Mis-Adventures are the Best

Last night was my company's Christmas party. The boss called it a holiday party, but dammit, I'm Christian so it's a Christmas party. Oh shit, it's way to early to be digressing that much.

Before I get way into this, I need to clarify something. I work for a very small company. One employee didn't show, and the employee attendance rate fell by almost 20%. But the boss likes to throw a big party... this time it came with a stretch limousine, spouses and kids were invited, and a huge family-style meal at a local Mexican restaurant. In all, there were about 15 people at the party, including the limo driver and his wife.

The limo picked us up around 6:30 P.M. and drove us to the restaurant. We were the last group to get picked up, so by the time we hopped into the limo, the rest of the folks were already a little tipsy. My little imps children did their best to encourage me to drink as much as possible, as quickly as possible, in order to catch up to everyone else. Being a little older and wiser though, I held out for the food.

After the meal, the kids wanted to head home immediately, but they were troopers and patiently waited for the adults to finish eating, drinking and feeling merry. Somewhere around this time, we found out that an ice storm was hitting us. The limo driver wanted to split, but dutifully waited for us to finish. We were the first -- and last -- people dropped off. The limousine got stuck around the corner from our house.

About two blocks away from our house, there is an incline on the road. The limo had a hard time making it up that incline. We offered to get out and walk, but the driver kept going... even after we offered a second time to walk the last two blocks. He didn't make the final turn and said "Well, we're here until at least 6:00 A.M."

To shorten the story quite a bit, almost everyone stayed at our house last night. The kids were once again little troopers. The little one gave up her room, the older one shared her room with the younger one, and they were both bored to tears at the grown-up merrymaking.

The limo driver and his wife chose to stay with their ship... despite repeated offerings to come in from the cold.

One couple called their parents, who drove almost 60 miles in treacherous conditions to pick up their stranded children. Now, when I say 'children,' please realize that these 'kids' are my age. They just didn't like being stranded. I swear I heard Mrs. Stranded saying "As God is my witness, I'll never be stranded again." It was just like "Gone With the Wind."

The other four stayed in the house, where we drank a few more beers, watched Blazing Saddles and laughed as a couple of other cars struggled -- and ultimately failed -- to get up the hill in front of my house.

Have you ever noticed that the best stories always come from mis-adventures?