while the horse was moving (with Jeannie walking the horse).Before the vaulting, Elizabeth rode Linear (who she kept calling Lanier) most of the time and displayed great skill from the start. I was very proud. What made me even more proud came later when the horse, Girl, started trotting before Elizabeth (wearing a helmet) was ready. I was on Linear at the time, just behind them, and I somehow suddenly knew exactly how to ride a horse. I kicked Linear and got her into a lope to catch Elizabeth's "runaway" horse. Elizabeth was holding on tight with one hand on the saddle horn and the other hand on the back of the saddle, that ridge that keeps your butt in place, just as Jeannie had instructed. It was over pretty quickly as Girl stopped upon reaching the other horses tied to the rail, awaiting their turn to be ridden. It scared Elizabeth, making her cry, but she handled it very well.
After the riding, we all went down to the creek just to get wet. Natalia was kicking herself for not bringing a swimsuit, but no one actually swam. Elizabeth and Skyla stripped down to their underwear to play in the water. Shayden couldn't because he wasn't wearing underwear, and nobody wants to see that.
Back at the house, I helped Jeannie get her main computer back online. We had more of those deli sandwiches Michael and Evelyn had donated to Jeannie. Jeannie and Matt were fantastic hosts. We had to leave much too soon.
Back in Sacramento
We were all hanging out in Dad's room when Doug arrived to pick up his kids. Milan asked to borrow my rental car keys to retrieve the things he'd left in the trunk. With Doug promising to accompany them, I relinquished my keys to Elizabeth. She wanted to unlock the car. She's got a thing for keys. With just me and Dad left in the room, I was trying to print my boarding passes for the next morning when I heard a car alarm go off. I guessed it was my rental car. When it didn't shut off soon enough, I set my computer down, muttered under my breath, and went to see what the matter was. Doug was with them, and if even he couldn't shut it off, there must be a problem.
By the time I got down there, the alarm had stopped and only Doug and Milan remained. Doug stood next to the driver's door, the opposite side from which I was coming. His body language and position made it look like he was trying to break into the car; as if using a coat hanger to unlock the door. I'm thinking, "Oh great, they've locked the keys in the car!" But no, he was simply putting the key in the lock. It just looked weird, for some reason.
I learned later that while I was in one elevator going down, Elizabeth and Natalia were in the other elevator going up. I also learned that it was Elizabeth who set off the alarm. I still don't understand how she did it because all she did was try to unlock the door with the key in instead of the remote. What made me laugh was when I heard that as soon as the alarm went off, Elizabeth took off running ... with the keys! Doug couldn't shut off the alarm because Elizabeth had the keys!
We said goodbye to Dad before bedtime because we would be waking up so early for our 6:15 flight. I set the alarm clock for 4:15 but the trash collectors in the alley the next morning thought 3:30 would be even better. I let Elizabeth sleep another half hour.
Once awake, I suggested she take a shower because she hadn't taken one the night before. She instead opted to keep sleeping, and I let her. We'd been riding horses and in the creek the day before, but she never got particularly dirty.
We had a three-hour layover in L.A. Our first stop at LAX was the Mattel Store. I didn't let her buy anything, insisting that she can find all that stuff for half those prices in a regular toy store.
We walked all over not just our terminal, but the two neighboring terminals, killing time. I was getting a workout because, other than a brief ride on one of those passenger-carrier golf carts, I was carrying all of our luggage everywhere. During this wandering, we passed by a particularly busy security checkpoint. I noticed that the only people I saw selected for "enhanced" screening just happened to be attractive young females. Just a coincidence, I'm sure. :)
Once we had retired to the waiting area at our gate, a flustered, agitated, gray-haired man and his self-absorbed teenage son practically pushed Elizabeth out of her seat as they sat next to her (I had remained standing) to plug in and recharge their iPads and iPhones. Feeling a bit hurried, pushed and prodded myself throughout this weekend's airport experiences, I said to Elizabeth while making sure the man and his son heard me, "You just sit where you are, Elizabeth. Don't let these people push you out of your seat." The man apologized without hesitation, as if he's used to apologizing: "I'm sorry if we seemed pushy, it was not our intent."
I soon realized why he seemed so used to apologizing. His son was apparently autistic or somehow otherwise "challenged." The poor man had his hands full. I felt like an ass for reacting the way I did, but by then we had moved to another spot to get away from the sun shining through the skylight, making us both hot and causing a glare on Elizabeth's player's screen as she tried to play a game.
Back Home
In the Nashville airport, we had to kill more time because Tara was unable to leave work early to pick us up. I told her not to worry; Elizabeth and I were now experts at killing time in airports. At one point Elizabeth wanted to buy, with her own money, a guitar-shaped alarm clock in one of the gift shops. "Elizabeth," I said, "do you really need a guitar-shaped alarm clock?" She reluctantly agreed, and set it back down.
We stopped at a Wendy's in the food court. At the table next to us, with a huge trophy on the floor standing almost as tall as me, there were several kids watching two of their friends engaged in an impromptu chess match. Among their group was that autistic kid from LAX. He's in a chess club? I guess he's some sort of savant.
To sum up: It was great to see everyone again; I love my daughter, but hate airports; my Dad is amazing and has been for 94 years; and Elizabeth is brilliant and sure to be a huge success whatever she does. I think that about says it all.
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