Family Reunion-2009

Well, another family reunion is in the books for those on my mothers side. Although, before attending this annual event, I had my doubts on arriving in a timely fashion. It goes something like this:
I was awoken this morning around 0400 hours by a God-awful odor; in the beginning, the smell had some similarities to when my sewer backed up 2 years ago (to the day!). I spent most of the morning fiddling around, trying to figure out where the stench was coming from; for the most part, it appeared to me it was indeed coming from the hole I have in the basement floor. I tried to go back to bed; however, I felt myself getting lightheaded, almost to the point of experiencing a syncopal episode. Thankfully, my cat was in the bed with me, misbehaving as he always does, keeping me awake. I laid back down for an hour or so, and decided that perhaps maybe I should get up while I am still able to. I took a shower; after the shower, the sulfurous odor noted to dissisipate. "Ok, fine. Thats all taken care of," I muttered to myself as I armed the house and left. Of course, as I went down my street, I sensed I had forgotten something, so, going against my grandma's saying "Its bad luck to turn around," I made a u turn at the car wash at the end of Francis and went back home to gather my things. As I opened the door, the odor had returned, only this time, it was more potent so to say, once again almost causing me to pass out. I hurriedly got my things and once again left. As I turned unto 496 to pick up 127 south, my mind was racing back and forth, thinking horrible thoughts, including the notion that I could very well come home and find my house imploded because of some unknown reason. I drive over to the Okemos Road exit, purchase my daily Starbucks and head back in the direction towards home; and instead of picking up 127 south, I thought perhaps I might want to go back home and call Consumers Energy just to be on the safe side. The gas company was called; they told me to have myself and anyone else (including the cat) wait outdoors until they arrived to assess for any indication of a gas leak. I run back into the house (yes RUN) pick up Brock, run downstairs and stuff him in his cat carrier, run back outside and sit on the tailgate of the truck. After about, oh, 15", Consumers arrives and checks everything out-thankfully, no natural gas leaks were found; only sewer gas from a dried up hole in the bottom of the basement floor. The service tech was very nice, he even suggested I add some water to the hole and kindly reminded me it should probably have water in it to prevent future occurences; I felt silly, yet at the same time, one can never be too safe or sorry for that matter. After all of this, I was on my merry way to my sister katy's house-my mom, my brother, my sister and I rode in her Mustang with the flap down. It was great, however, it would have been a little more enjoyable if the weather were warmer. Unfortunately, we could not ride with it down on the way back home as it was storming:(
Of course, my other sister and her husband got into an argument about piddly little things-I seriously thought a fist fight was going to break out; on that same note, my sister just needs not to laugh when her husband is pissed-I think she enjoys watching him throw a temper tantrum. I am still trying to figure out what it is they see in each other; they have 2 kids whom I dearly love, but aside from that, eh, who really knows.