I originally posted this in May of 2008 and titled it "If Life Is A Highway I Could Sure Use a Pit Stop". I was thinking about this experience today and realized it was exactly 2 years ago. Thought I would share it again. :)
Sarah often asks me when my summer break starts. I have to tell you that lately I would settle for a 5 minute break! In April I had such an awesome month. It was so uneventful and peaceful. I even had time to read 3 books! I guess I should have realized that it was just the calm before the storm.
I started out the month with a trip to the ER. I had gone to the Dr. and found out that I had a bladder infection, but later that night I was hurting so bad and I knew there was something else going on. I googled my symptoms (of course) and everything I read made it sound like I had appendicitis, so we headed to the ER. Turns out I had a cyst on my ovary and the only thing they could do was give me pain medication which would have been great if I could just sleep for days, but that is not an option.
The next day I went in to work and did half of the paperwork I needed to. I promise I have to sit in the parking lot in my car to do my paperwork because of the drama in the office or the insanity at my house. Oh well. I then went to an eye dr. appointment. Yes, I managed to see the dentist, family doctor, er doctor, and the eye doctor in the first 3 days of the month. Leave it to me. Anyway, I had lost one of my contacts a few weeks back and I was just now getting to the eye doctor. Yes, that means I had been with one contact for quite awhile. One of my patients calls me "His lady with the one eye". When I got ready to leave the guy told me that he didn't have the prescription I needed and that he would have to order them. I explained my situation and he got me one and said "Here, this should be close enough." Great, I don't know what is worse, only having one contact or having one that isn't even the right prescription! It didn't matter because they had dilated my eyes and I couldn't see anything anyway! I hadn't thought about that and I was by myself. I drove to Wal-Mart because I had to get Eli's birthday cake. Man I felt sick! Between my antibiotic for the bladder infection, the nausea from the cyst, the hangover from the Loritab, the dilated eyes and the wrong contact prescription I was one dizzy puppy!!! I was trying to look at stuff and the closer I would hold it the blurrier it would be. I'm sure that I was quite a sight. Somehow I managed to make it home. I had no idea what the weekend would hold....
We got up the next morning and had cake and ice cream and Eli opened presents. We had gotten the news the night before that my great-grandma who had been suffering from Alzheimer's had passed away. We decided to go ahead and take the kids to the zoo in Jackson like we had planned and then head to the funeral home from there. We had a good time at the zoo and headed out. We stopped at a Backyard Burgers for lunch and that turned into a fateful stop. We were just going through the drive-thru but Sarah had to go to the bathroom. When I opened my door the jeep was making an awful sound. Josh decided to park it and let it cool down so we went inside to eat. He called and found out where the closest auto parts store was and we headed that way. We only made it about half a mile and Josh got worried and turned back around. We stopped on the side of the road across from Backyard Burgers. Josh called a tow truck to take him to the car parts store and called a taxi for me and the kids.
The kids and I headed back in the restaurant so they could play in the play area but they had strict orders that when I said it was time to go we had to run to catch the taxi. It was very nerve wracking watching Josh leave as I had no idea where I was or where he was going. Finally the taxi came and the kids and I started running like crazy getting their shoes and running across the restaurant. By the time we got outside he was gone! So, we ran back through the restaurant to the other side. Fortunately he had just driven to that side. I was glad because that was the side the car seats were on. Yes, I had to load up two car seats and thankfully they sent a van. I have to admit that I was a little concerned when I saw our driver. I don't want to sound mean but you know what the serial killers always look like in movies? Well, that's who came to pick us up. He started talking on the radio and I was waiting for him to say "I have my latest victims, a crazy lady and 3 rugrats, 10-4, over". But he didn't, and he only had to take us about 2 minutes down the road. He turned out to be very nice and I tipped him well for the hassle of the car seats (and because I felt guilty I thought he was a serial killer). By the time we got there Josh had the hood of the jeep propped up with my tennis racket and he was finishing up whatever it was he was doing. We loaded up the car seats again and headed down the road. Again, we made it about 3 minutes down the road and had to pull over. It was something worse than Josh had thought. We finally ended up calling a tow truck to take Josh and the jeep back to Montrose (about 90 miles) and I had to call my dad who had just gotten to Brookhaven for the funeral to come get me and the kids. I'm sure he thought his days of picking me up from the side of the road with broke down cars was over, but it wasn't and now I come with 3 kids, 2 car seats, a stroller and some Wal-Mart bags. We went to Brookhaven to the funeral home to get the key to my mamaw's house. Then, I had to go to Wal-Mart to get baby food, toothbrushes, pajamas, and stuff like that as I had not planned on spending the night away from home.
The next day was the funeral and Kate decided she wanted to blow bubbles the entire time and do it VERY loudly. I finally had to take her out and sit out on the front porch with another mom who had exiled herself from the service. Josh was coming to pick us up after he was done preaching Sunday morning. He was supposed to meet us at the church where the family was eating. Of course, leave it to me I told him the wrong church and after my dad took us to meet him we had to go find the other church because Sarah was there with my aunt. When we finally found the church and said our goodbyes we were running really late as Josh had to get back to preach that night. It didn't matter. We got totally lost and Josh ended up calling someone at church to tell them they'd have to cancel service because we were lost in the woods and would never make it back in time. Praise Jesus I got to stay home from work Monday because my jeep was still messed up and Josh had to take the Nissan (the car we've been borrowing since his motor is blown up) to school.
Well, we recovered from that weekend and began planning for the next weekend as my parents, Josh's mom, sister and grandma were all coming for Sarah's kindergarten graduation. Friday night I was busy fixing potato salad and a pound cake for the fire dept.'s fund raiser on Saturday when I realized I had dill pickles instead of sweet pickles. So, me and Sarah packed up and headed to Bay Springs for some pickles. We did our shopping and when we got in the jeep (it got fixed, thankfully)I called Josh to see what he wanted from Sonic. Well, I guess while I was talking to him I put the jeep in reverse. Then, I saw a garbage can in front of the store and decided to throw some trash away. Guess what I did. I got out and when I did my jeep started rolling away!!!!!!!! With Sarah in it!!!!!!!!!! I had no idea what to do. I thought about trying to jump in and hit the brake but then I was afraid that I would trip and the jeep would run me over. So, I just held on to the door and walked with it screaming at the top of my lungs. Again, I'm sure I was quite a sight. Finally it hit another car. It didn't do much to the jeep but it busted the other cars lights. I felt bad for the girl who by the way had just checked us out in the store, but I was kind of relieved that it had stopped the jeep before it could roll out into the street. It didn't phase Sarah. She jumped out and was checking stuff out. The police officer came and at first I thought he was going to be a jerk. I didn't have my proof of insurance because Josh had taken it out the previous weekend during that event. So, I got a ticket for that. My tag has also been expired since October due to a clerical thing that we have no control over. I got a ticket for that too. As I tried to explain the situation the cop was trying to hide his grin. I know he was thinking, 'This lady is loony as a toon!' Oh well, I was absolutely humiliated. I guess he could tell I was a little stressed out because he ended up being very nice. I'm just glad that no bad words slipped during the chasing the jeep time. I could just see the headline in the Jasper County News. "PREACHER'S WIFE CUSSES LIKE A SAILOR AS SHE CHASES HER CAR THROUGH THE PARKING LOT OF THE PIGGLY WIGGLY!!!" After all was said and done I was just glad I had gotten my new contacts. Next thing you know I'd be getting a ticket for wearing the wrong contacts!!! :)
If life is a highway, I could sure use a pit stop...........
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