Sand: The Ultimate Crevice Finder

Okay, so I know I said I'd get better at writing about things that happen to me in my life. Let's face it, I have a fun life and you wish you could have it. Whatever.

So for those of you who know me, you know that I love Texas. All of it, everything, nothing excluded. Except maybe the lack of a dating pool there... Anyway, I love Texas. I got to visit my family a few weeks back for a little while, and it was an excellent trip. Lots of front porch sitting, Dr.Pepper drinking, heat, snakes, guns, and sweat. It was a good time.

So I have this brother who's only a few years younger than me, and his name is Matthew. Well, Matthew just got his mission call, and is going to be serving in the West Lima, Peru mission. The only thing is that he doesn't leave until December, so in the meanwhile, he's trying to do things to occupy his time and to avoid getting bored. Well, when I went home, I served as some pretty fun entertainment for him. I was sitting on the porch in a rocking chair around six in the evening, enjoying the fact that instead of it being 100 degrees outside, it was only 95. My brother comes by the gate located about 20 feet away from where I'm sitting in my other brother's go kart and says "Get in loser, we're going for a ride." I was all, "No no, I don't feel like it. I'm relaxing." But he wouldn't have any of that. He says, "Oh come on, just once. It'll be fun." So I said alright, and made my way over to the go kart. I looked at the seat I was about sit in because I was wearing a pair of white shorts and noticed sand on the seat. (Instead of having dirt on the land, my parents have sand. If you don't understand, you've never been to Texas.) So Matthew apologizes for the sand on the seat and wipes it off. I get into the go kart, and off we go. About two seconds into the ride, I suspect Matthew of doing something as a trick or prank of some sort because I was raised with this kid and know him well. We're driving along, and I'm waiting for the prank to manifest itself. And so it does.

As Matthew and I round a corner on the trail of nothing but soft sand, I see this gigantic ginormic pile of it all in one spot. As soon as I see this, he looks over at me, giggles like a little girl, and hits the gas on the go kart. We are headed straight for this huge pile of sand, and there is nothing I can do to prepare for it other than to close my mouth. But I was laughing so hard that I didn't even do that! We fly full tilt toward this pile and the bottom of the go kart just cuts right through the pile of sand. After we've hit the pile, Matthew stops to go kart. Once I realize we're done with the hardest part of this prank, I realize I have sand all up in my mouth and am literally spitting it out in chunks when I just bust out laughing. All is silent on my brother's side of the go kart, so I look over and he's doing one of those silent laughs while he's clapping his hands,looking like a retarded seal. But I laugh even harder because his laugh is contagious, AND he has a crap ton of sand all over his face and in his hair. In that moment, I realize I probably look similar to him. I look down, and sand is all over my legs, my white shorts, (which I was so careful not to get dirty just a minute before this event) it's down my shirt, all up in my bra, in my hair, eyelashes and more than anything, in my mouth. My brother and I sat there laughing for a good ten minutes about it. He later told me that he spent probably 45 minutes beforehand, creating this pile of sand, laughing to himself and saying "ohhh this is gonna be so good."

This was probably one of the best experiences I had while I was home. Not only did I realize that my brother and I are incredibly alike and now we can actually laugh with and at each other, but that he's finally growing into this stupid/sarcastic/witty/crude humor my family harbors in spades. And I realized he's going to have a lot of mission companions who will have a great time with him BECAUSE of his silly sense of humor.

So here you go. Hope you enjoyed the story. I know I sure enjoyed the experience!