Yikes! So much for my goal to do at least two posts per month. Looks like I have some catching up to do! I need to go back and post things that have happened since, oh, possibly January, but before we get to our regularly scheduled postings, I just wanted to share my latest single parenting adventure.
It never fails. Whenever Kalen goes away whether it's for a few days or a few weeks, EVERYTHING happens. And usually none of it good.
A couple of weeks ago our white minivan was involved in a run-in with a curb. The sixteen year old who is "learning" to drive and who shall remain nameless didn't quite get his turn right and rammed into it hard enough to bend the tire rim. This caused the tire to continually lose air. We took it in to the shop where they were able to successfully fix the rim but where we also learned that the tire took a beating too and has enough damage to continue leaking air. We are looking at replacing that tire plus, they tell us the other ones aren't doing so well either. Since this was not an expense that we had budgeted for this month or ever, we decided to wait to buy the new tires.
That's all fine and good, but Kalen had a trip to a conference in Kentucky where he would be taking our good van and leaving me with the pile of junk. He felt that if I kept our activities limited to just in town, I could keep the tire pumped up with our air compressor and it should hold long enough for us to get to soccer practices and games, etc. The shop had warned us that it is extremely likely that if we were to drive the car anywhere on the highway or freeway, we will blow the tire, so I definitely didn't want to try that. Anyway, the plan seemed to work at first. Thursday I was able to get Kendall to soccer practice and attend a school meeting without any trouble. Friday I made it to the bank and the grocery store and then later to Kendall's soccer game. Each time I did have to pump the tire up since it would go completely flat overnight. Friday night we came home from Kendall's game (which was played in 30 degree weather in a sleet storm and where he was an amazing defender and kept the score to a tie of 3-3) to find a message from one of the players on Lynnsey's team (the one Kalen coaches) letting us know that he was sick and would miss the game the next morning and oh yeah, he was supposed to bring the team drinks and snacks. It was too late for me to call anyone else so I just planned to do it (even though we already had our turn, but whatever I guess). I figured if that's the worst that had happened so far, we were doing pretty good.
And then Saturday happened. We all woke up a bit late since we had stayed up playing a game the night before, but we were still doing okay. Lynnsey and Spencer were tracking down all their soccer gear and getting ready and I went out to pump up the car tire. Sure enough it was completely flat. I started the compressor and began putting in the air when I realized that it didn't seem to be filling as well as it had on the other days. Just when I was about to go and check it, it turned off. So I went to see what was going on and found the machine making an odd noise a bit like a kettle getting up to full steam. I found that there was a bunch of pressurized air leaking from the connection of the air tube and the machine. I tried to tighten it back up when the whole thing just shot right off. I tried to reconnect it but with no luck. By then, I was beginning to panic. The tire was way too flat to drive it to the gas station to fill it up and I didn't even know where we may have kept a spare. Plus, it was already time for the kids to be at the field for warm-ups and since I don't change tires everyday or pretty much ever, I knew it would not be a quick process even if I could find the spare.
So I ran back inside and may or may not have had a tiny little screaming fit as I tried to figure out what to do. I tried calling another parent who I knew would have kids there but got no answer. Of course not, because they were already at the field! I thought of another parent I could call who I knew had their game the night before but could not find their phone number anywhere. As I was looking for their number though, I came across the number of one of the families I babysit for. They live just around the corner and I was desperate enough to bother them on a Saturday. I called and got the dad and explained our dilemma. I asked if it would be possible to have them take us up to the soccer field where I figured we could then deal with finding a ride home. But, awesomely kind soul that he is, he instead offered to let us borrow their car! I was so overcome with gratitude at this suggestion that I may or may not have shed a tear or two! So we gathered everyone up and ran the block to his house to get the car. We all piled in but had to move a yard sign out of the front seat so that Kendall could get up front. Somehow when we pushed the sign to the back, one part of the metal prongs caught my finger and sliced it right open the whole length of my finger. It of course began immediately to bleed all over the steering wheel of the borrowed car. We couldn't find any tissues or anything to clean it up so I wound up using one of my gloves to clean it off and the other I put on my hand to keep the blood from getting anywhere else. And finally we were on our way.
We arrived about five minutes into the game but thankfully things went okay from there. It was another very cold day but Lynnsey and Spencer both had a great time and I was so thankful that Kalen had found another parent to coach for him in his absence because can you imagine that scenario if this had happened and I was supposed to be coaching... ??? Lynnsey's team won 6-1 and Lynnsey had three assists! She and another player worked out a system that was just beautiful. Poor Spencer's team was outsized and wound up losing 11-2! But they had a great time anyway and just laughed it off. Spencer was just ecstatic to escape the game without any injuries this time!
After the game, I dropped off the kids at home, cleaned off the steering wheel better, and returned the car and then walked back home where we spent a few hours before my mom came to pick up a few of us for the baptism of a boy who I taught in Primary for about 3 1/2 years. It was a lovely baptism and so nice to switch gears a bit after such a disastrous morning. I wish we could have taken everyone to it but my mom's car is only a 5 passenger so we left Kendall and Kaya behind.
After the baptism, we raced back to Albion because my mom had planned on taking Taylor to a movie. I had looked up the times earlier in the week but apparenly we got our signals crossed and I looked up theaters in Battle Creek while Mom was thinking she was going to Jackson. So while she changed clothes, I looked up the Jackson times and realized they were going to have to really fly to get there in time. So she took us home and Taylor wound up going to the movie in his suit.
The rest of us spent the evening watching a movie at home and relaxing after such a crazy day. Kalen finally arrived home that evening and our joy at his arrival was short-lived since he soon was having a full-blown attack of gallstones. (More on that later...) Still it is nice to have our family back together and be back to just our normal crazy schedule, a sore index finger, and still, that pile of junk to decide what to do with. But everything seems more manageable with both of us somehow.
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