Well, I guess I failed at not letting too much time pass between posts. Life can so easily get out of control and before you know it lots of time has been lost. Thankfully, not all of that time was wasted. We had a Lent that was full of suffering. But our Easter was...ok, our 8 year old, #7, got bit by a dog and we spent part of Easter Day at the ER and then chatting with two very nice policemen in our living room. Did you know ERs have to report dog bites? Anyway, other than that it was a good day.
We took an emergency trip to Tennessee during Lent. My husband's mother was taken to the hospital and once there for a day or so, the doctors said that family should be called. My husband flew out the next morning. By God's grace, his mom waited until he got there. He went in, spoke to her and held her hand. He then went into the hall to talk with his dad and brother. About 15 minutes later, she died.
The kids and I left the next morning, a Tuesday. It was decided that the little boys would stay with their oldest sister. She was not ready to make the 24 hour trip with the baby. (And actually, neither were we. Been there, done that...not a good time.) So we packed on Monday night, got up at a reasonable time and off we went. Like the well trained women that we are, Mary and I had called our mechanic and explained the situation - we were headed to TN from NH and Dad was already gone so could they check over the 15 passenger van before we left. The van got its travel papers. Mary and I gave each other gold stars for thinking ahead to actually take care of that whole thing. And we went...I said that already.
Anyway, it turned into a very nice morning for travel. About three hours from home it was getting warm so we kicked on the AC to cool off the van just a little. Next thing we know, the heat is pouring out and the temperature gauge is way in the red zone. We pulled into the parking lot of a Rite Aid in Latham, NY. I called Steve. I really don't know what I expected him to do from nearly 1200 miles away. And yet, he did what he always does...restored me to non-panic, take-care-of-the-situation mode. While I called Allstate Roadside Assistance, Mary, my beautifully helpful #2, found an Enterprise Rental in the area. After many phone calls with Enterprise, Steve, my step-father, Allstate, and Joe from the tow company, we found ourselves stranded in the Rite Aid parking lot for what we thought would be about 3 hours. We pulled over at 11; the van was gone at noon to be towed back to NH; and the rental would not be ready until 3 or 3:30.
So we hunkered down for the afternoon. All of our luggage for six of us for a week was piled onto a bench at the edge of the parking lot in front of the store. Of course, since we were packing in the 15 passenger van, everything got packed. Not sure if we needed heavy coats or just spring ones, pack them both, we have room. Which shoes? Pack both the black and the white ones, we have room. Everyone can take a pillow and a blanket for the ride. Yes, let's take 5 sleeping bags. We had packed food too so at least we could eat better than we could buy at Rite Aid. We also had books, electronics, and games. The manager of the store was, thankfully, kind and understanding. Thank God the little boys had stayed home.
At about 3:45, I called the Enterprise store. We were supposed to hear from them by 3. The brain surgeon, I mean, the manager who worked there said, "Oh, you are still there. You didn't go anywhere?" Where, exactly, were we supposed to go? Our van was gone. This was not a foot friendly town. There were no stores or restaurants we could see from where we were. Where did he think we were going to go?
Anyway, he said the car wasn't back yet so he would call me back in a few minutes after he called someone. When he called back, a little more than a few minutes later, he made another brilliant statement. Now, mind you, he knew we were six people and that we were stranded on a trip to TN. He said, "My driver is coming to get you. He can only take four of you but he can drop you off and get the other two after. (and here is the good part) You will have to watch for him because, I am just being honest, he won't see you." WHAT? I was doing ok up until this point, keeping a good attitude and all. Not see us? We were six people with a weeks worth of luggage outside a Rite Aid. Is he blind? How would anyone not see us? Calm, Helen. Breathe. Unfortunately, the distress giggles took over. In trying to relay this information to the kids, I could not stop giggling which made most of the kids giggle. Poor #6 crawled under the bench. She was done. Again, thank God the little boys had stayed home.
Well, the driver showed up. Turns out it was Mr. Brain Surgeon, the manager, who had the problem. Our driver was a very pleasant older gentleman who Mr. Brain Surgeon treated very poorly. (More on that in a minute.) Four of us piled into the car with as much of our stuff as we could get in. I left the two oldest with the rest of our stuff. No lie - the driver drove the car around the back of the Rite Aid, across the next parking lot, two car lengths down the road to the stop light and then, turned across the road into the parking lot of the Enterprise. That is where I lost it. The tears actually welled up, but I kept them from rolling down the cheeks. At this point we had been stranded for 5 hours --across the street. We could have been inside at Enterprise. We were wind burned, sun burned, our electronics were out of power. On top of all of that, there was a big snowstorm headed across the upper part of the country that we now had to worry about outrunning. Seriously, across the *&%^ street. Mr. Brain Surgeon claimed he was new to this store and didn't realize the Rite Aid was that close. Who is blind now? If you stood at the door of the Enterprise office and looked up the hill to the right, there stood a huge red and white Rite Aid sign. You couldn't miss it if you stepped out the door. And then, Mr. Brain Surgeon was rude to our driver. Very rude; like eye-rolling, sigh rude. It was completely inappropriate. I wanted to tell him so but...Well, I didn't want to scar the younger kids and Mary and Michael were not there to stop me if I really let loose so I held it in.
We were given a car that was too small to get us in, which created a whole new world of emotion. Thankfully, a very nice lady brought back a larger vehicle that fit us all and we drove off. Unfortunately leaving behind a few things we had stored in a under trunk compartment in the too small vehicle. We will never see those again.
Oh, have I said yet, thank God, literally, that the little boys stayed home.
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