Friday, August 7, 2009

While You Were Sleeping


Dear husbands (Justin, Spencer, and James),

Do you remember that Sandra Bullock movie from the mid-90's? Well, as you know, we went out to celebrate my birthday tonight and we went to a restaurant owned by Ms. Bullock, Bess's Bistro. It was a wonderful little bistro with Manhattan-esque ambiance and great food. We didn't see Sandra---though we did hear she was there---but we didn't need a celeb sighting in order to have made the night memorable.


Yes, while you were sleeping we were having quite a time. Due to our need to be responsible mothers (and because we had already ditched you with the kids on Tuesday night) we opted to go out a little later tonight so that we could get the kids into bed or, in one case, support you in your church calling and allow you to attend an evening meeting before we headed out for our night on the town. Because of our late start we didn't even arrive at the restaurant until around 9:15pm. We parked in a lot across the street and headed in for our special evening. None of us had ever been down to this quaint little spot off of 6th Street but we had heard good things and knew that we were in for a good time.



Brooke, Jackie, Lonna

Two and a half hours later we emerged from the underground hotspot and crossed the street to Lonna's car. Unfortunately the car didn't seem to be in the spot where we had parked it, indeed I immediately had flashbacks to my BYU days where everyone I knew had their car towed at least once, and Lonna's car had definitely been towed. It turns out that the empty lot across the street was really for an Extended Stay America hotel and that across the parking lot, behind the branches of a tree, there was a sign posted by J & J Towing company stating that all vehicles without a proper hotel pass would be towed at the owners expense.

Because you were all home with our sleeping children we were unsure how to get to the impound lot, the only logical choice was to call a cab so that's what we did. After a rather unsettling drive through a sketchy part of east Austin---with Jackie monitoring the cabbies every move on her iphone map---we arrived on a little street with no street lights across from some factory at a shed with bars on its windows and a lot of sad looking cars parked behind an adjacent fence. I couldn't help but have flashes back to a conversation I had with Allie recently where she nonchalantly mentioned that there have been a lot of pregnant women who have had their baby's cut out of their bellies lately. It was clear that the smartest thing we could do was get out of there as fast as possible, I mean what could two women each in their ninth month of pregnancy, or a 110 lb. woman (who was asked by the tow guy if it was her Dad's car---I thought Lonna may lose it and tell him that she may look young but that she is the mother of two children) do against any creepy kind of danger on a back road? It would clearly be up to me.




Sketchy towing place in the middle of nowhere

We paid the fine of $193.30 and tried to not be infuriated by the fact that we learned that the car had only gotten to the lot 10 minutes before we realized it was gone. If only we hadn't taken that last pregnant-lady bathroom break right before leaving the restaurant!!!


Lonna and her car are reunited, they embrace

As Lonna said, "$75 spent on dinner. $16 cab ride. $193.30 impound fee. Celebrating Brooke's 29th birthday, priceless."

So husbands, sorry that we didn't arrive home until 2am and sorry that we are all at least $70 poorer than when we left home, and a special apology to James---sorry we got your car towed!

Sincerely,

the wives
(Brooke, Jackie, and Lonna)

Thanks girls for a very memorable night!

11 comments:

Lonna said...

I am laughing and slightly on the verge of tears here. I know that I would have been in hysterics had I not been there with you and Jackie. It is funny that the sinking feeling that you get in the pit of your stomach is so easily found when you notice your car is missing, and the women you are with could go into labor at any moment.

When I called to tell James I felt like I was confessing a really bad sin, I really felt guilty for leaving him out of the loop as it was happening, but I will say that when I came clean (skipping out on some of the really sketchy details like the clerk at the towing place) he wasn't upset or even angry, but just glad that we were all still living, and that everyone made it home alright.

Dinner was great, the aftermath was...interesting, and the lesson learned about parking down town, will never be forgotten. Thanks for taking pictures of the events, it wouldn't be quite the same telling the story without them.

Allie said...

Awesome. Perhaps my favorite blog post of late, and you have had a lot of good ones lately.

The Wright's said...

Okay...I am laughing AND feeling so bad for you & your friends!! Scary!! I am glad you made it home safely!! Happy Birthday by-the-way!! Miss ya

Anna Whiston-Donaldson said...

Happy Birthday! What a night. I enjoyed reading about it, but I sure wish you hadn't been towed.

megan&steve said...

This was a great letter in detail to the husbands. I'm glad you had your camera & that the cab driver took you to the sketcky tow truck place safely.
Most importantly, I'm glad no one cut your baby out of your tummy. Thats so creepy that its been happening lately.

Melodrama Mama said...

Oh my gosh! This was hilarious Brooke! Let me specify - your writing was hilarious, the event I am sure was not so funny as it was taking place. Happy birthday, you cute and incredibly pregnant lady! I am looking forward to seeing pics of your new little baby!

Jessie said...

Oh man Brooke! What a night! Looks like Texas is a lot of fun! My husband went to High School with Sandra...they use to hang out...funny huh. Happy Birthday!

abbie said...

fun post and what in the WORLD are you/allie talking about with the babies being cut out of bellies? are we talking about c-sections here or a kidnapping from the womb? that is terrifying. glad you made it home safe. happy belated birthday!

Katie C Kirkham said...

pretty sure I felt that BYU pit of the stomach feeling again while reading this post...except adding in the fact that you were in East Austin.

What a birthday.

Weed Family said...

Wow, what a memorable night. I do feel bad all of that happened,but it will always be a night you can look back and giggle about. Yea for girls night out and your 29th birthday, Happy birthday!

Unknown said...

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Susana
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