As I said earlier, yesterday was a gloomy day. As soon as I got in my car to head home from the office, the skys seemed to open up. I rounded a curve and hit a pothole covered in water and blew out my back tire. I wobbled on 3 tires for about a quarter mile and went in the wrong way to a parking garage in a not-so-good area of town. Visions of getting shot in a driveby or mugged in that dark place filled my head. I could only think of my beautiful wife and little girls as I worked furiously to get the spare tire on the car as I periodically stood up and surveyed my surroundings. Needless to say it was a creepy situation. The spare tire was on the car but it had very low air pressure. I decided to take my chances and go around the corner to a gas station and fill up the tire there.
A spare tire is kind of like a get-out-of-jail-free card. You never know when you'll need it but it's always good to have. Make it a point to check their air pressure in your spare tire as often as you do your other tires. It's a good habit to start.
I arrived at the gas station going very slowly as to not bend the rim or hurt the spare tire any more.
NO AIR? What the hell. This is a national chain gas station and they don't have air? I shall write a letter over this one for sure. The next gas station was about 2 miles away so I headed out.
Through pouring rain and stoplights I slowly crept on a wounded tire. The sweat stung my eyes but I couldn't wipe my brow because I had grease all over my hands. I managed to find a wipe under the seat left by one of the kids and cleaned a finger good enough I could clear the sweat from my eye. I have to be very careful with my left eye because I just had the second of three shots to try and stop this hemorrhage from leaking in my eye and it's very suseptible to infection at the moment.
I rolled into the parking lot and found their air service. I went into wash my hands and get something to drink and snack on. It would be a long drive home at 45 mph through the blinding rain on a tiny doughnut spare tire. NOTE TO SELF: Next car you purchase, inspect the spare to make sure it's a full size tire.
I finally pulled in the driveway and the rain was still coming down pretty good. I walked up to the front door. My beautiful wife was preparing the children's dinner plates and I could see Chloe sitting in her chair. The light from inside the house seemed to blanket the front porch making it feel warm and inviting. The dog was curled up on the floor probably dreaming about chasing his ball or picking on the cat.
I stood there for just a second to take this scene in. "My God, I am blessed!" I thought as I smelled dinner knocking on the slightly foggy window panes. I snuck in the door and softly shut and locked it behind me. After setting down my daddy stuff, Chloe finally saw me and just turned to me and as clear as a bell said "Hi Daddy, wuv u".
The anxiety of my day just didn't matter any longer and just drifted away. My middle child, without pompting, had welcomed me home and told me that she loved me.
I am so lucky. I fixed my plate then kissed my family and sat down at the table. The girls bowed their little heads, said the blessing, and then resumed being the wonderful kids they are.
After dinner I cleaned the kitchen and gave the girls a quick bath. They had the choice of wresslin on the floor or reading bedtime stories. My girls chose wresslin just to have a little more time with daddy before they had to go to bed.
It was a good day yesterday.
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