Rewind?

Have you ever had one of those days you just wanted to press rewind and start over? Wednesday was my day that needed a rewind button. The moral for Wednesday is that "pride cometh before a fall."

My Wednesday unfolded as follows:

Midnight-6:30am - Woke up at 1 hr or so intervals. It makes me angry to wake up so much throughout the night. I don't know why I woke up so much, except that when I woke up at 3:30am there was very bright lightening and loud thunder. Maybe that had something to do with it.

6:30am - I get out of bed, very unhappy to be awake at this hour. I begin the process of showering and getting ready for work.

7:45am - I am dressed. I have coffee in hand (that is thick and black enough to strip paint off of anything - never let Dave make coffee, he followed the Dunkin Donuts dosage recommendations for coffee ground measurement) loaded down with lots of sugar and creamer. I grab the two bags of trash that need to go to the end of the driveway and I am off to work. I managed to get ready and leave early for work so that I can stop and get gas and still make it to work on time. I'm quite proud of myself. I'm talking really proud.

(From this point in time all times are recorded as "-ish" b/c I don't know the exact time each event occurred.)

7:46ish am - I get out at the end of the driveway to remove the two bags of trash from my car to place in the garbage can. In the process of pulling them from the backseat the card door starts to close and smacks me in the head. I remember thinking "grrrrr, that sucked but I'm still on my way to work early so it will be ok."

7:48ish am - I am driving down our road and a truck is coming from the other direction. I move over to the edge of the road to make room for the both of us on the rather narrow back road. No big event here, just keep reading because this may be a necessary detail to the story.

7:50ish am - I hear a funny noise while driving. I turn off my iPod w/speakers (it is my version of a car radio, apparently I'm no longer cool enough to have a real car radio) to listen. Hmmm, it just sounds like maybe I didn't get the car door shut all the way. You know, the one that hit me in the head. I keep driving.

7:55ish am - The noise is louder. MUCH louder. I'm thinking we have a problem here since it feels a little tough to drive. I pull off to the side of the road (another back country road) and hop out to see what it up. Nothing is up, in fact something is very, very flat. My rear passenger tire is flat, well shredded really. (Remember that pulling off to the side of the road detail, I think I may have done something to injure my tire then.)

7:56ish am - I pull out my cell phone and hope I can reach Dave at home before he leaves for school. I'm approximately 2.5 miles from home. (I'm supposed to be at work at 9am and it takes an hour to get there. I now need to change a tire-hoping that I have a spare- get gas, and still make it to work on time.) Unfortunately, I have already crossed into the no cell service range of my drive. Darnit! Luckily, I have worn flip flops (and planned to change into my dress shoes at work) so I grab my purse, lock my car, and begin walking home. I'm hoping I can get cell service before I have to walk the whole way though or I am not going to make it in time to reach Dave.

8:00ish am - I hear a car on the road behind me. It slows and I hear "hey, you need a ride?" Before I turn I think "please Dear God don't let them be crazy." I say "yes please. If you could just drive me to the end of this road that would be great!" I hop in. He says "I saw the car and wondered what was going on and then I saw you walking." I said "yeah, I got a flat tire." A few minutes of silence pass and then the man says "I'm headed to the doctor this morning because I'm tired of feeling this way." I said "oh, that isn't good." I purposefully did not ask what was meant by "feeling this way" because I was almost scared to ask.

8:04ish am -We arrive at the end of the road. The nice man driving asks "where to?" I said "you can just drop me here because my house is the first one across the street." (If you don't know where I live you know I have to walk a few feet down the road and up the driveway to reach my house.) So he does. I say thanks for the ride I really appreciate it. I begin walking towards the house. I also try calling the house phone and get no answer. I call Dave's cell phone and get no answer. I am hoping and pleading that he will still be home when I get there.

8:08ish am - I make it far enough up the drive to see that Dave's car is still at the house. YAY! I finally reach the door and unlock it. I go in the house and realize he is still in our room. I have a fleeting thought of "I hope he doesn't shoot me." I open the door to see he is brushing his teeth, rather he has paused while brushing his teeth to see what the noise was and who might be coming in his house. No gun in hand, just a toothbrush. Whew! I say, I got a flat tire. I go through the story of what happened. He finishes getting dressed and I go to start calling my co-workers. I was scheduled to open the store with another sales lead so that is great because the store won't have to open late, I just need to get in touch with one of the two associates scheduled at 10am to see if they can get there a bit early. I make some calls and leave some messages.

8:15ish am - We arrive back at my car so Dave can survey the damage. He notes that I do indeed have a spare tire, the ground is soft from all the rain last night, and we will need to locate a jack to change the tire. We hop back in his car and drive the 5 miles to the in-law's house.

8:20ish am - We arrive at the in-law's house. I wish I had remembered to grab my MIL's birthday present (which is STILL sitting on my kitchen table as I type) b/c her birthday was Sunday. We locate a jack. My FIL also comes to help. And we're off to visit my car.

8:40ish am - I determine I have an associate who can open the store with the other sales lead so that store is covered. Whew. We arrive at the car and the boys begin changing the tire. It is a long process. The good news is that my spare tire is a full size spare. Which still means it is dangerous to drive on the spare because it is a different brand and slightly smaller than the other tires on my car, but better than a donut size spare-especially on a top heavy SUV.

9:00ish am - I am sent home with Dave's car (which is actually the in-laws Cougar) which has funny noises and quirks all its own. It is aging. Dave is off to find a replacement tire. I wait to find out if I can make it to work sometime today to at least get my hours in and allow the other sales lead to take a lunch.

10:50ish am - Phone call from Dave. The first place he stopped did not sell Kuhmo tires. He is off to another place to see if he can get a tire to match the others.

11:50ish am - The other place he stopped can get a tire, but it won't be here til tomorrow morning. Ugh. I let work know I won't be in at all today. My FIL has agreed to pick up the tire for us on Thursday.

Dave finally arrives home sometime later in the afternoon. A mere $150 later I will have a replacement tire...sometime tomorrow. I arrange with work to make up my missed hours on Thursday so I can still enjoy a weekend off. I try to take a nap...but every time I am just about asleep the phone rings or something happens and I wake up. Ugh. I really just wanted to rewind the day and start over so that everything could go according to my plan that I was so sincerely proud about following so well early Wednesday morning. I guess I needed that reminder that my plan wasn't really that important anyhow.

Thursday's Tire Update: Still no tire. I cautiously drive to work on the spare. Praying the whole time that I make it there and back safely. I have a pair of tennis shoes just in case I need to start walking again. I did make it there and back safely. I'm thankful.

Friday's tire Update: No plans to go anywhere today. The tire can come whenever it pleases. Dave is off tomorrow so I am sure it will be on by Saturday night. In the mean time I am not traveling far and only if necessary. It is raining at the moment so I am perfectly fine with that. I am supposed to be cleaning out our spare room this weekend anyhow. It has become a storage place for all of the things we have no idea what to do with. Along with many things we have been too lazy to unpack. If I get it cleaned out I am told we may be able to purchase an elliptical machine. That would be very exciting because I rather enjoyed the last one we owned until it broke beyond repair. Owning and elliptical and using it on a regular basis would not only be "heart healthy" but it might also allow me to work off some of this extra stress Alabama living has brought (you should insert the words "massive amounts of over indulging on yummy southern cooking" for the word stress if we're being honest with each other and the reality of those words has meant an extra 15-20 lbs since Dave's deployment and return home over 2 yrs ago now.) We'll see how it goes.