one upping Alexander

Yes, that Alexander. 

For my recentish 32nd (!!!) birthday I asked for Simon to be okay with the dining room being painted white (it was a terribly depressing shade of angry sky blue and since there are no windows in the dining room it was dark and yes, depressing) and then asked that he actually paint the dining room white himself. Low maintenance wife.

I also asked for three months of exercise classes (barre, specifically ... it's very difficult - for me, at least) because in addition to being low maintenance I'm also a super fun individual. SO ... I've been hitting up the classes at 6am on the days Simon's schedule allows and yesterday was one of those days. And it was also (shockingly) pouring rain. I'll blame the rain but on my way home I decided to not take the interstate, "in case there was an accident that held up traffic" (see: retrospective irony and you know where this is heading, right?) and I encountered a bit of a hydroplaning situation when slip and slam .. right into the car in front of me. Fun little wreck to get the day started off on the right wheel. We were both fine. The Odyssey took the hit like a champ and her car suffered very minor damage, thankfully.

Anyway, my victim called the police and we sat in our respective vehicles on the side of the road and waited. And waited. And waited in the still pouring rain. After an hour, I swam over to her driver's side window to see if we could just exchange information because Simon needed to get to work and I think we'll wait until Julia is at least five to leave her home in charge of everyone and she all but told me to talk to the hand and said I was welcome to call the cops myself.

Alright.

I hopped back into my vehicular waiting room and suddenly remembered that my license had expired on my birthday. And then! The van died. The rain ... it was still pouring. Simon didn't think he could get out of the driveway to come get me because our street was flooded (and eventually closed later that day) and his car seats five ... not five car seats + one adult driver SO .... I realized I was very much up a literal and figurative creek and tried real hard not to cry too hard lest the (remained to be seen) cop think I was both an unlicensed hazard to the good drivers of Tampa and mentally unstable.

This is a stupid story but I'm not about to throw away all of this wasted typing. Precious finger muscle exertion and all of that.

The cop eventually showed up and wrote up the report and the other lady was on her merry way. The cop told me I needed to get off the side of the road slash rising river asap. I explained that the van was dead and no-can-do and she (kindly) offered to drive me home (in the back seat - she made that clear, which cracked me up) but I'd already called a cab (Sheeagle Scout like survival skills, that Grace) and so off she drove. Until! She turned around and came back. In the pouring rain and jumped my car which started just fine. God bless her. I might even forgive her for citing me for driving sans license.

Kidding.

No forgiveness here.

Kidding again.

Anyway. Morals of the story ...

1) exercise is dumb and potentially dangerous
2) I can never pound out a post without a series of progeny photos ...

outfitted for the rain but staying put on the porch ... just in case those boots were put to their intended use

unscripted. always.



Phoebe kisses back. Sort of.

All's well.

I just had to get that off my chest and into my eventual archives so that I could relive the sunny memory in the near or distant future and maybe even laugh instead of cry. Someday. Maybe.