That girl needs to check her bag.

I was home for a total of 3 days before it was time to leave again. We went to Mr. Ramsey's funeral in Greensboro on Monday, which entailed a caravan of about 12 football guys who wanted to be there for Ben. It meant so much to him (and to us) that they all came. We made two stops for food in the three hour journey. On average every hour and a half. Totally unnecessary. Hardee's and Krispy Kreme. Roughly 1000 calories per boy. That's half of my daily caloric need.

Wednesday I packed up again to head to D.C. to visit with my newest niece and namesake MARGARET JOY. She's a beauty: More on her later. I flew out of Charlotte, which meant my mother had to drop me off at the airport. This entailed an outrageous scene where she literally stuffed baby clothes into my sweaty running shoes so that she could send more things to my sister. This included her shoving a half gallon of strawberries from my uncle's produce farm into my purse. Oh, and did I mention she put sugar snap peas ON ICE into my suitcase? I was only taking one carry-on, mind you. I'd already packed light, but this was outrageous. I was dreading the scene that would take place when I actually tried to get through security like so. Jeannie insisted on taking a photo of the produce:

Security was a breeze. It took all of four minutes. Unfortunately, I thought I was in the clear with all the produce and baby items. Not so. When I boarded the plane, I realized my suitcase was too large to fit in the overhead bin. This realization came at the exact moment when everyone gets that frantic look in their eye as they scramble to get out of the way of the other passengers attempting to board. I saw no other option but to sit down and hold my suitcase while I thought of plan B. My suitcase was simply too high to fit into the bin. I began inwardly blaming my mother for this predicament as I stuffed baby clothes into my purse. On try #2, it still didn't fit. People were staring and muttering "that girl needs to check her bag." I was sweating. My face was red. I sat down again, thinking of the $20 down the drain if I had to check the bag. I had to do the unthinkable and pull all of my personal undergarments out of the top pouch that was causing the whole problem. I quickly shoved them into my purse along with the baby clothes, strawberries and snow peas. The stewardess was quickly approaching. Someone must have warned her about me. Try #3. It worked! Remarkably, the suitcase fit into the overhead. I sat down traumatized. Needless to say, my sister was elated when she received all the goodies. I'm slowly but surely getting over the incident.

In other news, my niece is 100% adorable. My sister and brother in law are doing a fantastic job as they learn this whole parenting gig. I've been trying to help Jeannie get a little sleep so this morning Margaret slept in the bed with me for two hours. It was glorious. I babysat today while Jeannie and Jesse went on their first date since 'lil Margie was born. She started fading towards the end of our special alone time, and was basically wailing her lungs out. She suddenly grabbed my thumb and held it next to her face for comfort. Thankfully Jeannie walked in just in time to get a great picture:Margaret and I have gone on long walks around the capitol every day in her fancy stroller. On the other hand, Thomas is most likely eating Super Taco and Seneca Family Restaurant each day of my absence....