'I've never known two people in the same family to fake their own death'

OK when I started this blog I said, "I believe I had an interesting childhood." So, here's a famous story from the Shrader family legend.

When I was growing up, we had a pool in the backyard. Mom was pretty vigilant about keeping an eye on us, but one day, she had to go inside and I was left out in the pool on my own. Shortly thereafter, I decided to see how long I could float. On my stomach. I was a good floater.

I was still "floating" when Mom came back, and for whatever reason, I decided not to get up. I heard Mom call my name. Did nothing. Called again. Nothing. Started walking toward the pool. Still nothing. Started RUNNING toward the pool.

It was only when I heard her footsteps on the deck, screaming and preparing to jump in, that I sat up and laughed. Needless to say, she. was. HOT.

At least two years later (when I'd completely forgotten about what I'd done) Mom had back surgery. It was a big deal – she wound up having the surgery twice, with two different docs. Shortly after, she decided to put contact paper in all the kitchen cabinets. (Yeah, I know.) Dad was "babysitting" but had to run an errand and left me in charge. I told Mom I was gonna take a shower.

Well, when I got back up and went out to check on her, she didn't answer. So I went running and found her, on the floor, with the stool, the paper and the other implements all carefully arranged around her to *look like* she'd fallen. She was laying there, all splayed out. 

As soon as I started screaming and crying, she sat up and said "I TOLD YOU I'D GET YOU BACK!!!"

And she did, man. She did. 

The title comes from when I told a friend this story. She said, "I've never known to people in the same family to fake their own death." LOL! Well, that was my family, what can I say?

Ramblings

There hasn't been much going on around here, except work. I found out most all of the people I know survived Gustav – now I'm just worried about another person I know who was in the path of Ike! He's a firefighter with the Seabrook, Tx., fire department (maybe you heard "Seabrook" mentioned on TV) so it's not like he can just evacuate never to return!! The e-mail he sent out said "last transmission" which is kind of creepy. However I got another one later that said he was evacuating to higher ground. Well, GOOD! At least I know one thing from all the hurricanes I covered – the first responders WILL be taken care of!

The other big news is, my apartment is officially clean. Last weekend I cleaned out my file cabinets, the last "untouched" area of my apartment. I'd been carrying stuff around in those from three states, Illinois, NC and Georgia!! Like, even old utility bills and my lease from my apartment in grad school. That would have been the best apartment, too, if not for the roaches and the family of beetles that turned out to living in my Goodwill couch!

Oh and I have other good news from the depths of my file cabinets. I'd assumed my master's thesis was gone forever, since it was on a disk that I'm pretty sure is so old it can never be opened again. But, for reasons I have no memory of, I apparently made like, 18 copies of it, ALL of which I found in the file cabinet, along with a draft copy and my notes! So if anyone would like a copy of it, I can probably hook you up!