Honey Ridesum

Honey Ridesum was the youngest of 4 siblings, (Maverick, Willow, and

Buck, with Honey bringing up the rear) and had lived out most of her life in

her small hometown of Beaver Falls, KS. Oldest brother Maverick was her

protector and treated her like a princess, always telling Honey she was the

prettiest girl in the room. Buck however, took every opportunity to tease

Honey mercilessly and would say the NICEST things…. such as in

reference to her birthday being on May 1st – “You were so ugly when you

were born, the doctor took one look at you and started yelling MAY DAY!!!

MAY DAY!!! Her older sister Willow was vibrant and sassy and was her

role model and someone she aspired to be when she grew up.

Honey’s childhood had its share of ups and downs. Her parents divorced

when she was just one year old, so she had no memory of her parents

being together. While her mother pretty much swore off men, her father

joined the flavor of the month club and pursued any and every single

woman that showed up on his radar. Her safe haven was the home of her

grandparents, where she spent most weekends sleeping in the same room

her mother had as a child. As Honey grew older she was friendly and

outgoing, but definitely tried to stay out of trouble – with her father being the

Police Chief of Beaver Falls, she didn’t have much freedom to do anything

but toe the line. Honey enjoyed school and always received good grades

(except for that C in Geometry!). Thru high school Honey sang in the

school choir, loved to read any book she could get her hands on, and

attended all sporting events dressed as the school mascot…. who wouldn’t

want to be dancing in a giant hairy beaver costume for all to see?!? Her

daydreams for the future included 3 career choices, becoming an

archaeologist, working for NASA, or being Julie on the Love Boat. But

alas, due to being terrified of most insects, spiders, and snakes, combined

with suffering from motion sickness so severe she could become sick just

weaving around a parking lot in search of an empty stall – all 3 career

choices did not seem to be viable options for her. As Honey progressed in

age, so did her thirst for history, travel, and adventure – even while fighting

horrible bouts of motion sickness - Dramamine was her favorite travel

friend!

After high school Honey went to a community college in a nearby town and

received a full scholarship for being the school mascot while she earned

her degree in Travel and Tourism. Upon graduation she spent a summer in

Salinas, California working at a resort in Carmel and deciding what she

wanted to do with her future. A family emergency caused her to return

home to Beaver Falls, where she decided to stay and accepted a position

with the Library/Tourism Department for Beaver Falls. It was a combination

of 2 of her favorite things…how could she resist? In her spare time, Honey

traveled as much as she could and picked up a shift now and then to help

her close family friends at The Slurping Beaver…it was always such a fun

place to be that it never felt like work! It was while she was covering a shift

at The Slurping Beaver when she met her soulmate, Maxwell Silverbonde.

Honey had dated visitors passing thru town before, but nothing compared

to this! Maxwell was the perfect package of brains, humor, looks, and

charm – he checked off all the boxes. And Honey knew without a doubt

she wanted a future with him after their very first date…and what a

memorable day that was! It forever became known as “The Unfortunate

Incident”.

Honey had woken up that morning excited for the day ahead. Maxwell

would be coming by to pick her up early in the afternoon and taking her for

a cruise in his Mustang named “Sally” before they met some friends for

dinner and a concert later that evening. Honey had felt off kilter all morning

with a slight headache – was it just excitement and butterflies in her

stomach?? Taking a couple Tylenol would relieve the headache, and she

convinced herself it was just excitement for the day ahead. Maxwell arrived

right on time and escorted her out to his beautiful crimson red Mustang

convertible – although her top was still up because the weather was a bit

chilly. The fall foliage was at its peak, and nothing sounded better than a

beautiful drive to admire Mother Nature at her finest. They had barely

made it a mile down the county highway when Honey’s stomach lurched.

“PULL OVER!!” Honey cried in horror. No..no…nooooo…..this couldn’t be

happening!! Max looked startled and slowed down, looking questioningly at

Honey. “PULL OVER!!” Honey cried again and she tried to relax and take

calming breathes hoping to calm her stomach. Max slowed down more to

take the off ramp and find a place to pull off the road…but it was too late. If

you have heard the expression “in the splash zone”, that described where

Maxwell was when Honey began projectile vomiting EVERYWHERE. It

just wouldn’t stop! As the car came to a halt (being nowhere close to the

pristine condition it had been mere moments before), Honey rushed to

open the door to get out and continued with her seemingly endless

eruption. Finally, it ceased with an aftermath of horror. Honey couldn’t

believe this happened on their first date! She began to sob as she took in

the scene, not only was she covered in vomit from neck to shoe laces, but

Sally….oh Sally!!! Front seat, back seat, front window, roof, side

windows…BACK WINDOW?!? Honey stood to the side as humiliated and

embarrassed as she had ever felt. As she stood their sobbing “I F*%$ing

threw up in Sally!!!” over and over again, Maxwell calmly went to the trunk

of his now not so pristine car and said “It’s ok, I promise, it's OK” and he

worked on wiping up what he could. Once they were sure Honey wasn’t

going to have a repeat performance, they loaded back in the car and

Maxwell cautiously drove Honey home. Maxwell waited while Honey

changed into clean clothes and made sure she was settled before he left

her to rest and get better. After a quick stop at the auto parts store for

extra cleaning supplies, Maxwell headed to the car wash for a through car

detailing before meeting their friends for dinner to give them a play by play

of the afternoon. Once Honey felt better, the first thing on her to do list was

to purchase barf bags off Amazon.