Life of Val

Val and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

**I need to preface this post by saying that despite all the bad, there was, in fact, a lot of good last week. I loved the time I got to spend with our friends and family. It just ended on a bad note.

The second time I cried last Wednesday was a heavy sob after I got off the phone with the rude pizza lady. The first was at McDonalds over a snack-sized McFlurry. Here’s why:

It all started with the normal scramble to clean the house, pack and get on the road. Ethan, Carver and I were about to embark on a trip back to Gainesville for a wedding. I did a pretty decent job of preparation. I finally decided on a dress to wear, set out a bunch of ant killer… you know, the usual. We picked Ethan up from class and were on the road by 5:00, Thursday night. Our time in the car was accompanied by an average amount of protest from Carver, some goofy delirium from the late night driver and then a few “hiccups” from the engine. Ethan called his dad, who said we might need to change the fuel filter and we kept on driving. We made it to Gainesville sleepy, but safe at about 3:00 AM.

However, around lunch time the next day Ethan tried to start our car with no success. We didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Ethan and Dan would change the fuel filter later. We all crammed in the Dourte’s car and headed to Moe’s. Dan said we could borrow their car for the rehearsal and they would work on the Blazer that afternoon. Manly men that they are, they changed the fuel filter, but the car still wouldn’t start. At that point I wasn’t too stressed out. “Everything’s going to work out,” I like to say. The only problem was, after I dropped E off at the rehearsal, I couldn’t start the Dourte’s car. Hint: don’t let me borrow your car. This actually turned out to be an easy fix and I made it back in time to change for the rehearsal dinner. After a glass of wine and hanging out with friends at dinner, I was feeling optimistic again. I mean, what else could happen?

Then, Saturday happened. I was out to breakfast with some girlfriends and I got a text from Ethan asking for the phone number to the urgent care center. Folks, this is never a good sign. Apparently, Carver was wheezing so bad Ethan didn’t know if he could breathe. By the mercy and grace of God, I had packed his inhaler. Its not like we knew he had asthma. Its not even that we have used that inhaler in the past several months. It is literally because while I was packing, the Holy Spirit was like, “Hey, Val, I think you should reach over there and throw Carver’s Albuterol in the bag.” The inhaler started working and we decided to have our friends look at C (I happened to be at breakfast with a pediatric nurse practitioner, a nurse and a doctor who were staying with another friend of ours who is a physician assistant). We brought Carver over to our friends’ house and PJ, the PA gave us a prescription of Singulair which has been helping a lot.

We couldn’t find a mechanic that was open, so Ethan booked a rental car and we decided that I would just stay in town until the car was fixed. As Natalie reminded me, that was the plan I was hoping for in the first place. Well, the staying in Gainesville part. Not so much the broken-down car part. So we forgot our troubles and danced the night away.

The next few days happened without too many hitches. Carver did manage to knock over and break not one, but two of my sister’s floor lamps. At least they matched? At least one of them still works? At least in the light of everything else that had happened this wasn’t too frustrating? Pick your favorite excuse and go with it. I did.

$832.15 later I got the car back. I decided to leave early Wednesday morning to head back. Carver did really well and things were going smoothly until I started to feel the car hiccup again. By this point, we were already in Georgia. Ethan’s dad recommended I try and keep the car running, even when we stopped for gas. So, I held my pee and kept Carver strapped in until neither of us could take it anymore. I was pretty nervous as I tried to start the car at that gas station in SC, but it worked! We were over half way there. Carver even took a nap. Then the heavy traffic in Charlotte rolled in like thunder before a lightning strike. And boom! The car completely stopped working. Completely. I managed to pull over onto the shoulder and shortly after a generous woman also pulled over to help. She gave us a ride to McDonalds where Ethan picked us up.

Now were back at our new home with a working car. The dealership we had it towed to made a few quick fixes and had it back to us within 24 hours. Needless to say, I will be looking for plane tickets next time.

Some not so bad, very wonderful parts of the weekend:

Getting to see my Gville friends.

Watching my husband on the dance floor.

Going to the pool with Tampa Grandpa and the kids.

Play group at Sun Country!

A wonderful Father’s Day breakfast.

Time with my sister.