We had a BBQ yesterday. Keith & Tania were heading back to Italy in a few days, and I wanted to hang out with them one more time before they left. I also wanted Keith to show me how exactly he wanted me to care for his grill while he was gone. My parents came by, some other family, Bobby's brother Brian and our friend Andy.
Bobby and Andy are playing guitar, my parents and Brian are talking about whatever, we're cooking up all this food, my Gma is singing along to Bobby and Andy's playing (he'd pulled out the Kingston Trio, and she knew all the words).... Everyone was having a good time, the weather was nice (though it could have been a little warmer and I wouldn't have minded. Later on, my sister Jessica and her boyfriend Nathan show up, and I drag Nathan off to show me how to pass some level in Lego Star Wars.
After about an hour, Emma comes in the back room and tells us that Andy poked himself in the eye with a stick. She said it so matter-of-factly, that I thought it couldn't possibly be that serious, but when I walked into the front of the house, my whole family is crowded around the living room, and Andy is walking around, clearly in pain, trying to call his dad to find out what his medical insurance number is because he doesn't have his card with him.
The boys had been joking around, and Andy, bent over with laughter, had turned around right into a stick that was sticking straight out of the little firewood pile. It had jabbed him in the soft part of his eyelid just up from the corner of his eye and swelled completely shut. I felt aweful.
He didn't want to go down to the hospital until he could find out what insurance he had - he'd broken his arm last year while uninsured, and was not too keen on a new medical bill. Bobby and Brian finally convince him to just go down to the hospital with them and they'd figure something out.
Brian's wife Jessica was coming to meet him at our house after she got off work and they and Andy were going to a birthday party for their friend Jon we would probably have gone too, but we had Emma and it really wouldn't have worked out). When Jessica arrieved I was putting laundry away and my parents (whom Jessica has never met) opened the door. Jessica very politely asks if Bobby, Brian, or I are around, and my parents respond with "Oh, the boys all went down to the hospital."
She thought they were joking with her. Then when she realized they were serious, was sure that Brian had been goofing around and been hurt. I had heard my mom say "Oh, you must be Brian's wife," and came out to explain.
We were all about to head over to the sushi restaurant at the Disneyland hotel for my sister Jessica's birthday dinner, and if she wanted, she could come with us or I could take her over to the hospital where the boys were. Right about that time, Bobby calls to tell me they finally conviced Andy to see the doctor, and they'd meet us at the restaurant afterwords. I call Emma out of the back room, where she and Nathan have been playing Lego Star Wars since she came in to tell us about Andy's eye, and she asks, "Where's my dad?"
"Um, he and Brian took Andy to the hospital over an hour ago..."
"Is Andy okay?" Very concerned. I tried reminding her of what she herself had come to tell us earlier that evening, but I wound up just telling her that he would be okay.
We all headed over to the restaurant and had a nice dinner. About an hour later the boys met up with us and we wound up talking and eating until nearly 10pm. Andy had sushi and sake bombs for the first time, and my parents bought his dinner. They too felt bad about his eye. The boys had ordered the sake and beer, but the waitress had brought these concave glasses that wouldn't have worked, so we sent her back for water glasses. Everything we ordered or asked for took for-e-ver, and after a bit my dad says, "I think you better drink this sake soon or it's going to get cold."
"That's ok dad, they're just going to put it in their beer." He looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. "Just watch."
After dinner I gave Andy my key and he, Brian, and Jessica drove out to Huntington for their birthday party, and Bobby, Emma, my cousin Rachel and I headed home. We set up the air mattress on the floor of Emma's room and the girls put on a movie and had a little slumber party. Bobby and I layed down and I was suddenly thrilled I could just leave Emma in my cousin's hands - we were exhausted.
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