Finding the Gratitude at Last
Continuing from the other day . . . .
The decision I finally made was to drive the two blocks to the nearest gas station and air up the tire, go pick up the younger kids, and then backtrack to the tire store (which was right near the shopping center). No point in going home. There is nothing out where I live.
Well, airing up a tire that is down to 10 psi takes forever. We were almost late to pick up the kids. But I safely collected everyone and made it back to the tire shop. I knew we were in trouble right from the beginning because the entire parking lot was filled. I had to find a spot at the neighboring restaurant. The tire guy who inspected the tire for me explained that the tire must have been running low for awhile; the tread was worn down to nothing on the inside. We could fix the flat, he said, but I would just be back in a few days when it went flat again. So I opted for replacement.
He told me I had a two to two and a half hour wait. Looking around the shop, I thought that two hours was a mite optimistic, but shrugged. What was I going to do about it? The tire had to be fixed, and I couldn't even call anyone and let them know where we were.
The kids were NOT happy.
All four of the school age ones had been expected to go home at eat lunch. Quite frankly, so had I, and I am not at my best when hungry. But finances were tight, and most of the options right by the tire shop were restaurants. I don't think so. Quite frankly, even if I'd had the money, braving a sit-down restaurant with my five kids on my own is something I'd walk miles to avoid. In the end, that's what we did. We set up to walk the couple of miles to the nearest Walmart. Now, I'd carefully planned my own grocery shopping for the week of Thanksgiving to avoid Walmart like the plague, and it was the last place I wanted to be the afternoon before Thanksgiving . . . but I told the kids we were having an adventure!
S liked that. She is still asking if we can have a "turkey adventure" again. The other kids not so much. M and B bore up pretty well, with only a complaint or two each. But the boys, oh my gosh, the boys. You'd think I'd informed them we were going to trek to California on foot across the Mohave desert.
We tackled Walmart where I bought Subway the family (thank goodness turkey was the sub of the day!!!) and then we still had an hour to go (I was planning to keep out for the 2.5 hour time frame.) So we walked to the library, which was not too far away. This did not go well at all-- we don't have library cards to this one (since we live out of the resident area) and for some reason, J decided to recruit a couple of little kids and K and S into playing hide and go seek tag inside the cavernous main room where everything echos. Just imagine some four year old little calling at the top of her lungs "Has any one seen a tall boy in an orange shirt?" and then chasing K at full speed through all the stacks while S screams every time she gets spotted. Yep. And what do you do in that case? Yell at your son from across the library? When I finally caught him and marched my brood outside, we still had another 30 minutes to kill.
They were stuck playing on the walls and benches outside because the grass was roped off for winter seeding.
Finally, we headed back to the tire shop only to see that they hadn't even gotten to our van yet. But no one wanted to walk anywhere else, so we waited for another hour in the tire shop lobby. It was a LONG wait. Eternal. But it did finish eventually.
We actually made it back home about the same time as we would have done on a normal full length school day, so when I got home I just plunged into my list, figuring that hey, normally I cram a bunch into the evening and this would be no different. After my pies were in the oven, I got on the bike (first chance for exercise all day, other than the walking) and though it was already dark, I pedaled through the streets just feeling the perfect cool breeze on my face and telling myself "I got this, I totally got this." Everything that evening got done-- including my nano writing and the living room painting prep-- and I crawled into bed that night finally, finally feeling grateful for all the blessings in my life.
It came a little late, but it came!
I hope you (for the Americans) had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday too and that you took some time to recognize all the many blessings in your life!
The decision I finally made was to drive the two blocks to the nearest gas station and air up the tire, go pick up the younger kids, and then backtrack to the tire store (which was right near the shopping center). No point in going home. There is nothing out where I live.
Well, airing up a tire that is down to 10 psi takes forever. We were almost late to pick up the kids. But I safely collected everyone and made it back to the tire shop. I knew we were in trouble right from the beginning because the entire parking lot was filled. I had to find a spot at the neighboring restaurant. The tire guy who inspected the tire for me explained that the tire must have been running low for awhile; the tread was worn down to nothing on the inside. We could fix the flat, he said, but I would just be back in a few days when it went flat again. So I opted for replacement.
He told me I had a two to two and a half hour wait. Looking around the shop, I thought that two hours was a mite optimistic, but shrugged. What was I going to do about it? The tire had to be fixed, and I couldn't even call anyone and let them know where we were.
The kids were NOT happy.
All four of the school age ones had been expected to go home at eat lunch. Quite frankly, so had I, and I am not at my best when hungry. But finances were tight, and most of the options right by the tire shop were restaurants. I don't think so. Quite frankly, even if I'd had the money, braving a sit-down restaurant with my five kids on my own is something I'd walk miles to avoid. In the end, that's what we did. We set up to walk the couple of miles to the nearest Walmart. Now, I'd carefully planned my own grocery shopping for the week of Thanksgiving to avoid Walmart like the plague, and it was the last place I wanted to be the afternoon before Thanksgiving . . . but I told the kids we were having an adventure!
S liked that. She is still asking if we can have a "turkey adventure" again. The other kids not so much. M and B bore up pretty well, with only a complaint or two each. But the boys, oh my gosh, the boys. You'd think I'd informed them we were going to trek to California on foot across the Mohave desert.
We tackled Walmart where I bought Subway the family (thank goodness turkey was the sub of the day!!!) and then we still had an hour to go (I was planning to keep out for the 2.5 hour time frame.) So we walked to the library, which was not too far away. This did not go well at all-- we don't have library cards to this one (since we live out of the resident area) and for some reason, J decided to recruit a couple of little kids and K and S into playing hide and go seek tag inside the cavernous main room where everything echos. Just imagine some four year old little calling at the top of her lungs "Has any one seen a tall boy in an orange shirt?" and then chasing K at full speed through all the stacks while S screams every time she gets spotted. Yep. And what do you do in that case? Yell at your son from across the library? When I finally caught him and marched my brood outside, we still had another 30 minutes to kill.
They were stuck playing on the walls and benches outside because the grass was roped off for winter seeding.
Finally, we headed back to the tire shop only to see that they hadn't even gotten to our van yet. But no one wanted to walk anywhere else, so we waited for another hour in the tire shop lobby. It was a LONG wait. Eternal. But it did finish eventually.
We actually made it back home about the same time as we would have done on a normal full length school day, so when I got home I just plunged into my list, figuring that hey, normally I cram a bunch into the evening and this would be no different. After my pies were in the oven, I got on the bike (first chance for exercise all day, other than the walking) and though it was already dark, I pedaled through the streets just feeling the perfect cool breeze on my face and telling myself "I got this, I totally got this." Everything that evening got done-- including my nano writing and the living room painting prep-- and I crawled into bed that night finally, finally feeling grateful for all the blessings in my life.
It came a little late, but it came!
I hope you (for the Americans) had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday too and that you took some time to recognize all the many blessings in your life!
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