In September 2005 I began a series of Embarrassing Moment entries here on my Dust Bunny Journal (check out my archives for the earlier excerpts). I looked back tonight and see that I stopped with just three. Oh, there are so many more! This is another opportunity for me to share a memory for my sister. Enjoy it, Laurie Green! (my pet name for her).
For most of the last 30 years, I have lived in Texas and my sister has lived in Florida. About 12 years ago, I was "single again" and LG came to spend a week with me in Texas. I did not have the funds to travel much but we decided we would enjoy antiquing in a community not far from me, in Jefferson, Texas. It is a beautiful area and has many old homes refurbished into bed and breakfast inns.
LG and I decided to spend the 4th of July weekend in Jefferson and I made reservations for us to stay at the Azalea Inn. I spoke with Jo, the proprietor, about what kind of arrangements they had and how the rooms were styled. LG and I wanted to make sure we were going to be in an appropriate, antique setting and what Jo described sounded perfect. Since the rooms were typically used for romantic getaways I understood that we would be sharing a queen size bed. We would make due and I would try not to kick LG too much in my sleep.
On the way to Jefferson, LG and I stopped at an outlet mall and, among other purchases, we bought matching red, white and blue flag shoes and straw hats with patriotic scarves tied to them. Oh, yes, we were stylin'!!
By the time we arrived at the Inn, it was after dark. There was a note on the front door from Jo telling us she and her husband had gone to a Chamber of Commerce meeting in town and to make ourselves at home. Breakfast was to be served at 8:30 AM and we were in Room 1, the Victorian Room.
The room was lovely, with a brass four poster bed, delicate floral prints and lace curtains. LG and I brought in our suitcases and began to settle in. We were looking forward to a good night's sleep and a big day of sight-seeing and shopping the next day.
This was shortly after my sister had been diagnosed with MS and she was taking an experimental medication. That meant she had to receive an injection every five days and it was significantly more trouble than the daily insulin shots she already required. The MS shot had to be administered deep into the muscle and the medication, while painful, also had to go in slowly. This meant these injections were in that muscular part on the backside of her hip, too far back for LG to inject herself. Since her husband was not with us it was Big Sister to the rescue! I knew I could give her the shot and it was really not that big a deal for us. LG and I had been around syringes most of our lives, first with her Juvenile Diabetes and later with allergy shots that my parents gave to us at home. Of course, the syringe with this medicine was significantly larger than an insulin or allergy syringe but that would not stop me.
We got the shot ready and while I sat on the bed, she backed up to me and lowered her shorts. She asked me to find the mark from where her husband had given her the last injection. "Look for the red dot. That's where you need to give it to me. Do you see it?"
I think she might have been a bit nervous, too. Ya, think??
I had to tell her, as I swabbed her backside with alcohol, "I don't see any red dot, Laurie Green. Just your very white hienie!" And, I patted her butt. I started to give her the shot and heard some noise on the front porch outside our window.
A few seconds later there was a knock on our door. I was still administering the medication, slowly, slowly .... so we called out, "Just a minute."
I finished the shot, LG pulled up her pants and we answered the door. There was sweet little Jo, who introduced herself and then suggested, "You girls need to close your curtains." We turned around and realized that since we had arrived after dark, we thought the lace curtains were the window coverings. But no, there were additional blinds that needed to be pulled down, BEHIND the lace drapes.
LG and I looked at each other and then at Jo and realized what had just happened. She said something about coming back from the Chamber meeting and our bedroom windows are on the front of the house ..... We started to try and tell her that I was giving my sister a shot but she stopped us. "That's okay, you don't have to explain anything."
No, really. This is my sister and I was just giving her a shot!!
I will never forget the pained look on her face. By now LG and I are laughing, thinking back to what had been witnessed through the lace curtains in the seconds before the knock on our door. Jo was really trying to back away but we were laughing so hard and insisting we had to explain.
As it turns out, just as I was patting my sister's rear end, Jo, her husband and the couple that owned the B&B next door were coming up the front walk and onto the porch. The couple next door decided to go on home.
As we got ready for bed we could not stop laughing. For hours, just as we would wind down from our conversations in the dark, one of us would start to giggle and then we could not calm down.
The next morning at breakfast we learned that Jo had already shared the story with the other guests. Her husband, she said, was so embarrassed he was hiding out. We never did meet him the whole weekend!
As we shopped at the various stores in town, in our matching shoes and hats, everyone was in a festive holiday mood. They were so friendly and people would talk to us and often ask where we were staying. When we said, The Azalea Inn, they would smile, nod, pause and then say, "Ohhhhhhh... you're at Jo's place."
We're sisters! We did not know the blinds were up!
It turns out Jo had been on the phone to friends in town, sharing the story. She told everyone it was the first time she had ever been mooned by a guest!
AOL Journals is now 5 years old. I started my first AOL Journal 8/5/05 but due to a variety of issues, I have only been active for the equivalent of one year. When I stopped writing in 2006 I had a pretty steady readership and was part of a very active group of 
Friday nigh
