Not quite a perfect day....

Sunday mornings are painful. It's rough to get 5 kids up early, dress them, feed them, dress yourself and be on your way to church by 8:30 AM. I have my entire YW lesson in a bag on the kitchen counter, have prepared the Sunday bag of goodies for the girls and lay out the kids clothes with the hope that this will help speed up the process.

This Sunday was especially hard since Rich was at the hospital and we lost an hour of sleep, but I was determined to get to church on time for once! I got the boys up by 7:45 AM and had the girls in the tub 15 minutes later. Kaitlyn wasn't feeling well, so I doused her up on Tylenol and thought I'd just keep her with me at church. No big deal. We were doing well. I threw on some clothes, dried my still wet hair from my shower at 1:30 AM (sad I know- I was doing my lesson and never go to bed early when Rich is gone.)

After a quick breakfast of Eggos and toast we were in the van ready to go. As I started down the road we traveled over all the crunchy ice that was left over from Saturday's storm. As I got to the main road I immediately heard a thunk, thunk, thunk and knew something wasn't quite right. I thought I had a flat tire. I got out of the car to check and while the tire looked low, it didn't look very flat. No problem, I could solve this little situation. I knew I had 1/2 a can of Fix a Flat so I pumped that in not knowing if it really helped. I was determined to get to church especially since I had a lesson to teach.

As we continued down the road the thunk sound continued and rattled the car. I just had to get to the gas station and add some air and we'd be just fine. As we drove on (10 miles an hour) I realized I had NO money. Well, maybe 14 cents, but that wouldn't cover the air. I decided to run into the little Wal-mart grab another Fix A Flat can and some change. As I pulled in the parking lot the boys were freaking out that I was going to a store on Sunday. I explained that sometimes you have no choice. We had major problem, I couldn't get a hold of Rich and I was trying to fix the tire. I dashed into the store, grabbed 2 cans of the tire stuff and asked the cashier for quarters. It was quite obvious why I was shopping. She wished me luck and soon I was out in the cold in my dress, no coat pumping the foam into the tire. I felt good. This was going to work.

The boys were peering out the windows at me with big smiles on their faces. They thought this was quite the adventure. As I entered the car I reeked of a strong glue type smell. Nice. Josh said he didn't mind the odor. Trey was loving it. He go nuts over gas, fingernail polish, glue, markers, you name it. What a nut! (And by the way- we keep it hidden away from his nose!)

As I pulled up to the air pump with my 75 cents I was feeling great. That didn't last long when I realized something was jammed inside the machine. We were not going to get any air here. I knew there was a Chevron across the street, so we went there. I couldn't believe when the sign read- Out of Order. You've got to be kidding me!!

Now I was desperate. It was nearly 10 AM, we had been in the car for a hour and 15 minutes and I still hadn't fixed the tire. I knew there was one last place. It was a bit past my house, but I hoped the Fix A Flat was working and that I could still pull this whole thing off. As we slowly drove to the Kroger at Brannon Crossing the boys sat in the back seat saying "Aaaaaa" and laughing. Their voices would shake because of the tire. They thought it was the funniest thing around. I wasn't laughing.

As we finally spied the air at our 3rd gas station I felt a bit of hope. As I once again exited the warm van into the windy freezing morning I deposited my quarters, the happy hum of an air compressor sounded. Finally good news. I pulled the hose the 15 feet needed since there was a huge pile of snow between the van and the machine. As I hooked the nozzle to the tire I gasp when nothing came out. The air wasn't going into the tire. I had enough. I was a girl with her kids, all alone, on a cold Sunday morning, which started 3 hours earlier, with a flat tire, a lesson to teach and nothing was working out. I was ticked. The boys had rolled down the windows watching me try to get the air working and were laughing once again. I mean they thought it was a comedy movie. Finally I said, "My HELL!" Not quite what I should have, but the boys laughed even harder and shouted- she said the "H" word, Mom said the "H" word!! Great example Cheryl. Nice.

Broken hearted, distraught and not very happy I made our way back on icy roads with a flat tire wondering how this stupid thing would work out. I had gone MILES by now, but I was going to get home not matter what! Rich finally called and I told him the situation. He was headed home and would meet us there. Not ten minutes after I pulled up, he pulled up. All that fuss and we got home about the same time. As he looked at the tire, I explained how nothing worked. Even the air pump that was working didn't put air in the tire. For the first time I got on my hands and knees from the rear of the car and looked at the tire. I let out as audible gasp. The whole stinkin' thing was SHREDDED! No wonder the air didn't work.
There was no more time to talk. I had to get to church now and I had to take Rich's car which only has 4 seat belts. That means the girls would have to stay with Rich, who had been awake for 36 hours. He gave me a quick smile and hug and took the wild girls inside as we rushed to church. What a nice guy! Thankfully I had time to calm down and get into the mood to teach a spiritual lesson. It was about family fun time. I guess this morning could almost qualify with the amount of laughter I heard in the back of the van. The lesson went well, the boys made it to an hour of Primary and soon we were back home, the girls were napping and Rich finally got to bed at 1 PM. Things were OK.So, I while I really wish this was the end of this long tale, it wasn't quite done. Rich was a sweetie and tried to get the tire off the van after we got the kids to bed. When I pulled into the garage that morning, the tire was right next to the cement crease in the floor. Not a great place for a jack. As we finally got the jack up, and the tire off, I saw that I had indeed damaged some part of the car, but with our VERY limited knowledge about cars was unsure what part it was, or if it mattered. For an hour we worked in the freezing garage getting the tire off and looking for the spare. If we couldn't get it on, we would need a tow truck. No fun! We got out the car manual and started searching for the hidden tire. It was no where to be found. Really, our van didn't have a spare. Great. At 11:30 PM we called it a night and sadly closed the door on our tireless van. The whole scene gave me a pit in my stomach.

This morning I didn't quite know where to start. I looked up a tire shop close by and called at 9:15 AM. I told the guy the whole tale, how I drove for miles, killed the tire, how we couldn't find the spare and that the van was stuck in the garage. I am sure I sounded like an idiot, but I didn't care. I just wanted my van back to normal. He said he would send out a tow truck and that he'd call back after they got the van and checked it out.The tow guy was totally nice, came quickly and to my relief and dismay couldn't locate the spare tire either. He got the trashed tire back on and soon the van was loaded. I snapped a picture because I knew they boys would love seeing the van like that. A hour later I finally got some good news. I didn't brake the van, we just needed 4 new tires (I knew that) and they would fix my alignment. I called them back and asked them to see if they could find the spare tire. They wrapped it all up by 3:30 PM and my friend Laurel took the girls and me over to the shop. Seeing the van good as new in the parking lot made me smile. And I was nearly laughing when 2 shop workers, the guy manning the desk and the owner came out to the parking lot in search of the spare. They just couldn't believe there wasn't one. I was just glad it proved Rich and I are quite as dumb as we seemed! Hooray for new tires and a van that drives perfectly straight. I'll just have to avoid those dreaded curbs a bit more now! And I have a new project now- finding a cheap spare tire at at salvage yard down in Nicholasville.

Moral to the story: Once in awhile life deals you a rough hand, but you've got to keep your chin up, a smile on your face, try to avoid swear words and someday, maybe not immediately, but someday things WILL work out!