A Pushover?.... Me?.... HA!

Me... a pushover? Ha! I can "NO" and make it stick! I can be tough as nails and hard as steel in my resolve!
It's just..... when my granddaughter, Abigail, looks at me with those liquid brown eyes and that "pout" on those perfect little lips and gets that hint of "I'm about to cry" tremble in her voice....... well, stick a fork in me... I'm DONE!

That's how it came to be that I'll be spending the night with her AT HER HOUSE tonite! When I FINALLY gave in, ;) you should have seen the smile on that little face! I mean, come on... we live SO FAR apart (about fifty feet between our houses) and we only see each other every day! So I couldn't very well say "NO", could I?

The last time I spent the night at her house, she was about three months old. Her mom insisted that I take her bed, she would sleep on the couch and Ab's would be at the OTHER END of the house in her own bedroom. I wanted Ab's to sleep with me, but her momma wouldn't hear of it! Something about starting something we couldn't stop or some such nonsense!!

Well, her monitor was on, so I gave in and went to bed without her. About three a.m. there was this "blood curdling" scream over the monitor!! I jumped out of bed to run down the hall to Abbi's room, only to collide with her mommma who was moving at warp speed in the same direction! We rushed into Abbi's room to find.....................
Abbi... sleeping peacefully on her tummy, her little arms and legs drawn up under her and her little bottom stuck up in the air! Her favorite postion for sleeping!
She was SO sweet, lying there sleeping like a ..... well.... like a BABY!

After watching her sleep for a bit, we returned to our own place to sleep. I didn't sleep much after that and if truth be known, neither did her momma! There were no other hair raising events throughout the nite.

Can I take just a moment to say what a great job her momma is doing in raising her? She is one of the very best momma's I know.

Well, back to the coming event tonite. I get to sleep in Abbi's room tonite! Abbi said so!! She said, "Papa, it's gonna be SO much fun! Just like camping out at the Buffalo River"!!

I could have said, "NO". But why would I?

And....... I'm still no "Pushover!"

Sleddin' the "BIG HILL"!!

With snow on the ground and a couple of new sleds there was no way the "BIG HILL" would escape! This was the year Abbi would conquer it and walk away "The Champion"!

The big hill is every bit of ten-twelve feet in elevation and the ride is probably 20 yards long. But when you are four years old, it could pass for Mt. Everest!!

So today, Abbi, Momma and I set off to the "Big Hill" for some sleddin'! It was the perfect sledding day. Bright sunshine, no wind, temp in the upper 20's. PERFECT!!
It didn't take but a couple of trips down the hill to get the "lane" in good shape!
Each trip would take one of us closer to "Abbi Creek" which flows at the bottom of the "Big Hill"!

Then Abbi says, "Papa, I wanna go down on your back!" Well, why not? And so the double decker sledder's were the first to go in the creek! It was just about an eighteen inch drop into the creek and it was frozen, so, no problem other than Papa's busted lip! Funny! The first thought that entered my mind was.... "I haven't had a busted lip in FOREVER!" Oh well! Small price to pay for the laughter shared with my daughter and granddaughter!

After a few more milder trips down the hill, Abbi said, "Papa, I want to go down sittin' in my sled"! So, she climbed in the disc and I let her go. She turned backward about halfway down and had she been dressed in pink she would have looked just like the Energizer Bunny... cause she just kept going & going & going...

You know how at some point things begin to appear to be happening in slow motion? Well, Abbi's actions seemed to be happening in slow motion! I watched as she started backward over the edge of the creek bank holding on to the sled for dear life and her little eyes just got bigger and bigger and bigger and then the sled tipped up and her eyes disappeared!

While Abbi's actions seemed to be in slow motion her momma saw what was going to happen and went from zero to 60 in two seconds flat! She started by hollering, "Don't go in the creek... don't go in the cr.... SHE'S GOING IN THE CREEK!! With each shout her voice took on a higher pitch and the last sentence was more like a high keening sound!

Christie sprinted down the "BIG HILL" faster than I've EVER seen her move!! Seeing all of this happening at once, I was laughing SO hard I couldn't even move! I knew the creek was frozen and there was no danger to Abbi, and it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen... those eyes getting bigger and bigger and then disappearing behind the sled!!

When I finally did get to them, Abbi was standing up and she looked around with wide eyes and said, "I didn't like THAT"!

Even with the "crash in the creek", she walked away a "conquerer" having taken on the "BIG HILL" and living to tell about it!

My mind went back to when I was a boy. My grandparents house sat up on a hill. I used to lie down and roll down that hill in front of the house when I was a kid and I thought it was a BIG hill! Back about 1986 I went back to where my grandparents house had stood, and as I stood there looking at that BIG hill, I realized it wasn't much higher than I was tall! In my memory from my childhood, that hill had ALWAYS been BIG! Memories are great things to have, but they can sure play tricks on you.

Should the Lord tarry and Abigail grows to be a young woman, I hope she has the chance to someday come back and see the "BIG HILL" she conquered when she was 4 yrs. old. I'm sure she will be amazed at how "BIG" it really is!

For me? I'll never forget sleddin' the BIG HILL with Abbi and her momma!
Ahhh! What memories!

BTW Christie's new nickname is "Thunderbird"!