Day 4 - Mother's Day (not Mothers' Day)

Holli Van Winkle finally awoke on Day 4; and, fully rested, has embraced her "inner child". What we did not expect was that her "inner child" would be her cousin Cory. Holli had a Cory-like retort for everything Cherri said - "that's because you're old", "Laaazeee, Mom, quit being lazy" usually said by Holli and Brian while they are horizontal and Cherri is DOING something. All of this with a smile in their voice and an equally loving response from Cherri, like, "I'm going to old you!"


Speaking of verbs, Cherri has mastered the art of turning any word into a verb in response to a child's inquiry. "I am going to money you!" or "I am going to sandwich you!". The kids have truly enjoyed this, have begun keeping a list, and using it anytime Cherri is on the phone. For those of you who talk with Cherri on the phone, you will be glad to know that you have her undivided attention. It has always amazed us that she cannot multi-task while on the phone, when she does it so well with other activities - that always seemed to be such a mom quality. So given her condition, it is no surprise that a large volume of outside stimuli, while on the phone, has an affect on her.

The kids were re-telling Mom stories, you know, to make her feel better about herself. They are quite observant. For instance, her eyes get bigger when she is talking to old people or people with language limitations. Or Holli's imitation of her when she talks or is on the phone "Ngah, ngah, ngah, I'm old".

Cherri's new favorite singer is the "vocal trance" artist Coushatta, known to the rest of us as Cascada (go to YouTube). Cherri doesn't really know the words to "Every Time We Touch" but she tries to sing them to every trance song Brian plays; or even that "walrus gumbo" song by the Beattles that for some reason Holli keeps singing over and over again in a child-like voice, "one and one and one is three, got to be good looking 'cause it's so hard to see".

We did make it to the beach early today. Since we were in the town Ft. Walton Beach, I assumed they would have beaches. Rather than driving back down to Destin, we found public access with great parking; and we had it all to ourselves. All day there with only one or two cars at any time. Maybe that's because everytime someone mentions "shower" Brian says "I don't follow that religion". The handicapped sign was interesting. The availability of "beach accessible wheelchairs" fascinated me. I had to go on line and find what they looked like. I want one! Holli and Cherri took a long walk on the beach. Holli decided to be a "rebel"; ignoring all the "stay off the dunes" signs, she risked arrest by the Sand Police and wrote in the dune.

We headed out for Orange Beach from there, just a 2 hour ride even by RV. Good thing we had the generator going, though. When it died on the way, I knew we had reached 1/4 tank of gas and promptly pulled over to refuel. I had to pull over and address this "crisis" immediately because the Xbox and Hogan's Heroes dvd's don't run on battery - Brian was soon talked down off the roof and order was restored. Holli was fast asleep.

Cherri is ready to buy a Tom-Tom and forget Google Maps. After the mis-location of the hospital last night, she was quite put out that the Walmart in Gulf Shores was not where the map indicated. The fact she cursed Motorola for making the "Q" we were using, instead of Google; or even better, whoever supplies them data points (probably the same people that supply Tom-Tom), means that the remedial mouse training Brian has been giving her still needs work.

I had to awaken the Princess du Mall from her "chamber" to feed her dinner. Holli and I were quickly asleep soon after eating. The hum of the generator lulled her to sleep, and the long night at the hospital made me decide that sleep was better than blogging.