Daniel had earned a trip to Chuck E Cheese last fall from his behavior chart. We still hadn't gone, and we finally decided that since there was no school today, that we would take the boys!
I woke up to a big crash of thunder and smiled because I love a good storm. I stayed in bed until almost 9, and then got up and ready to go.
I was driving. We had almost reached Rochester when I heard the loudest "BANG!" and felt the van trying to move in its own direction. I knew immediately that we had blown a tire. The speed limit was 65, which is exactly the speed I was going. I amazingly stayed calm. All I could think was, "Don't slam on the brakes. Don't slam on the brakes!" Quite honestly that would normally be my first instinct, which leads me to believe that voice was the God or an angel. I was able to safely get us pulled off to the side of the highway. Jacob turned the hazards on, and I put the car in park and took a deep breath. My hands were shaking and my heart was pounding, but we were safe!
I made Jacob call roadside assistance because I'm generally on the struggle bus when I have to talk to people who don't speak English very well. About that time, I see a white SUV pulling onto the shoulder. It was a state trooper. He came over and was chatting with me, as Jacob is trying to talk. Jacob ended up passing me the phone, which was hilarious because the lady had a thick southern accent and he couldn't understand her...but I totally could! Daniel was busy telling the officer that we were supposed to be going to Chuck E Cheese and James is yelling about how the tire "blowed up!"
Once we knew help was on the way, the trooper left. He offered to shuttle us the 2 miles to Rochester, but it seemed pointless because I would've had to move car seats into his vehicle. He was very nice though and told us if any problems came up to call 911.
Not much later our roadside assistance came. He was able to put the donut on for us and then I slowly drove the back roads to WalMart in Springfield. Since it was almost lunch time and there's a McDonald's in WalMart we grabbed lunch and by the time we finished a wandered a few minutes, the van was ready. Sadly, my bumper needs repaired, but honestly it could've been a million times worse, and now I have some lovely duct tape holding it on.
We finally made it to Chuck E Cheese, where the boys had a blast. We weren't there super long because it's easy to blow through tokens, but neither one complained when they ran out. Then they counted tickets and redeemed their prizes. For the low price of $20 they got, about $2.00 worth of crap. Ha! But, really I think playing the games is the exciting part anyway!
On the way home the bumper flapped in the breeze as I prayed it wouldn't fall off. Then the tire pressure light went off...so I have to get that figured out tomorrow too.
I made the boys rest this afternoon when we got home even though it was late afternoon. I needed a break!
At one point Daniel commented that today wasn't how he planned it to be. I asked him, "Did we crash or did anyone get hurt? Nope! God protected us and we're still going to be able to do what we promised, so I'd say it's still a good day!" (I was channeling a little Jack Pearson in that speech.)
And I KNOW we didn't wreck, but we could have, so I'll just plug this again. Car seats saves lives, and I think if anything worse had happened that they still would have been okay!
Here's hoping for a very uneventful rest of the week...no year. Way too much has happened since the start of 2018!
