Well, Friday night was an interesting night.
I arrived home from work to find my mother-in-law visiting my wife and kids. This in itself is nothing out of the ordinary; she visits quite often and is always welcome, especially when helping my wife with yardwork as she was this evening.
My wife informed that we were grabbing some pizza for dinner, which was fine by me. I informed my mother-in-law that she and my father-in-law were staying for dinner. My treat. She argued, but I insisted.
My father-in-law arrived shortly thereafter, and I soon went to the local pizza shop, taking my daughter along. When we got home, we found the house empty. This was odd. Very odd. They knew I was coming back with dinner.
I looked out the back window to see my wife and neighbors lined up at the fence that separates our backyard from the pasture behind our house. But I didn’t see my in-laws standing there. I went outside for a closer look, and that’s when I noticed that my father-in-law was out in the field. And my mother-in-law was lying on her back next to him, right on the ground.
I have to admit, this piqued my interest.
My wife looked at me and said, “She broke her ankle.”
This seemed like a hasty diagnosis for whatever had transpired, but whatever. I climbed over the fence and started running out to my in-laws, with the intention of helping my father-in-law carry her inside. No such luck. My wife stopped me and said they had tried. And when they did, my mother-in-law passed out from the pain.
The ambulance had already been called, so I went out to wait with them. When the ambulance arrived, I opened the gate so that it could get out into the field. At this point, I should mention the three horses and one pony that graze in the field.
At any rate, the horses and pony were distracted by carrots offered by my kids and neighbors, and my mother-in-law was safely loaded into the ambulance and taken away to the local hospital, where she was told that her left ankle was broken in three places. And to add insult to injury, her right ankle was sprained.
My daughter was upset for two reasons. First, she didn’t like seeing her Nana hurt. Second, she was supposed to sleep over at her house that night and was disappointed at the change in plans.
My son was upset for one reason only: he was jealous that he didn’t get to ride in the ambulance.