Trials

I am SO glad this is a short week. Last week was trying to say the least. I try so hard to stay positive, and then something happens that makes you just want to throw your hands up and say "fuck it."

Not that I want to document every shitty thing that happens here - au contraire, I'd rather focus on the good. Some times it's a simple thing that comes along and puts things in perspective. Thank heavens for those things. I had one of those moments this morning.

I was thinking about the ride home from my parent's place last night. We went to visit them since they're heading for Colorado today. The drive is about and hour and a half, and we set out about 6 or so to head home.

We stopped for gas and to air up a tire that was a bit low. We grabbed a few snacks and hit the road. The D-Man chose cheetos and some chocolate milk. Hey, his choices, so whatever but it sounded like a gross combination to me.

Anyway, about 15 miles out of town, D pipes up from the back seat with "Mom, I puked." WHAT?? I was driving, so Chris turned around to check things out and confirmed that he had spewed cheetos and chocolate milk all over his front. Lovely. Fortunately, his sweatshirt took the majority of the hit, and I was able to pull over, get him out of the car because he was threatening to spew again, and get his sweatshirt off without spreading the mess around. He had a shirt on underneath, but was cold so I gave him my jacket. No more puking. Whew. Turns out that was a bad combination after all.

So, on we went down the road. After seeing a large deer hanging out on the side of the road ("Doop de doo, oh, hey! A car!"), I felt fortunate that he hadn't decided to meet my bumper.

We came into the city and hit the freeway to head to our area. As I entered the freeway, that pesky tire that had been low started making an awful noise. Uh oh. I made it about 1/2 mile and BLAM! A blowout. Now, consider that we are on a section of freeway that has no lane to pull over into. Yeah - about 3 feet of space. I pulled off as far as I could and turned on the blinkers. Dodging traffic whipping by at 65 miles per hour, I jumped out and pulled D out of the passenger side while Chris dug the jack out of the trunk and got to work. D and I stood up on the enbankment - there was no way we were sitting in that car in case some idiot rear-ended us - a dangerous situation to say the least.

Now, remember that I had given my jacket to D. It was about 30 degrees and I have no jacket. *shiver* I parked D up there with instructions not to move a muscle, and proceeded to dig the spare out of the trunk. Chris got the shredded tire off and took the spare, and I chucked the trashed tire into the trunk. Team work, I tell ya.

Anyway, getting back to the point, I drove D to school and in to work on a donut this morning. As I drove along and pondered last night's drive, an old favorite came on the radio. The lyrics - that's what put things back into perspective a bit...

Well the first days are the hardest days,
Don't you worry any more
'Cause when life looks like Easy Street
there is danger at your door.
Think this through with me, let me know your mind.
Woh - oh, what I want to know, is are you kind?

It's the same story the crow told me.
It's the only one he knows.
Like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go.
Ain't no time to hate, barely time to wait,
Woh - oh, what I want to know, where does the time go?

No time to dwell on shit like that.
I had a spare, D feels fine and we got home safe, that's all that matters.
Let it flow and let it go.