Winning and losing
I don’t know what else to call this day. It was euphoric and tragic. There were giggles, smiles but also tears, damaged property and death.
The day started with schools closed and beautiful snowy environs. Sean dug his Rogue SUV from the snow and braved the streets at 5am to sit on an airplane for 6 hours to go to Dallas. I planned out a fun day around a few crucial meetings but otherwise intended to enjoy the day with the kids in the snow.
When the neighbors arrived, we suited up and headed out for snowpeople making, snowball fights and sledding. Apart from Cora thinking I left her alone and getting soaked because I forgot it was SNOWING, we had fun, no real drama. We got back and only minor sibling squabbles ensued. Cora even helped me clean the fish tank, practically on her own.*
After a few more meetings we set out again, this time by bus and train to retrieve Sean’s truck from the airport. Well that’s when it got real groovy. I realized when we got on the train I had forgotten the key to Sean’s car AND I had left my phone on the bus. Got off at the next eternally far away stop. By the time we got back to train stop to go home, I irrationally decided we needed food for lunches the next day, so we popped in to the Safeway at that stop. The bus took so long after we finished (+15 min is an eternity with 2 kids who are wet, cold, and hungry) that I had to take the kids inside the shop next to the stop to warm up. They, of course, acted like they lived there and took their shoes off. I saw the bus coming and, of course, freaked and rushed to get them shod, only to forget the bag of groceries.
We finally make it home only to realize that in my rush earlier in the day to make one of my meetings, I had forgotten the grate on the fish tank filter and it had caught Castle, Harlan’s fish, like the scene in Finding Nemo but with an unhappy ending. Harlan, bless his heart, assumed Castle had just “moved to another tank”. Cora wasn’t quite fooled.
When I went to put Castle to rest in the backyard, the ridiculously heavy gate in our yard was stuck and when I pushed on it to get it open, it straight fell off its hinge, almost on me (it’s a 6’x 8′ x 6″ gate door). I decided I need to avoid any further brushes with the horrific and stopped trying to do anything useful. Except get this out.
