Left Behind

The following stories are a continuation of yesterday's post Floridays 1990.

We were all really hungry and ready to hit the food court at The Florida Mall and end this first, very long day.  We prepared to cram back into our vehicles when we encountered a slight delay.  It seemed that someone (Robin Thomas got all the blame at the time!) had locked the keys in Judy Rees' Suburban.  The spare key was safe and secure- in North Carolina!  We wandered around the motel and unpacked our belongings while we waited for a locksmith, who eventually showed up and rescued the keys.  We were now more ready than ever to make the short drive to the mall, so we once again gathered the troops and loaded up the vehicles.  We had a standard operating procedure for making sure we had everyone.  Each person was to ride in the same vehicle everywhere we went that week.  Each vehicle would count their own passengers, and then I would go from van to van and total our numbers.  It was a very safe system- usually.

On this particular night, as I began to go from vehicle to vehicle to make the final count, Jill Gilbreth ( that's her in front, not at WDW, just being Jillybean!  Beth Brown and Holly Harward are also pictured.) left her vehicle AFTER I had already made sure everyone in it was accounted for.  When I finished my rounds, we had the right numbers.  Jill, however, was still in the motel getting her money for dinner.  Her driver (I don't remember who) didn't realize she was gone, and her friends somehow failed to mention this to anyone. I guess they were just that hungry!  So off we went.  We arrived at the food court and were sitting down eating, when suddenly Jillybean came running up to our table, looking rather panicked.  She told us the story of how she had been left behind at the motel.  She had gone inside, freaked out and crying, and told the motel employees that her group had left her.  She must have appeared to be totally panicked, because the motel gave her a ride to the mall AND gave her $5 for supper.  She forgave us- sometime around 1993!  And we never failed to remind her that the Gold Key Inn was so anxious to be rid of her that they paid her off!

Floridays 1990 began with us losing a van, keys, and Jill all on the first day.  The next day we would make it to Walt Disney World, and things would improve greatly.  See you tomorrow...

Because of Jesus,