for you all...my feathered fans! SO, I take my camera out to get this humdinger of a shot! Sheesh, who would have thought that I’d find an estate charm (the cross) at a holiday shopping market?! Well, you KNOW I found it a good home! Rest easy.

At this point, I decide to wait here on a nearby bench until Cheryl comes back outside because…we “needed” to follow this lady out to purchase some wreaths BUT, only to our disappointment, she was all out!! Leave it to my MIL to insist that she check her car “just one more time” to make sure she didn’t have “just two more wreaths”!! Lawd! SO, I’m waiting for Cheryl to join me outside to assist in the missing vehicle search. And it’s at that point that I received a phone call. OOH, its Cheryl! “Hey” she says, “I don’t want you to worry because Erica and I are on the way”! Umm…WHO? “Erica our knight in shining armor”. ‘We are riding around in her SHUTTLE and she is going to take us to find your car’.

Now this sort of thing should never surprise me. Cheryl has what my mother would call the “midas touch”. Not only that but, the woman HAS NEVER MET A STRANGER. EVER!!! And…no one has ever told Cheryl NO. She is petite, has short grey hair, glasses and soft spoken voice that is lighter than a feather. I mean you saw how quickly the lady with the greenery booth went out to her car to look for the wreaths, even though she was bustling with customers. Hehe.

Here they come, Erica and Mrs. Daisy. They pick me up and I was so tickled at the circumstance and the sheer look of seeing my MIL and her new found friend Erica (God bless her) on this golf cart / shuttle that I just had to take a picture. And I’m so glad that I did because NOW, I can share it all with you. I did ask Erica (our Christmas Miracle) if it would be alright if i take a quick picture for the books! She obliged with this look.

I like to call this Erica’s “Where the devil did these two ninny’s park their car at this monstrosity of an event face”. Lawd!!

Cheryl says, “OOH! Erica you are going to LOVE my daughter in law Amber…she’s a blogger”!! Hehehe! “Oh” says Erica, “that great”! I then ask, (following Cheryl’s lead…and my Lord, you really can’t help yourself but to get SUCKED INTO the emotional pull of it all) if she could give me a just second to just stretch out my BRAND NEW cowhide rug across the seat. You know, so that I can show YA’LL my new favorite purchase. Erica being the kind person that she is, agreed to the two minute staging effort. After the quick pic we were off to find my car. It was a delightful tour. So, I took these quick pics of our surroundings. Again, ALWAYS thinking of YOU!

Alas, there is my car!! Would you believe that it was on the whole other side of the coliseum?!

Of course, in true Cheryl fashion, Erica and my MIL exchanged numbers. Because you know, You never can tell when you might want to catch up! I just can’t.

I honest to God have NO idea why some people give her their number. But, they never say NO. HA! We all exchange hugs and Happy Thanksgiving goodbyes and we are on our way home

Things couldn’t be better as we travel back home. We talk about ALL of our finds and how we CAN’T WAIT to give some away as Christmas gifts. THEN, all of the sudden, Cheryl gasps! Like sucks the air out of the car. What?!! “Amber, we forgot the gifts at the coliseum”. “Wha…are you serious”? Yep! “We didn’t pick up that BIG box at that “pilla” booth”. It’s at this point that I realize that my three hour window of time is growing shorter.

BTW, I AM starving, so I tell Cheryl that I am stopping at the Chick-fil-a drive thu for a chicken sandwich and after that we can go back to the holiday market for our left packages. Sigh. Cheryl doesn’t eat fast food or take out so, no surprise that she didn’t want anything. While I am pulling my car around in the long chick-fil-a line (BTW, I am always impressed with how they can zip everyone in and out of there) I hear Cheryl on the phone. “Hey Erica, Amber and I are on the way back to the coliseum”. OMG!!!

“I wanted to call you and say thank you for being so very kind to us in assisting Amber in finding her car”. OMG!! “Anyway, we are coming back and I just wondered if you might care for a Chick-fil-a sandwich”? OMG!! I can hear Erica on the other line “Ma’am, where are y’all? “Oh”, says Cheryl, “we are in line at the Chick-fil-a”. “Would you care for a chicken sandwich”? At this point I’m giggling. Erica laughs and says, “No ma’am I don’t care for one but, I do appreciate you asking”. Sadly, never in all of my days would I have thought in the mad rush of it all to have called Erica and asked if she would like us to bring her a sandwich. That’s Cheryl. My MIL comes from a long line of strong women that are at all times very kind, thoughtful, super independent and resourceful. Maw- Maw (Cheryl’s mother) grew up in a very small town called Aynor near Myrtle Beach, SC. If you blink, you’ll miss it. There’s is a close knit family of farmers. Cheryl and Maw-Maw were of the era that family all worked together in order to accomplish the task at hand. Maw- Maw was a single mother in 1952. In those days and especially in small farm towns, women stayed home and the men worked. Maw-Maw had two young children and worked her fingers to the bone to make sure they never did without. One year, she rented a Uhaul and moved herself and her children from Aynor, SC to Alexandria, VA where she took a position at the United States Pentagon, as a secretary. This cart in the photo is one that Edna Merle used to walk to and from the library and grocery store. Cheryl uses it today on our shopping expeditions. I just love that! There is never a dull moment we get together and I treasure all of our experiences and adventures! XOXO

Until next time,

The Gathered Hens

PS: You may never believe this but, ERICA called my MIL to wish her a Happy Thanksgiving! Another Christmas Miracle!