Seriously, She's Amazing

Last weekend Ashley and I were on our way back from California. Normally, this isn't a big deal: Ashley packs her seven suitcases, three bags, two duffels, and car sack; I then find some miraculous way of fitting it all in the car after lugging it all from the house to the car; then I make the ten hour drive (stopping, of course, every 100 miles so Ashley can use the bathroom). This trip wasn't so easy.

The night before we had to leave, Ashley insisted on going to see my grandparents after dark. I cautioned her of the dangers of walking down to my grandparents after dark---the driveway isn't very well lit, despite my grandpa's attempts to keep it lit. Anyway, wanting to make Ashley happy (as I always do), I grabbed Caden and headed down with her. As we entered the dark void between my grandparent's house and my parent's house, Ashley was having trouble walking straight and sort of ran me off the road. In the process, I twisted my ankel. It wasn't so much the several popping sounds or excruciating pain I endured while holding on to Caden and not falling that hurt, but Ashley pointing and laughing and calling me a clutz instead of grabbing Caden so I could take my weight (and Caden's) off my ankel.

After asking several times, Ashley finally took Caden and I took a seat for a minute to assess the damage. I was in pain, but, not wanting to disappoint Ashley, said we could continue with our planned visit. Somehow I managed to walk down the thirty stairs to my grandparents' door.

Once at their couch, I pulled up my pant to sneak a peak at my ankel and, instead, noticed that my ankel couldn't be made out with all the swelling there was. My grandparents were nice enough to get me an icepack to ice it while we chatted. After about half an hour, we said our goodbyes and headed back up to my parents. I again battled the forty-two steps up the hill and made it to my parents' family room.

After getting Ashley some chocolate and a nice glass of ice water (well, two glasses of ice water because the lemon wedge in the first wasn't cut in the right direction or shape), I sat down on my parents' couch and iced my ankel some more (while giving Ash a foot rub). At some point during the night, I made a reference to the Karate Kid. My older sister, for some strange reason, thought Daniel-son leaped off his bad ankel when he triumphantly won the championship match. I, on the other hand, contended that he both jumped off and kicked his opponent with his good foot (thus, making the move one of the all-time great moments in fake karate history). I will admit that I was wrong in that I stated he didn't ever place any weight on his bad ankel (right as he struck his opponent in the face, Daniel-son momentarily steadied himself with his bad ankel).

After watching a movie, it was time for bed. At this point, I could no longer walk and had to crawl down the very long hallway to our bedroom. But before I got myself into bed, I was sure to make sure I had changed the laundry and got Ashley her bedtime chocolate snack.

Being overcome with pain and fatigue, I overslept past my usual 6:30 wake-up time. Ashley, bless her heart, packed the car for us. The three of us got into the car and headed back to wonderful Utah. Since Ashley was complaining that there wasn't anything good on the radio, I read aloud to her from the backseat while I was feeding Caden a bottle (but not before cleaning her sunglasses for her) until my voice went horse.

The trip home was a little longer than usual. I attribute part of this to the fact that it took me a little longer to carry Caden to the bathroom to change all of his diapers on the way home; Ashley was nice enough to honk only once or twice while she patiently waited for me to return with Caden (while also carrying her and my sodas). Once we hit Nevada, Caden and Ashley were finally comfortable and I was able to get my laptop out and get to work on my fifteen page paper that was due in 36 hours (I had about 3/4 of a page written at this point). With Caden napping and Ashley content using my iPod, I was able to get a good portion of it done before Ashley started to get concerned over the bad weather we were hitting. Noticing her apprehension, I put my computer away---still not finished with my paper---and drove the rest of the way home, somehow able to drive with my bad ankel. I'm just glad I was able to help. Once home, Ashley was nice enough to take Caden inside while I unloaded all the bags.

I just wanted to take this chance to publicly thank Ashley for all she did in getting us home: we wouldn't have made it without her hard work and dedication. She is amazing!