Thieves in the night

I was in bed (like I have been many other places lately) last Saturday night. It was around 11. Jay had just come to bed. We were watching a little tv -can't remember what was on. Bobo was on the back deck and started to bark. He is not a barker and it was a pretty focused barked. It also seemed rather loud and I got up (pain doesn't keep you from being paranoid). I walked to the deck door and realized it had not been shut all the way, so I took the opportunity to tell Bobo to hush. As I was shutting the door, I heard a voice (or so I thought).

I hurried back to bed and told Jay that I thought I heard a voice outside. This coupled with Bobo barking should warrant Jay getting out of the bed. Jay simply said he wasn't getting out of bed and that I didn't hear anything. About 15 minutes later, I got up to go to the bathroom. As I was walking across the bathroom, I turned to look out the large window above our garden tub. I saw headlight and taillights down near the sharp turn and nearly let out a squeal. JAY - SOMEONE IS IN OUR DRIVEWAY! I SEE HEADLIGHTS.!!! He sprang from the bed, grabbed shorts and a baseball hat and loudly announced he was going after them. The bathroom need was urgent so I did my business and headed into the living room. As I rounded the corner, I called out Jay's name. He was sitting in the dark in one of our brown leather chairs and said, "You have been forked." (that is not a typo) I turned and looked at the front door which stood wide open with the front porch light on. There, in my yard were a ton (a hundred, maybe more?) of plastic forks pushed individually in my yard, each with an index card stuck into the tines. I knew immediately what it was and who had done it! Yippee! Not only did we NOT get robbed :) but my great friends had taken the time to write encouraging words, bible verses, prayers funny memories, even some strange pick-up lines on all of these cards. It was to lift me up during this low time. HOW FUN!

The next morning, I let the girls pick all the forks out of the yard, as I obviously couldn't. They loved doing it. One by one, I read the cards - some brought smiles, some brought giggles and some inspiration. It was just want I needed. I had hit a real low with the pain, epidural failure and g.i. bug I battle for 6 days. My friends heard it in my voice and came running with love.

Now - the funniest part of this entire thing is that my great friends were thorough enough to send Jay an email to let him know of their intentions, only the day before. Jay received and read the email...and had FORGOTTEN all about it. Additionally, what in the world was Jay going to do by going after them in my minivan? Lastly, what was the need for the baseball cap - were the robbers going to be scared by his bed head? I got some laughs out of that. Another good result from the forking - Jay and I now have an emergency plan if that does happen for real.

Here is a BIG thank you to Amy (the mastermind), Beth, Lori, Angie, Rebecca and Stacy. You guys are the BEST!