The Bad Mommy Rides Again
So yesterday was the first day of school. We didn't receive a supply list ahead of time so C and I decided we would go to Staples yesterday afternoon, after he had had a chance to size things up and see what he was going to need. We had several conversations about the arrangements for meeting, all culminating in me ASSURING him that I would be there right on time, right outside his classroom, right after class let out at 2:50.
After dropping him at school (he never looked back and I finally had a year when I didn't cry even a little), I headed over to the Jiffy Lube place to get the oil in the van changed. They told me that in addition to an oil change, I needed brake and transmission fluid and that the battery was on its last legs.
I told them to go ahead with all the fluids but that since I had had absolutely no problem, ever, with the battery, I would wait and pick one up at Sears later. One hour and $150+ later, I was on my way.
I dropped some stuff at the dry cleaners. I drove over and had some hot chocolate and hung out at Dr. Insominia's for a bit. I ran home to get the checkbook I had forgotten and then went and got my hair cut. I ran a couple of other errands. I went down to San Rafael and had a salad and hung out with my buds at Marin Fiber Arts and worked on (surprise!) some socks for awhile.
At 2:15, precisely 35 minutes before I needed to pick C up, I hopped in the van to make the 15-20 minute drive to the school.
The battery was completely dead. It was so dead, the van didn't even make any noise when I turned the key to try to start it. Dead, dead, dead. Really and truly dead.
Never mind that I'd made a number of other stops since the morning diagnosis of near-death. The damn thing chose THIS stop and THIS time to die.
So I called the Little Hub (now also known as the Hero of the Day), who makes it to San Rafael in ten minutes flat, hooks the truck battery up to the van battery and has me on my way in another ten minutes. And I forgot to tip him.
I actually pulled into the school parking lot a mere 4 minutes late. However, I couldn't turn the engine off, I didn't see C and since I DID tell him I would meet him outside the door to his classroom, it meant I had to park and walk over to that part of the school.
So I did what any reasonable person would do on the first day at a brand new school: I parked the van in a STAFF ONLY parking spot, left it running (praying that I wouldn't get busted) and dashed off to find C, who was only a little bit ticked that I was late and was very understanding when I explained why we'd be going to Sears before we went to Staples.
Note to self: Next time, just believe them when they say it's time for a new part. Also: probably not a bad idea to carry jumper cables of my very own. You know - just as a preventative sort of thing.
After dropping him at school (he never looked back and I finally had a year when I didn't cry even a little), I headed over to the Jiffy Lube place to get the oil in the van changed. They told me that in addition to an oil change, I needed brake and transmission fluid and that the battery was on its last legs.
I told them to go ahead with all the fluids but that since I had had absolutely no problem, ever, with the battery, I would wait and pick one up at Sears later. One hour and $150+ later, I was on my way.
I dropped some stuff at the dry cleaners. I drove over and had some hot chocolate and hung out at Dr. Insominia's for a bit. I ran home to get the checkbook I had forgotten and then went and got my hair cut. I ran a couple of other errands. I went down to San Rafael and had a salad and hung out with my buds at Marin Fiber Arts and worked on (surprise!) some socks for awhile.
At 2:15, precisely 35 minutes before I needed to pick C up, I hopped in the van to make the 15-20 minute drive to the school.
The battery was completely dead. It was so dead, the van didn't even make any noise when I turned the key to try to start it. Dead, dead, dead. Really and truly dead.
Never mind that I'd made a number of other stops since the morning diagnosis of near-death. The damn thing chose THIS stop and THIS time to die.
So I called the Little Hub (now also known as the Hero of the Day), who makes it to San Rafael in ten minutes flat, hooks the truck battery up to the van battery and has me on my way in another ten minutes. And I forgot to tip him.
I actually pulled into the school parking lot a mere 4 minutes late. However, I couldn't turn the engine off, I didn't see C and since I DID tell him I would meet him outside the door to his classroom, it meant I had to park and walk over to that part of the school.
So I did what any reasonable person would do on the first day at a brand new school: I parked the van in a STAFF ONLY parking spot, left it running (praying that I wouldn't get busted) and dashed off to find C, who was only a little bit ticked that I was late and was very understanding when I explained why we'd be going to Sears before we went to Staples.
Note to self: Next time, just believe them when they say it's time for a new part. Also: probably not a bad idea to carry jumper cables of my very own. You know - just as a preventative sort of thing.
posted by badmommy | 3:03 PM
1 Comments:
I've been stranded before -- many times actually -- I bought jumper cables. Literally, I can tell you until this past summer, when Prince needed them (and they were in the OTHER car), I've never used them for myself. Now, I've loaned them to others as my act of kindness for the decade, but never needed them. I figure that the battery needs to KNOW there is a large shock its future to stay running.
Missed you last night. It just wasn't the same without you.
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