Knowing the hotel would be elegant, I was proud of myself for thinking ahead and ordering a nice set of black leather bags, a backpack, a purse and a wallet…all matching. I also bought a black garment bag. My sister and brother-in-law had reserved a block of rooms for the entire bridal party and all the out-of-town wedding guests. I knew it wouldn’t be one of the cheap holes we usually stay at when we don’t just sleep in the van. We are used to the kind you can pull up to the door of your room and just carry in your stuff……clothes in brown paper Aldi bags. Boxes of snacks and toys. It would be the kind of place you had to walk past the front desk in the lobby and take an elevator to your room. I planned to make a grand entrance, so my sister could be proud of me.

It was hot and windy that afternoon. I pulled up under the canopy over the front door of the hotel. I asked the boys to grab one of the luggage carts lined up just inside the outer door and start unloading the van while I checked in at the front desk. I tried to smooth my hair down as I entered the lobby. I wiped the ‘dew drops’ (ladylike sweat) from my forehead and above my top lip. I tried to ignore the drops rolling down my back. It was hot as blazes outside. Everything was in order at the desk and I was given the key to Room 246.

I dashed outside and saw that the kids had all the stuff stacked sky high on the luggage cart. I glanced in the van to see if they forgot anything. I saw all the left over snacks…..chips and dip, a cantaloupe someone had given us two days earlier, some boxes of crackers, some nuts and candy…..I called the kids to throw all the snacks in the large topless banana box and put it on the cart, since the food would get rotten in the hot van. O.K. we were ready. I parked the van and was trying to smooth the kids’ hair down a little, checking if their clothes were clean and in order

before we made our grand entrance.

"Hey, where is my black jumper?" I asked as we were still outside right in the front of the outer door. (A little background: For three months before the wedding I had planned to make a navy blue jumper to wear to the wedding. Well, it never got done before we left, so I loaded my small portable sewing machine and the fabric into the van, thinking I would do it at one of our over-night stops on the way. Well, it never got done……so I was trying to make my black jumper do

double duty. I had washed it at the last over-night stop and put it on top of everything in the back of the van. It wasn’t completely dry, so I laid it flat, to stop wrinkles from forming.)

The kids look puzzled, so I repeated myself: "Where is my black jumper?" Finally one of them said, "Oh yeah…..there it is." He pointed to the jumper on the bottom of the luggage cart with all of the stuff piled on top of it. "It was the first thing we tossed on," the kid said, hoping to please me. I almost had the big one. Without thinking I grabbed the part of the jumper that was sticking out and dragging off the bottom of the cart and gave it a sharp jerk. "Oh no….it’s all wrinkled now!" I yelled, as the banana box flipped over and the chip dip (in a very large container) landed upside down on the sidewalk. The cantaloupe was rolling down the hill over the parking lot and was heading directly toward two elderly couples approaching the hotel. One of the gentlemen warned the others of the impending disaster by throwing his arm out over their mid-sections, stopping them in their tracks. He then nimbly hopped over the melon as it went right under his legs and on toward a semi parked along the side of the lot. In the meantime I was in shock as I was still waving my wrinkled jumper in the air and watching things unfold. One ofThe next night I stopped at the front desk to ask for a late checkout time for the next day and the young girl behind the desk said, "Yes, that was

Room 246, right?" I was surprised. "Yes, how did you know? I asked.

She just smiled and lowered her eyes as she said, "The kids." Hummm.

I wondered. Did something happen while I was out? I decided to ask them instead of her for the details. They were peacefully watching T.V. when I got up to the room.

"Did something happen while I was gone?" I asked the oldest. "No, why?" he asked. "Oh I was just wondering. The girl at the front desk knew what room I was in before I told her. And when I asked how, she just said, ‘the kids’. Are you sure nothing happened that involved the front desk?" That seemed to jog his

the boys was trying to pick up chips and crackers, while another one picked up the upside-down dip container. As he did, all the dip, which was hot and runny, fell out all over the sidewalk. I sent him in to the lobby for napkins or paper towels. The old couples were at the door now and trying to gingerly step around the pile of chip dip and get into the hotel. It ended up that the kid had to go back four times for napkins at the complimentary breakfast table in the lobby. He was still trying to get the dip out of the cracks in the sidewalk when the other kid came back with the rescued melon, which now was cracked and dripping.

We were a sight making our way through the lobby and onto the elevator. My hair looked kinda like the bride of Frankenstein’s in that old movie….The kids were harried and besides that, I don’t think anyone in the lobby even noticed the matching black leather bags I had bought for our grand entrance, since they were buried under the banana box. Oh well!