One of those days

Yesterday was beyond weird.  I should have known it would be a full day of weird when it started off with my running buddy getting hit by a car.  2 steps in front of me.  In a crosswalk.   2 steps from the curb.  At a fairly well lit intersection.  Wearing reflective clothing and a flashing light up thing on top of that.  Seriously.

Everyone at the emergency room wanted to tell us what we should be doing differently next time except we’re actually following all the handy dandy running safety advice.  We run at 6 am two days a week.  It’s dark.   We’d prefer to not end up in a wheelchair so we make an effort.  

Didn’t matter.  The guy was super sorry but flat out said he wasn’t paying attention when he turned the corner.  He also happened to be going too fast so there wasn’t time for us to see him and leap out of the way or for him to stop when he realized his mistake.   There was one hot second that was barely enough time for me to scream in horror and then it was over.   Short of carrying an air horn and a strobe light and doing a full wind sprint from one side of the street to the other I’m not sure what more we’re supposed to do.

 It could just as easily have been me that got hit by the car instead of her or both of us for that matter.  The fact that I am slow and lazy finally paid off for a change.  It’s also probably for the best that she got hit instead of me. Not because I want anyone hit by anything but she is apparently made of rubber because she was attempting to stand up like 20 seconds after it happened. Had I been hit by a moving vehicle, you may rest assured I’d end up with 2 broken legs and laid out on the cement for an extended period curled in the fetal position weeping. 

Robo Indestructible Female did at least look shell shocked.  But that’s because she hit her head really hard on the cement after falling after being hit by the aforementioned car.  That got her a giant goose egg and a trip to the ER.  Her entire body is banged up but she lived to tell the tale.  And the cop that took the police report must be a runner because his parting question was to ask if we went ahead and finished our run.  I told him we knocked out the last 2 miles before heading to the Emergency Room.  Obviously.  Not. 

And if there’s an emergency room involved, it should come as no surprise I got to work late afterwards.   But I managed to get there halfway through a Christmas celebration.  I’m thinking, good job getting here for a fun once a year event.  Except the event is usually one part fun and one part work and I showed up just in time for the 1 part work and the refreshments were gone and so was the illusion of fun.

Mostly what I got out of it was a crick in my neck from the annoyingly uncomfortable chairs.  If I had just finished shoveling Christmas goodies down my gullet, I suspect I might have felt less Grinch-ish about the neck pain.   But I didn’t so I don’t.

It took me another hour to actually get to my desk.  There was some post meeting chatter about some actual work related crap.  Then I had like 12 people want to know if Robo Indestructible Female was still alive after getting hit by the car so naturally I had to run my yap telling that tale repeatedly.

I finally get to my desk, read some email and began contemplating try to accomplish some things.  And then I notice the ringer is off on my phone and that as a result I missed the call from the school nurse to tell me my 10 year old has an ear ache.

I wish I had video of the horror inside my head as my brain went into overdrive thinking I’d left my first born child wallowing in pain for a full hour because that’s how long it had been since I missed the call.   I'm sure the school nurse thinks I'm mother of the year.  She assured me she would have called more than once if it was serious.  I assured her I'm a total failure as a mother.

The school nurse eased my mind that we didn't have anything life threatening going on.  Ear ache and the kid felt okay going back to class and hadn’t been back to the nurse’s office.  But the guilt was taking its toll so I put my purse on my shoulder and headed off to rescue my baby. 

The kid with the ear ache demonstrating her hula hoop prowess at a school event later that night.  3 hoops at once.  I feel obligated to tell you she once won 1st place in hula hooping at her school field day.  She is no one to be trifled with.  Just sayin'.

My baby did not, however, require rescuing which she explained to me along with a lengthy dissertation on why she wanted to go ahead and go to dance that afternoon as well as hitting a school event on the way home from dance.   The guilt nodded and agreed to her plan.

On the way to dance we hit random horrific traffic.  In the dance parking lot we discovered 3 fire trucks with the lights on and a ladder on the building next door.  Three fully suited up firemen were up there investigating something on the roof.  The fireman manning the ladder assured us there was no need for concern. 

They served crack at the school event.  There can be no other explanation for this level of excitement over a hula hoop.

For all I know he was some random guy walking by but he seemed official so the world’s greatest mother sent her kid with an ear ache into the dance studio despite the parking lot commotion.  Drove home a different way and ran into yet more horrific traffic including 2 car accidents. The school event was a loud zoo.  There were corny dogs for dinner.  And then the world’s greatest mother put on her pajamas and laid her lazy butt down and didn’t get up again.

Some days you’re just glad when it’s pj time.    It was one of those days.