Olivia Fowler

On The Way

By Olivia Fowler

We had a wonderful vacation at the beach. Beautiful weather, congenial people and stress-free activities. In truth, we were so thoroughly exhausted when we finally got there we would have had a wonderful time just sitting by the ocean, staring into space.

Life is never dull. That’s one thing you can always count on. And no matter how much you prepare for an event, the things you are prepared for never happen. It’s the other things you never dream of that derail the train.

We were to leave Saturday morning. We picked up our car from the shop Friday afternoon after having some repairs made. Our daughter and son-in-law, Katherine and Michael, were driving in from Nashville Friday night with another couple. We were to join a fourth couple at the beach Saturday afternoon.

The Nashville entourage arrived at Fowler Farm on schedule. We ate supper, visited and were all in bed by 10 p.m. Around 5:30 Saturday morning we were awakened and discovered that Katherine and Michael’s friends were on their way to the emergency room at Cannon Hospital. They had been up all night. Michael Black’s wife, Amanda, told us he had been in severe pain for hours. She is a registered nurse, so when she says there’s something seriously wrong, we take it very seriously.

They were at the emergency room for about three and a half hours. After tests and X-rays, they ruled out a heart attack and said they were fairly certain he had an ulcer. They shot him full of different things, gave him several prescriptions and advice and sent him on his way.

He was loaded into the car, and we all took off. We made it to the end of Rice’s Creek Road. That’s when we discovered our car was not fixed after all. We barely made it back home.

We then unloaded everything from the car and reloaded it into the truck while part of our group went to the drug store to get prescriptions filled.

We decided to meet in Easley for a quick lunch before continuing our journey. We were almost there when I realized I’d left the chihuahua’s heart medicine at home. I called the others, asked them to order for us and then returned home for her medication.

We left once more and met the others in Easley, wolfed down a sandwich and were on the road again.

We departed Easley at 1:30 p.m. and arrived at the beach after the rental office had closed for the day. Fortunately, arrangements were in place so we could still get the keys to the cottage. When we finally drove into our parking spaces I was so relieved. It was as though we’d won a major battle.

Needless to say, we were wiped out. We hauled our patient up into the cottage, tucked him into bed, left the Chihuahua to guard him and heartlessly went to Duffy’s for fried shrimp.

The rest of the week was disaster-free. We were so grateful for our patient’s recovery, the beautiful weather and the wonderful time we all had together. The worst thing to be said about our vacation is that it’s over. We’re already talking about next year.