Beth's Birthday

I've mentioned my Aunt Beth in my blog before. If I was a super techy person I could link where I talked about her here, but I'm not- so I didn't link it!
Anyway...
My aunt Beth was turning the big 4-0 this year so my uncle decided to throw here a birthday bash at a local park in Nixa. It was going to be great! A ton of their church friends would be there, Gordon's parents and sister where there, and of course my mom, dad, and my family. My cousin Bryand and his wife Sharon even planned their family vacation to come up to Branson on the same weekend. All together I think there were about 50 people there to celebrate Beth, eat wonderful food and have a great time of fellowship. It was a great way to blend two special parts of their lives together- their family meeting some of their church family. It was a blast.

Everyone met at the park around 5 and we started with dinner. Gordon got some great BBQ and everyone else brought the sides, buns, and dessert. It was a feast for the ages. I wish my camera wouldn't have died so I could show you how much food there was. It was amazing! After dinner most of the adults sat around and chatted while the kids played games and the younger kids played on the slides and park toys. Later in the night the men and older boys decided to start a game of softball. They didn't have enough players to play a full game; but still had fun and everyone got to hit the ball. Brandon ended up being the pitcher for the evening. Even my little boys got to go out and play. They were in heaven.
As the night came to an end, most of the church friends were going to head to a local ice cream shop where they where having a motorcycle and hot rod "show". Everyone had their bikes and cars parked in the lot and you could go around and look at them if you wanted. (Beth and Gordon's church has just started a motorcycle ministry- that is taking off and Gordon is apart of it.)
Now Beth, is not one to really walk on the wild side. She is a mother of three boys- that is wild enough for her! But she decided to take a chance, live on the crazy side and ride the 2 miles from the park to the ice cream place on the back of a motorcycle! Not just any motorcycle- she was riding on a crotch rocket.
As the driver pulled up she was a little nervous to get on, but we all cheered her on! I was in shock! Tommy drove her around the park and up and down a couple of streets just for fun before heading to the ice cream shop. Everything was going good until they started to turn into the parking lot. Somehow they lost their balance and turned over the bike while still in motion.
We didn't know this had happened, as we were still at the park finishing cleaning up while her boys, my boys, and my younger cousin played. Gordon recieved a phone call, and all we heard was, '' is she okay?" Then Gordon jumped into his car and pulled out of the one way parking lot going the wrong way. We (the adults kinda panicked) sent my mom and dad to follow, while Brandon, Bryan, Sharon and myself got the boys loaded up into our cars and headed back to our house. We heard sirens going off, but just told the boys as few details as possible. We didn't have a clue what was going on.
A couple of hours after getting back to the house we finally found out all of the details. Beth and Tommy were okay. We let the boys know that they were okay, and let them talk to Beth. Just could just see the relief come over them as she talked to them. They had some severe road rash on their arms and legs, but no broken bones or other major injuries. Praise the Lord. They had both gone ahead and went to the hosptial to a have a complete check out. They were later discharged and sent home around 3 in the morning.
It was a scary night- but thank God it was only road rash. Talking to Beth about it later was scarier than having the night happen in real life. To hear her thoughts and details from her prespective were life changing. I always thought that I wanted to ride a bike too. A Harley- not a speed bike. Gordon had even wanted to buy a bike to ride for fun. But after that night- NO WAY!! Atleast we can look back and have a couple of laughs about it!