I feel like I should probably get on with my "Sabrina's Birthday Story" post before my brain loses it. So here we go...
We ended at "relaxing in the pool," correct? After eating and pool time and Sabrina being a good hostess and talking to everyone the guests left. It was at this point that Sabrina said she'd over-done it the past few days and that she was in pain. She said that her choices were to hurt or to take a pain pill. I told her she should take something for the pain and go take a nap. And, well... she did half of that.
She took a pain pill and got hungry. To be noted here: She has a lot of issues with her stomach so she doesn't always have an appetite... so when she does she takes full advantage of it. I completely understand that. She made a hot dog and took it to her room. She sat on her bed (that's where she almost always is) with the plate in front of her and took a bite. Then she sat the hot dog down and then started nodding off on it while still sitting up. At this point I figured I'd hang with Beth and let Sabrina get some rest so I went to the living room to do Beth's nails.
Me and Beth posted up on the couch with all of my supplies at the ready. I began by attempting to soak off the gel polish I'd put on her back in March. All of a sudden Sabrina stomped down the hall while dragging her hand along the wall for balance (it's just the way she walks) and she went to the kitchen to make more food. On the way back she mumbled something about us coming back there to hang out with her, but I told her I thought she should sleep. This happened several more times while I worked on Beth's nails.
Well, Beth's polish did not come off easy. It took a decent amount of soaking and buffing, but I was making progress when Beth started nodding off on me, too. She apologized a few times and then eventually gave in to it - putting a towel over her face and full-on laying down on the couch. As I went to see what the clearly-awake Sabrina was up to I thought to myself "At least I got her old polish off." (Sabrina had been teasing me that I forgot to leave them acetone and that they looked like they had been playing in Satan's bootyhole, so...)
Got to Sabrina's room and she was still eating and nodding. She would talk to me and then crash, like a robot being booted up and then powered off. I was able to get from her that she wanted her old polish off (which I knew, but right now?!) so I worked on one hand while she ate with the other between bouts of crashing out. I asked her why she didn't just sleep and she said it was because I came a long way to see her and she wanted to hang out. Ok, I guess.
Meanwhile, the kids were asking me to get them a hotel and I explained that I was a little busy and that they should tag Shaun in for help with that. They did, thank goodness, and by the time I was finished cleaning Sabrina's nails he had them a hotel booked and a Google map address sent to me. I can't possibly express to you all how much I love this human being. He makes my life easier even when I'm miles away.
ANYWAY... both Beth and Sabrina had clean nails at this point. Thank goodness. Then Sabrina asked me to paint hers again. I commenced the painting while she nodded in and out of consciousness. So... painting an unconscious person's nails isn't as easy as removing polish because fresh polish needs to be dried or hardened. Thank goodness I was using gels because there is no way this would have worked at all with a regular polish.
THEN TO MY SURPRISE Beth woke up and came into Sabrina's room and asked me to paint hers, too. "Well, ok. Why not?" I thought. So I finished Sabrina's and started on Beth's. Then Sabrina full-on laid down and went to sleep. Not long after, Beth followed suit (though she was facing Sabrina and they ended up snoozing head-to-feet on their backs). So I was just standing there at the side of the bed painting nails on a floppy hand and having to literally put Beth's hand in and out of my lamp. Like, I knew she was up at the butt-crack of morning and I knew she was doing most of the cooking and all that, but I really thought that after her nap she'd be awake. I was super wrong.
After doing nails a new adventure began: Taking the kids to the hotel.
First of all - driving at night is not my favorite regardless; driving at night in an unfamiliar place is even worse. But the kids needed a clean, chill space in which to decompress so I sucked it up and helped them pack the car. Sabrina woke up to tell them goodbye and thank them for coming and she apologized and hoped it wasn't her that was the reason they were leaving. I think everyone parted on good terms so that was great. I opened the link Shaun sent to the hotel and away we went!
The hotel was only 8 minutes away... supposedly. It took us much longer. There was construction, I was driving on the interstate to this 8-minute-away place, there were several of these hotels in a clump with the same main name, and one road was called something different on the map than in real life. It was a GREAT time. I (unknowingly) stopped in the middle of an intersection. When Shadow pointed it out I almost turned the wrong way down a one-way street to escape - he saved the day on that one, too. It was just insanity. But we somehow made it safely to the (correct) hotel.
I got the kids checked in and walked them to their room and then started my journey back to Sabrina's. I wanted to fill up my gas tank in the cool of the night rather than the heat of the day when I was leaving the next day so I stopped at a Circle K. They didn't take cards at the pump and that pissed me off so I left. Google said there was another gas station 400 feet away. Google lied. I drove straight until I found one (I didn't mind the breather and the quiet so why the hell not?)
I found a gas stationed that looked clean and mostly empty. Sabrina had given me money to get her some cigarettes so I went in for that and to grab some water and a tea for myself. The tea I wanted was wayyy up high were I couldn't reach it so I asked a youth to help me. He seemed happy to, thank goodness. Then I filled up the car and headed back to Sabrina's.
