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| Oliver's good morning face |
We go downstairs and I let the dogs out and make
coffee. I open up my laptop hit the
button that brings it to life and then crack open a boiled egg to eat with a
little salt and salsa, slice up some strawberries and green grapes then place
them on a plate. I open up the house,
drink my coffee and eat while a soft wind kisses my skin and begin working on
my story. I watch the clock because a
friend of mine wants to talk with me about helping her with some marketing for
her realty business and I think it is a great idea. I can work from home and help her out with my crazy social media
skills while still having time to work on my book. Peachy right?
Alas, nothing is ever peachy when you plan peachy. The slow chill day that you thought was
ahead of you is pulled out from underneath you as though you were punished by
Karma from a long ago indiscretion then you fall on your bum and wonder aloud:
WHY ME??!!??
I go to my meeting with my friend and we discuss the
marketing that she wants, the marketing that I can do and the contents of a
possible job description. Sounds good
right? No, she wants someone to walk
around the communities in town and leave her business flyers, THEN we can talk
about social media while she picks my brain on how to do some of it and what
ideas I may have. Hmmm…. So I agree anyway and take the multiple
reams of flyers and armed with a map I plan the beginning of the journey.
Watching the time of course because last night I had a
text request from Youngest Kid to pick him up at Amtrak in Sacramento at 10
AM. He is coming home from LA after
doing a show (he is a comic/actor and I couldn’t be more proud) *gush~
So I plan to go pick him up, then come back and start the
placing of the flyers on each door as she directed. But Nooooo, the child sends a text that reads:
YK: Gonna be
late. This bus is slacking
Me: OK, about how
long do you think?
YK: Well we were
supposed to leave Stockton at 910. It’s
now 930…
Oooh maaaan! I say low with a short growl sound. So now what to do? Go pass out the flyers?
Wait until he is ready for me to make the trip to Sac? Make the trip and wait? Arrgh…
So I text again 15 minutes later.
Me: So have you
gotten on the bus yet?
YK: Yes we have
Me: Eta
YK: Not sure. Driver
won’t say
Then it comes~
YK: It appears the
bus broke down…
YK: I am in Lodi
YK: Mom?
This is where I sit in my car as I have for the last half
hour in the parking lot of Century 21 and try figuring out what I am going to
do and what happened to Stockton. So I
call the child and we decide that it will be easier (for who?) for me to drive
to Lodi to pick him up because he has orientation for a new job that he just
got which makes job number three in the quest to get back to LA.
What was I supposed to do?
Yep, that’s what I did. Knowing
I would not get any flyers out that day, I called my friend and on the first
day of this new opportunity after not working for a year, had to go pick up my
kid. Sound familiar moms? He sends me the address and I GPS on my
iPhone and I am off. Only GPS wants me
to take a three hour tour through Sacramento and I want to go through Rio Vista
and take HWY 12. Argghhh….
Then the texts of an impatient child (ya.. I said it) start rolling in. The champagne glass clink that I use to love is now sounding every two minutes and pissing me off. I begin to talk to my phone as though I am talking to my son. “I can’t text and drive!!” I think I was louder than just talking.
I finally pull over and call him to tell him where I am at and he needs to just sit tight. I then think it's funny so I text him after the call.
Me: I guess your stuck in Lodi again..
YK: That's a song right?
Me: Whatever
Turns out it wasn't so funny.
I make my way, according to my adjusted GPS, to Lodi. In fact, I am three miles away. Then I hear a POP, then something hitting the back of my car. I am still moving, but the car doesn’t feel right. I come up to a red light and already plan my parking spot on the other side of the light. I pull over and yep. Flat tire. Now I feel like crying because I don’t know how to put on a spare. OK, in my defense, I have changed a tire before when I was in driver’s training in high school. Long, long ago when the schools offered that.
I call Sweet and he can’t come all the way to Lodi because
he has to get ready for work. YK is
sitting three miles away and wants to walk along the two way highway to get to
me, which I of course tell him no. I try to call AAA, but according to them I
don’t have my membership anymore, which is weird because I thought you couldn’t
have insurance there without the membership.
A question that is still asked of me and I still don’t have an answer
to. Oh, did I mention that I forgot my car
charger and the battery on my phone is on red. Bleh
I am about to sit down on the dirt and rocks on the side of
the road, of course, best place to have a meltdown in 90-degree weather. When out of the blue, a Cal trans truck
pulls over and two men get out of the truck and ask if they can help!! Tears in my eyes, I say yes please! I take a picture as they begin to pull the
donut out of my trunk and remove the damaged tire. I ask their names to which they decline because they figure I am
going to put them on fb and I say no, on my blog. Again no.. bleh. So I have named them Christopher (patron
saint of travelers) and Anthony (patron saint of lost things). They made everything so much better; they
were very nice and so wonderful. They
changed my tire and gave me advice about getting the tire fixed at Les Schwab
and they were off into the good day.
So now I have a donut and per their instruction, I don’t
drive over 45 miles per hour and finally make it to Amtrak Lodi. I am so relieved and am looking for my kid
who is probably in a panic by now. I
park, get out of the car and look around.
The panic starts to set in on me because he is nowhere to be found! I walk through the outside lobby area and
there he is. Leaning up against the
stone wall, asleep. Standing.
I wake him and we get in the car and as I laugh away the
stress of the day and begin the 45 mile per hour drive all the way home. He states very matter of factly to me with a
smile.
Argh..
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