Coming Home...........

Well, I am home from my trip "back home" to Long Island, NY. I dropped my son, Joey, off with my sister. Joey has decided that he would rather "get his life together" in NY. He is 18 years old, has just graduated high school and I was in no way ready to send him out into the world.........anyway, while in NY I took care of my sister's kids, whom I love dearly, while she and her husband went camping with the rest of my family.........as a mom of older children, I wasn't prepared to care for a 6 year old and a 22 month old......but I did pretty well, I thought.............UNTIL my sister, who I swear has OCD, came home and decided that her house wasn't "clean enough", this after I cleaned her house top to bottom on a daily basis.............words were said that shouldn't have been said, but we got past it FINALLY!!! At least I thought we got past it............then she sent me home with her child's hamster. I don't mind hamsters, they don't bother me, especially when they occupy their own space and not so much mine. On the ride home, oh, did I mention we DROVE?!?!? I had driven something like 16 hours and I was EXHAUSTED, so I let my copilot take over..........my copilot was a sweet 19 year old girl ( a friend of my son) who proceeded to drive, text messages AND play with the radio, when I mentioned how dangerous that was, she stated she was a "pro"........I finally allowed myself to relax and shut my eyes (when it got so late.......it was actually at 3am, she had no one to talk to) for just a little while when I felt something "tickle" my toes, my first instinct was to kick my foot, which caused the "tickle" to turn into a BITE...............AAAAHHHHH, THE HAMSTER!!!!!!!..........I immediately began to FREAK OUT!!!! causing my sleeping 10 year old AND my copilot to laugh hysterically when they realized what was happening. I instructed my copilot to pull over and "GET THAT THING!"......no easy task.......this hamster did not want back in that box. I hopped out of the car, barefoot, on the side of I-75, using the light of my cell phone to locate the hamster. When she finally caught it and put it back in the box, I wasn't taking any chances..............I slipped a pillowcase off one of the pillows, placed the box in the pillowcase and closed it with my hair clips. This Houdini, err Hamster, immediately got out of the box and was now running around the pillowcase trying to find a way out. It was working on it quite laboriously when I decided that I needed to get him in his cage, which my brother in law had taken apart and folded so neatly to allow for more room in the car, I put that cage together pretty quickly for I wasn't about to have that thing loose in my car AGAIN..............getting it into the cage was hard, my 10 year old doesn't like touching the hamster and neither do I, .................we eventually got it in and if you think I was finally able to relax..................NO WAY!!!!.................my copilot proceeded to call and text anyone and everyone about what had just happened, so I stayed awake and watched the road, listened to a 19 year old's drama and yearned for my husband.................thankfully, we made it home in 20.5 hours(without further incident) and I got 45 minutes with my husband before he got up and went to work.....................I'm happy to be home!