The day began as any other. The day began better than others. It was a holiday. Also the moon, sun and all 8 planets (or nine if you’re still a fan of Pluto) were in line because Ashlyn slept in until 8:00. I know, amazing. And to top it all off Nonna is visiting, so all parental responsibilities have been abdicated for the next few days anyway. Y’all today started out perfectly.
We headed to DC to visit a little-known summer home of President Lincoln’s. It’s only three miles from the White House, but Lincoln loved going there. We did the one hour tour. Ashlyn behaved…somewhat. We had a lunch at a deli in the area and then headed home. On the way home, in the middle of DC traffic (which was still really busy for a midday on a holiday), Ashlyn coughs and then pukes all over herself. Little ones don’t know when they’re about to hurl. So they cannot warn you. You cannot get a bag and prepare. I guess we shouldn’t have let her eat a whole bag of salt and vinegar potato chips all by herself.
Nonna came to the rescue. I pulled the napkins out of the glove box and just threw them backwards. Nonna got them and started wiping up. That wasn’t it for the poor truck though. There is a shopping area next to our neighborhood and we decided to head to Blockbuster before going home. As Reagan and I were hopping out to run in and grab a movie I turned around and there was smoke billowing out of the engine. Fluid was dumping out the bottom and running all over the parking lot (and all I could think about was, “that’s how I felt when my water broke!”). I was embarrassed for our truck because it’s not a white trash truck. To me it’s still a spry young thing. In reality it is nine years old, which I guess is like 49 in car years.
Here is where I find the blessing in the aggravating and where I’d like to send a huge THANK YOU to God. Somehow our attitudes remained positive through all of this. Du had to stay with the truck while we girls walked home. We only had to walk about half a mile though and we had Ashlyn’s stroller with us, which means I did not have to carry her for half a mile. Our auto shop is only a half mile away as well so Du didn’t have to wait long for the guy to bring some extra fluid to help the truck limp to the shop. If we had not have done the Blockbuster run today then the radiator would have busted tomorrow morning en route to Bible study. And it might not have been a half mile from the repair shop. Oh, and fortunately it was just the whole bag of chips that made Ashlyn sick (well that and a truck that shakes as it idles because it’s getting on up there in age) so we had no more barfing episodes.
The day started out better than others, took a nose dive in the middle, but ended up just fine. Still, I wouldn’t want to repeat it.
Not So SAHM 
We also got to watch Ashlyn’s dance class which was very cute, enjoyed a nice warm mug o’ joe from Starbucks, got to sit on a statue of Abe Lincoln’s horse, put together a puzzle, and enjoy some conversation about “life” with my Mom. There was also the hosing down of the carseat — that was gross; fortunately we have one of those little rubber mats under her seat — awesome!
I love when things happen like that — and you can quickly and easily see just how much worse it could have been.
Poor Ash and that poor truck. It got the double whammy! Hope everyone is better soon.
Way to look at the bright side and the blessings amidst the hard times!