This week has been a hot mess. Ok, so today is only Wednesday after a Monday holiday, but still! Yesterday was a nut cluster and today wasn't much better.
After cleaning up mice droppings in a co-workers desk (day two of cleaning little pebble trails) and leaving work ten minutes later than planned, I sped down the street to pick up my son, when I remembered that I had forgotten to pay his summer camp fee for the week and still had to pick up my daughter for her 5:30 pm physical therapy appointment. I went inside, waited fifteen minutes and paid the fee only to have them realize they had charged me twice. No biggie, they were trying to serve me and they were twenty minutes late leaving from their own workday. After all that, I went to sign my son out of camp and proceeded to the car. I had just mentioned to him that I we had to hurry because my daughter's appointment was right then.
Right on cue, the ice cream truck drives by. You know my son was hankering for that ice cream! But I couldn't make us any later so I had to say no. Meanie Mommy! I started up the car and drove thru the park and into the adjacent neighborhood only to see another ice cream truck drive by. I guess summer has officially arrived.
As I drove home to pick my daughter up, she phoned to remind me that she had church tonight. I knew the master schedule in my mind and was trying to keep an even keel so that I wasn't fussing about where we had to be at what time. I politely told her she had physical therapy for which she was gong to be late as it was. She reminded me again that she had planned to "teach" the junior high kids tonight. I reminded her that I had to drop her off, get my headlight fixed, get gas, pick her up & take her to the church, pick up groceries, feed her brother & pick her up again before I was ever going to make it home tonight. On cue, the cell rang. It was the PT office asking where we were. When I told them we were one minute away, they asked to reschedule. Ok, I just figured I would roll with the punches. I had enough to do and could certainly fill that time slot. I'd just mentally shift the "calendar" around a bit. When we scheduled the appointment for the next morning at 8:30 am, I was mentally trying to figure out how I was going to get her there when I had to be at work by 8 am. You know that this is every mom's frustration, trying to be in five places at once. Mucho suckage!
All of a sudden, my sixteen year old daughter threw a fit because the new appointment time was going to cut into her Six Flags trip with her youth group. And...as any mental patient would do, I lost it all. I pulled into a farmer's drive and gave her the rundown of the schedule with both barrels fully loaded. Never one of my finest moments.
As I wound down the lecture, I drove toward the gas station and pulled up to the pump. My son jumped out to pump the gas just so I would stop talking. That is one smart boy!
Here is the most interesting part of the whole story: After I finished gassing up and we pulled out of the side street and onto the four-lane divided highway, a momma duck and her infant ducklings were crossing the road! I blocked traffic for the two lanes on my side to let her get her babies to the median. As I reached the next turn-around, I turned back towards her and stopped in the turn lane closest to her. My daughter immediately got out to shoo the ducks toward their destination as I attempted to block the on-coming traffic. Those dang ducks decided they didn't want to cross, they wanted to waddle all over the other side! So, my daughter and I followed the momma duck. As my child shooed them towards the side of the road, all of them hissed and tried to attack her. Talk about trying to bite the hand that saves you! Meanwhile, I was stopping traffic and trying to direct people towards the other lane. Thank God I did not get hit, because no one paid me any attention. They must have thought I was drunk!
After all of this hullaballoo, my daughter finally got them to find their way to the right side of the road from whence they came. Of the two cars that actually slowed, one dude said he thought I was corraling a peacock until he got a good look at the babies. What was he smoking? We don't have random peacocks on the street here! If it had been a peacock, I would have let him handle his business with his big pokey butt feathers.
The other lady just said, "Thanks for what you did, that was cool." I choked back tears. I didn't expect that.
Who knew that a momma duck and her babies were going to teach me a lesson in humility, love and sticking your neck out for others without a thought for yourself in the midst of "busyiness"? Them are ducks!
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