Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Sisters



When we are young we know everything. We know so much more than our parents. We don’t want to be told what to do or how to do things. Well sometime that just isn’t so. That is the hard lesson that Lulu had to find out this last summer on her 20th birthday. Let me just say that Lulu is an intelligent, strong, independent young woman. I am always impressed by her beauty, grace and her learning abilities. The one thing I worry about is her judgment. She doesn’t always make the best judgment calls. Like when she faked going to college for a semester. Yeah that wasn’t real smart. Then there was the time she went with a bunch of friends skiing with no money or food oh wait that was me. We’ve all done it.
This is Lulu pretending too be surprised? or scared? or happy?
Have you ever watched that show on True TV, Party Heat? It is basically a reality show where the cameras follow police officer’s trying to keep the peace at party scenes. A really big party place in the summer is Lake Havasu, Arizona. They call it going to the river. Lake Havasu is a man made lake that was built along the Colorado River and is also the location of London Bridge. They brought it over from London and reassembled it on the lake. It is a beautiful location and is a large body of water, even so it can get really crowded fast. There is a cove at Lake Havasu where everyone gathers. When I say everyone what I really mean is there are forty bazillion boats all tied off to one another with lots of drinking, dancing and merriment going on deck. It is a huge floating Mardi Gras. There are deck boats and pontoon boats along with speed boats and ski boats they even have jet skis all tied off together. This creates a huge problem for the Lake Patrol Officers but it makes really good train wreck T.V.
This is Spring Break at Havasu. This was early before the crowd got there.
Our youngest, Lulu, decided that for her birthday she and her friends would go to “the River” for her party. They all got together and rented a boat, a place to sleep and they caravanned the four hours to have fun. Some of her friends are of “legal” drinking age and some are not. Most are in college and are not strangers to the party scene. Lulu being the good child she is called her daddy and told him what she had planned for her birthday. Kahuna asked her the forty bazillion questions that parents ask and she answered each one. Then he gave her his best Dad warning. “Lulu, you are not yet twenty-one. If the Lake Patrol catches you on the lake with alcohol they will arrest you and you will be put in jail. Do you understand what that means? You may not be the one drinking or committing the infraction but if you are with a group who is you too will be guilty by association. Do you understand what that means?” His list of warnings went on and on until he felt she understood the consequences of “going to the river”. Then he said, “We are 1700 miles away and can not come rescue you should anything occur. I would prefer you didn’t do this.” To which Lulu cooed and cajoled and said “Oh sweet dad, you don’t know of what you speak. I am an adult now and I will do what I deem best. I love you but you are an old fool who speaks of things that will never happen to me.” Ok she really didn’t say that but you get the drift of the conversation. She then said her good-byes and hung up.
Here is Lulu and her daddy.
Later that evening Kahuna and I were in search of entertainment and for the very first time we found the show “Party Heat” and it just happened to be the episode of Spring Break at Lake Havasu. The whole show consisted of young college coed’s drinking too much, falling off of boats, operating water craft under the influence as well as under aged drinking. All the while Officer Mike would haul them off of boats, out of the water and off the shore put them on his boat and take them to the pokey. I looked at Kahuna whose face was screwed up tight with anxiety and said “You know that is going to be Lulu. I guarantee she will end up on Officer Mike’s boat and she will learn the lesson of a lifetime. She was just too sure of herself.” He winced and said “Yeah, I know and I’m too far away to go get her.” I smiled and said “Well, all we can do is hope for the best.”

A little while later the phone rang. It was Falulah, Lulu’s big sister, she was crying and in a panic. I of course being the worry wart that I am was convinced that the errant meteor that was meant for me had instead made a left turn at Albuquerque and hit our house in California instead. My next thought was that her sister was in trouble or hurt. It was neither of those things. It was instead our little hairy wiener dog. He had wandered off and Falulah couldn’t find him. She could hear his little barking self but couldn’t tell where he was. She was beside herself with worry. We asked if she had heard from her sister and she said that she hadn’t for a couple of days. She did say she would call and check on her and let us know her status. We told her that H.W. would be fine that if she could hear him that meant he hadn’t been carried off by coyotes or smushed by my errant meteor.
Falulah put the Hairy Wiener in jail once she dug him out of the pipe he was stuck in.

We both slept fitfully that night. Kahuna was antsy. He had that parental intuition that something wasn’t quite right with his youngest child. I asked him what he thought it might be, very well knowing in my own mind that she was in trouble. We tried to get on with our day but we were both just not right. The phone rang and I looked at Kahuna and jokingly said “Well I guess she got bailed out.” He smiled and answered the call. “So, Lulu, who bailed you out?” he asked. There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Then she squeaked out “Falulah. She had to come up with four hundred dollars to get me out.” Then the story came flooding out of her like the Colorado River through a demolished Hoover Dam. She told her daddy how it was stupid that they were just sitting on the front of the boat not doing anything but the officer said that was against the law while the boat was in operation. Then he made her take a breathalyzer. She and her friend who were both underage were then taken to the “drunk tank” and left there until they could either make bail or last the 48 hours. She tried to make her dad feel sorry for her; she tried to make it the officer’s fault. She tried to explain it all away but by the end of the conversation she owned her error in judgment. Then she asked the magical question “Did Falulah call and tell you what happened? Is that how you knew I was in jail?” Kahuna laughed and said “Nope, you told on yourself. I was just joking with you.”

This was the truest of Sisterly love and affection. A sister who was there to bail you out and keep her mouth shut when she did. A sister who cares enough to make sure you didn’t rot in jail. That my friends is what a good sister does. If she isn’t sitting in the jail cell with you she is there to bail you out and vice versa.

3 comments:

Jen said...

Oh my goodness. What a story. Under age jailed drinkers and hairy weiner dogs stuck in pipes.

So glad there was a happy ending. And I did giggle a bit. Fathers do know best.

Anonymous said...

blah...sounds like a bunch of trouble makers to me...

Girly Stuff said...

Scary stuff. I so look forward to errant judgement and rolling eyes.

Glad she is OK. Her future kids won't have a chance. She will be Hawk-eye.