Ok, look. At this point I was EXHAUSTED. I had barely slept the night before. Aside from the noise of the house and Sabrina and Beth, there was noise from the street and I also had nightmares. Also, Beth's room was freezing, but under the blanket I was sweating out all of my precious fluids - there was NO happy medium. THEN there was being around all of the people, and worrying about the kids who clearly wanted out of there ASAP after the pool, and the smoke was making me feel shitty, and the adrenaline of being bad at driving in the city at night... anyway, what I'm saying is that I did something dumb so just give me a break.
I navigated back to Sabrina's neighborhood and drove around for a while - not on purpose. Street names and numbers were starting to look familiar. I was thinking to myself "I'm pretty. fucking. sure. she lives like, right here somewhere. What the fuck is up with my phone?" It was at that moment I got a text from Kira asking if I was back yet and if I was ok. I paused in the empty street and replied to her that I was close, but couldn't quite find the house. Then I checked my data... and it was off. *facepalm* Google was doing its best and got me as close at it could, but I guess it didn't have the exact data point so it had me circling her house. Wow. Just fucking wow. LMAO
I was like, 10 feet away from her house when I figured out what was going on. I was so flustered that I just needed a minute. I called and talked to Shaun for a few in the car before I went back in the house. I missed his voice and his face and all of him so I just needed that phone call. Beth popped out the front door and I told her I was on the phone and would be in shortly. I think she said she'd leave it unlocked for me, but I really didn't know or care by that point.
Anyway, got up the 'nads to go back in. Sabrina and Beth were, by this point, completely rested and refreshed! O_O Beth wanted to do karaoke! I hated to be a downer, but with my drive the next day and all that I just wanted to get some rest. I hung out and snacked and chatted and then went back to the ice box to sleep. (I did tell Beth I'd be happy to take the couch and she could have her room, but she said she was awake and would probably be cleaning and noisy so I'd better take her room again. So I did.)
And then I had a lovely and refreshing sleep with no interruptions.
Hahahahahahahhaahahahahahahahahahahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
It must have been before 6 in the morning when Beth snuck in her room with a flashlight again. It might have been close to 7 when she and Sabrina loudly argued about when I needed to wake up to get the kids. Beth was sure I needed to get up right then so I could get them by 11. Sabrina said it was too early to wake me up and to let me sleep. No one considered that I might have set an alarm on my phone for myself.
I'm not sure what time it was when Beth came in again, but she did. And not with a flashlight, either. She busted in her room, turned the light on, and almost yelled from the door "I'm leaving now, Blu, it was great to see you, I hope I get to see you again soon, thanks for coming, etc.," while I was on my stomach straining my neck to look at her, eyes squinting, trying to reply though she wasn't really pausing. Then she turned off the light and disappeared.
Next thing I know (I must have dozed back off) Sabrina was knocking on the door saying it was 9:30 and I should probably get up to get the kids. "Ok!" I replied. Then I laid there - thinking my alarm would go off at any minute since it was 9:30 and that is what I set it for. It never did. I looked at my phone and it was 8:57. "What in the actual fuck is going on around here?!" I screamed internally - and then got up.
Beth actually did make it back before I left so she got to see me off. Leaving wasn't too hard. I had gathered up all of my stuff the night before and they couldn't accidentally keep me because they knew I had a deadline to get the kids. So... I gathered my stuff and away I went!
I found the hotel much easier the second go around. We stopped and got fast-food breakfast before leaving Phoenix. One of the kids said Phoenix reminded them of Grand Theft Auto - and I could TOTALLY see that. LMAO We ate and then had a beautiful scenic drive back and the kids were like "What the fuck?!" and laughing as they recounted their experiences from the last couple of days. We made it home and I was SUPER HAPPY to see my husbang. I smelled terrible and took a shower almost immediately and me and the kids threw all of our clothes from the trip in the washer together shortly after that. It took two washes to get the cigarette funk out of our clothes. It took me several days to get it out of my head. It also took me a couple of days of sleep / laying alone in my bed to recharge my battery enough to do chores or really interact with anyone else.
The kids were happy to be home. Kira was so excited to see her kitty wuss. Shadow was pretty chill and didn't say much other than that he wrote down some of the shit Sabrina said because it was so amusing - like "You can't get high enough to make Spongebob. Fuckin' squirrel in an astronaut suit under the sea? What kind of fucked up shit is that?"
I guess that reminds me of a little Sabrina story of my own and it's the perfect ending to this blog. While chatting before I left, Sabrina asked me "Have you ever been so fucking mad at yourself? Like goddamn." And I was like "I don't know. Why?" And she said this: "Before I woke up I was dreaming I was on a pier out on the water. And it was so perdy and peaceful. And sometimes you gotta spit, you know? So I got up this super big, nasty wad of spit and I spit it out into the water. But the problem was, I was laying on my back in my bed - I wuttn' out on no pier - and I spit all over my own face. That's so fuckin' fucked up, man. I was mad as hell."
