Hannah George

DON'T MESS

 Well, how have you been surviving the summer?  I’ve done rather poorly, complaining incessantly.  Each time I step outside I feel as though a layer of my skin is melting off, and when possible, I am hunkered down as close to our air conditioner as possible. 

When its hot in Oklahoma, don’t dream of dropping down to Texas, where you can fry eggs on the sidewalk!  The exception was last weekend to take my sister, Mary back to her school.  This I did gladly, as another sister, Lydia promised to come.  We made a sister weekend out of it!  On sister weekends, you are bound to miss your exit at least once, you drive an hour out of the way to shop, and you stop for the bathroom excessively.  Multiple times I laughed so hard that tears smudged my sunglasses!

You’ve heard the saying, “Don’t mess with Texas?”  That’s how I feel about these girls.  Don’t mess with my sisters!  There’s a mama bear in me that comes out snarling to their offenders.  I could deliver a serious butt whoopin’ if needed.

Many summers ago, my grandparents piled us in their motor home and we drove from Oklahoma to Florida to visit our great uncle.  One hot afternoon we spent dangling our legs off the deck into the ocean.  We used a net to catch sea creatures meanwhile scorching our legs ‘til they were red and blistered.  I’ll never forget that sunburn. 

Walking the steps up to my uncle’s house I could feel the skin on my legs, tight and stinging.  My grandparents believed they could cure the sunburn and the sting by soaking our legs in vinegar.  Lydia has always been sassy and she absolutely put her foot down.  But the more she protested the more my grandparents insisted, resulting in a mad chase through the house, Lydia scampering around furniture and through rooms and my grandparents close behind, sloshing their bottle of vinegar.  Lydia and I finally locked ourselves in a bedroom.  I was there to protect her of course.  At intervals I would sneak out a side door and yell a few choice words at my grandparents who were prowling through the hallway.  As much as my sunburn stung, what I remember most vividly was my bubbling furry that anyone dare harm my sister with smelly vinegar! 

That’s still how it is.  It’s all for one and one for all with the Ekhoff girls.  If one girl is in distress, we all are.  If one girl has an enemy, we all do.  One’s victories or defeats affect us all.  So unless you’re looking for a serious butt whoopin’, don’t mess with my sisters!