The Princess and the Pea....

I was a young girl the first time I heard/read the story of the Princess and the Pea. I know it was in elementary school - Oak Grove Elementary (the old one). Page did a 100 mile, 2 day Bike Ride for MS several years ago. My sister Ruth went to Atlanta with me for it. We volunteered so we could stay close to her - got the nice red Volunteer shirt and everything. We got up early on Saturday morning, put the bike rack on my car, picked up Page's friend (and bike) and drove to where the ride began about and hour so away. Well - once they stopped at our volunteer station, we left. I thought - heck - I'm not sitting around here, I'm going to the next stop so I'll know my daughter is okay. LOL The ride was pretty grueling on country roads with big hills but we also went through some of the prettiest little villages scattered along the route. My sister and I were pretty busy - we picked up bikers who had broken down (thank goodness for the bike rack), saw some bikers miss their turn and went several miles out of their way (again, thank goodness for the bike rack), picked up Page's friend so she could rest until the next stop where she and Page took off to complete the first 50 miles. That night, we all stayed in a hotel - our room had a pull out sofa bed and a nice Queen sized bed. I told Ruth she could sleep in the bed with Page and I would take the sofa. Page took her sleeping pill (you need to go to sleep within 30 minutes or it doesn't work). Well, Ruth kept talking and wanted to watch TV so Page told her to switch with me and put the closed caption on and let her go to sleep. The next morning, Ruth woke up and moaning and groaning and complaining about having to sleep on the sofa bed and how Page had hurt her feelings. After she got out of the sofa bed, she came over and got in bed with me (Page was getting ready to take a shower) and kept saying, "I'm a Princess and that Pea kept me awake all night!" It was pretty funny. She can get so dramatic. I borrowed this painting my good friend Katarina did for her daughter's room. I love it myself. It instantly made me think of mine and Ruth's great adventure during the 2 day Bike Ride - especially the Princess and the Pea. We saw so many pretty places along the way. After being in the car all day for several days, Ruth finally snapped on Saturday when Page's friend was in the back seat. Out of the clear blue sky, she just snapped at me and I didn't know exactly what was going on but I'm one of the King girls so I automatically snapped right back. Still not sure what made her so mad - she had pouted because I insisted on waiting to watch the bikers start at the starting line (I cried for some reason). She was ready to go right now and evidently she is used to getting her way! LOL Evidently it scared Page's girlfriend really bad. Later Page told me she gave her an account of what happened. It went something like this if my memory is still working correctly - [She was like, your Mama's sister snapped your Mama's head off and then your Mama's head whipped around and she asked her sister what in the world is wrong with you? And then your Mama's sister growled out something in a really threatening way and I was trying to be as quiet as I could because I was afraid I might get hit if blows started being exchanged and then your Mama said something in a really strong voice and all of a sudden, they started talking to each other like nothing had happened at all and I'm like, what the heck? I know they were just getting ready to trade blows out of the clear blue sky and then BAM, they were acting like nothing even happened and to be honest, I don't know what did happen.] Page said she laughed and laughed at her friend and said, Now do you understand why I keep saying how glad I am that I don't have sisters? They can turn evil on a dime honey and you do NOT want to be near when they do. Personally, I think the girl was over-reacting. If she thought that was a fight, she has never seen a fight - especially between sisters. Sissy girl!