Every year, a gaggle of ladies from my family go to Lake Geneva for a few days of fun in the sun, relaxation and some laughs. Boy did we laugh this year! This summer’s party consisted of the usual suspects- myself, my five children, my sister, Colleen, my mom, Joanne, my Aunt Mary Grace and my cousin, Carlee. After a long day of swimming at the pool with my rowdy kiddos, we decided to order some pizza and play Old Maid. It turned out to be a lovely, balmy evening, so we popped open some beach chairs outside of our motel rooms, left our doors open so the kids could wander back and forth and sat outside. It was past 10 p.m. before we turned in for the night. A few of the kids decided to sleep in the room with Carlee and Aunt Mary Grace. The two littlest ones slept in my room. My eldest daughter asked if she could sleep in the room with my mom and her Auntie Colleen. All was peaceful and quiet….that is, until the wee hours of the morning.
It was 4:30 a.m. when Colleen heard crackle, crackle, crackle from the bags of chips and pretzels on the dresser. My daughter Moira was asleep next to her. Colleen’s eyes widened as she saw two small dark shapes dart across the top of the TV stand next to the bag of popcorn.
“MOM!!!!!!!” she screamed as she flipped on the lights and jumped up on the bed.
“MICE!!!!!”
My daughter woke up screaming and jumped up on the bed too. My mom groggily turned her head, rubbed her eyes and saw the pair standing on the bed holding each other. Then she looked to where they were pointing just in time to see two mice scramble down from the dresser and run under her bed.
“Whoa!” she yelped, bolting straight up on top of her own bed.
“Do something Ma! Get the food out of here!” my sister shrieked. “What if there’s more mice in those bags?! What if they run across my feet?!” my mom yelled back.
“I dunno! Just stomp around! Go! Go!” Colleen was near hysterical, bouncing up and down now.
My mom grabbed her sandals- the ones with the wooden platforms- hopped down onto the tile floor and began doing what looked like an Irish jig as she quickly grabbed as many bags as she could and jigged her way out the door. My sister had stopped screaming and filmed the whole thing! The ensuing video got over 3000 views on Instagram and over 350 views on Facebook.
So if you’re ever in a near-fatal mouse encounter, just do a jig. Enjoy the video!