It’s All My Fault

I should have learned years ago as the late Eva Ann Dorris encouraged to just say “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault,” even though I have no idea what I did.
Sunday evening, Lisa and I were returning from Fort Morgan, Alabama where our family had spent the weekend for our annual beach get-away. It’s a tradition that started a few years ago with niece Abby Hillhouse Rea’s wedding in Gulf Shores. We had such a big time together in one house at her and Sam’s wedding, we decided to make it an annual tradition.

Joel McNeece

The only other time every year the entire family is together outside of Calhoun County is the Neshoba County Fair. The newspaper business just doesn’t allow for everyone to vacation at the same time, but in recent years we decided to give it more priority within the family.

Sister-in-law Celia handles the booking, which is always challenging when you’re trying to find a single residence for up to 20 people.
Our traveling party this year included Lisa and myself; step-son Marshall, his wife Whitney and 4-1/2 month-old granddaughter Addi Claire; Celia, her husband Lanny, daughter Abby and husband Sam, son Colby and wife Amanda (who is eight months pregnant); sister-in-law Deanna, her kids Zachary, Samantha, and Eli, and Deanna’s friend Randy Clements of Tuscaloosa; my mother-in-law Jo Ann Denley; family-friend Sid Salter, his wife Leilani and daughter Kate.

We soaked up as much surf and sun as possible before regretfully leaving our relaxing get-away for the trip back home. It was on that trek back up Hwy. 45 from Mobile toward Macon when I needed to adhere to Eva’s advice.

Lisa is a terribly light sleeper. If a dog blinks at home she’s awake. So it stands to reason she wouldn’t sleep well in the car.
She often attempts to do so anyway with little success, which is apparently all my fault. She seems to successfully drift off to sleep for a short stint, but then is suddenly awakened by either a dream, the “Willies,” or “Hee-Bee-Gee-Bees” – the latter two I have no familiarity with, other than the fact Lisa says she gets them all the time.

I tried inquiring as to what a “Willie” and/or “Hee-Bee-Gee-Bee” was. The best explanation I could get was a sudden shiver of the whole body for no known reason. As stated previously, I cannot relate to this unique phenomena.

Back to the ride home. Lisa says she is awakened by none of those, but rather my erratic driving. I was cruising down Hwy. 45 with headphones in listening to the Rolling Stones with Lisa quietly sleeping in the passenger seat and my mother-in-law napping in the back seat. Lisa suddenly awakens, giving me an awful look and sleepily tells me to “quit it.” I don’t know what “it” is, but apparently she thinks every time she falls asleep in the car I start doing 180’s in the middle of the highway, or venture off the side of the road to jump a creek or a barn or something like Bo Duke. It’s a frequent occurrence, her accusations that is, on every trip we make. I don’t know how I don’t wreck in some road ditch almost every day as horrible a driver I must be.

She takes delight in criticizing my driving when she is awake. While asleep, she is apparently even more perceptive of my deficiencies behind the wheel.

I don’t know what I was doing so reckless. There were no sudden awakenings of criticism coming from the back seat. But I know from now on  when my sleeping co-pilot awakens, I just need to say “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”