Late Night Excitement

I had planned on continuing the ant farm saga today, but that will have to wait. At the risk of being an obnoxious daughter-in-law and really embarrassing my mother-in-law I am going to share a funny story.
Yesterday was Cynthia’s 8th grade promotion and afterwards we went to dinner. The ceremony wasn’t over until 8pm and there was an hour wait at O’Charley’s, but it was Cynthia’s choice so we waited. Then we had a waitress who must have been in training. . . It was about 10:30 when we finally left the restaurant and headed for home to get the kids in bed (today was their last day of school).
We had a plan to get the kids in bed as efficiently as possible (bed time on school nights is usually 8pm) so we walked in the door with our mission on our mind. The kids scattered to complete their assigned duties (picking out school clothes, showers, water for the dog, etc.) I immediately removed the high heels that were making me wish I was a man, and had started to change into my pajamas when the flashing light alerting me to a “new message” caught my attention. While I undressed I listened to the message.
It was my mother-in-law. She sounded confused or even disoriented. Her words came slowly. She said nothing other than “call me when you get this message” but her tone and long pauses between words had me concerned. She had called at 10:34 and it was now 10:58pm. Usually I wouldn’t think of calling that late, but I was concerned and she should still be awake. So I called. The phone rang and rang and rang. Then the answering machine picked up. I hung up and dialed again. Same thing. Now I was really worried. She has a phone next to her bed so if she had gone to bed she would have still answered. Something must be wrong.
While I was throwing on some sweats and flip-flops I told the kids to finish up and get in bed. I was riding down the street (less than ¾ of a mile) to check on Grandma. Out the door I went with a million things racing through my mind.
The drive seemed like it took forever. “Did she fall? Is she sick? Is she hurt? Is she dehydrated? . . . ” Every possible scenario went through my mind.
As her house came into view I could see that the only light was in the kitchen, the light that usually stays on all night. “Is she in bed? Surely she would have heard the phone ring.” I didn’t know what to do. Do I walk in and scare her half to death if she is asleep? Do I go back home and toss and turn all night wondering if she is okay? I decided to risk scaring her to keep my sanity so I pulled into the driveway.
As I turned into the driveway I could see her. She was in her robe standing in the driveway. She wasn’t alone either. There was a man there too. I pulled up the driveway with growing concern. As my headlights hit them I could see the man. It was the neighbor, a very nice, older man who is always ready to help if his physical limitations allow. They were smiling. I was relieved!
I walked up to see what was going on and Helen started laughing. They were looking through the owner’s manual for the car she had bought just a week ago. Apparently there was a light flashing in the dashboard and it wouldn’t go off.
I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or scream. To see my mother-in-law in her driveway at 11 o’clock at night trying to figure out how to turn off a light that is designed to flash. . . the anti-theft light, was definitely humorous. But I was still trying to come down from the emotional rollercoaster that brought me to her house in the first place! Needless to say, after fussing for a few minutes about the cordless phone being left in the house I had to laugh.