Mamacita says:  I was sitting here remembering all the times Tim and I took two buses of Beta Club honor students to Indianapolis for their annual convention. We all stayed near the top of the Hiatt Regency Hotel right smack in the middle of downtown Indy. I was remembering, in particular, the last year I went with him.

Yessiree, two buses of starving hormonal high school kids, two insane chaperones, two small children, too much free time built into the conference schedule, hot tubs, and hotel rooms.

I guess Tim did all right with them; I really don’t remember. I spent most of my time riding up and down in the glass elevator with two tiny excited children. Well, when we weren’t walking around downtown and buying invisible dogs, fart spray, magic fairy wands, and hair glitter at the joke store. It was so windy I felt as though the children might blow right out of my grip.

We did this every year for years. But it was that last trip that I remember the most. It wasn’t the fart spray, although I’m sure everyone else in the lobby and on the bus remembers that. It wasn’t watching Hub sitting all night in a chair in the hallway between the rows of girls’ and boys’ rooms, either. It wasn’t even watching two giggling children and their invisible pooping dog.

No, what I remember most about that last field trip was that on the morning we were scheduled to leave, Sara had walking pneumonia and Andy broke out in chickenpox. They both swore they felt fine, so we went anyway.

I figured if I could go with my arm in a sling, they could go with their various diseases.

Talk about clearing a path through a hotel lobby. . . . .