14 Fir Street: Getting out the door was a feat in its self

I never thought it would have been so hard to just leave. I expected they delay just because Jay can't get out the door in the mornings. This is a constant frustration each Sunday as the kids and I set in the car waiting to go to church only hear him say okay I am gonna take a quick shower! So I had no illusions that my 7am leaving dream or even 8 am last hope would probably not come true. But I tried. I had to work the night before our trip which put me home after 4 in the morning. That was okay I figured I could sleep in the truck on the way and we could still be out the door pretty early making it to Philadelphia for and a recommended Italian restaurant. I had been calling Jay all night checking up on him. Making sure the kids were bathed, asleep and the truck was packed. Every time I called I got the same answer "Brendan is being fussy and I am walking him around. I will pack the stuff later." That is ABSOLUTLY not what I wanted to hear. Please tell me the truck is packed and I am going to early so I can cheerfully wake up and drive to the beach. And yes Karen the kids finished all their school work for the week, Gregory even learned the next few weeks verses, and both kids are now accomplished swimmer. Wishful thinking.

No my reality was some things were packed, many meals were made a head of time, thank you, but there was a lot to be done in the morning and my family was asleep everywhere. I found bodies in the beds, on the floor, sitting on the couch. I was so tired myself I just put people where they belong and went to bed. I did wake up early. I started getting the kids ready very quickly and throwing stuff in the truck. jay was moving around but not fast enough for, he is never fast enough for me though. I should get used to this but I have just took up lying to him instead. Very often I will tell him we need to be there at this time so we can make it there but the real time. It usually works but not on Sunday when he knows the real time we need to be there and even the later time we can be there because we never are ready for the time we should be there. You can start to see this really bothers me.

Anyways I had thrown the children into the truck for two reasons
1 to motivate Jay
2 to keep them out of the way as we loaded everything up.
We did pack everything up checked the house and checked again. It seemed good we were actually ready! The kids cheered enthusiastically, I smiled from ear to ear. I was so ready for a vacation so ready to go to the beach. Even ready to play a few hands and win big so the rest of our lives would be a permanent vacation. Jay and I both got into the truck put the key into the ignition and...click click. Nothing! Devastated. I knew where this was going and uff da. Not good. We tried again and click click. The battery was dead. How were we going to jump our big monster truck?

The car was there and since I had just got home the battery was charged. But the truck was in a weird spot. Not leaving us any room to pull the car around to jump it. After a bit of frustration we decided to bring the car through the neighbors yard to jump the monster truck with the cutest itty bitty jumper cables you have ever seen. The battery was covered in battery acid but after my husband amazing knowledge of how to clean it, neutralize it, and connect the cables the truck started up with a might roar. Yes we were gonna be able to go! I was apprehensive about this battery so we were going to go get a new one then be on our way. That's okay a set back but we are still going just a little later, a lot later than I wanted.

We went to move the car and tragedy. In driving through the neighbors yard we had high centered the and it was stuck. We could not push it we could not prop the tires, it had to be towed out of there. Jay beyond mad ready to give up. Me upset but very quite, the children curious and not understanding what is going on. We drove to Walmart and it did not have a tire section. Jay even more mad by the minute showing in the escalating speed of the truck drove us the LONG way to another Walmart. They had a tire section we got a battery and through more trials got it replaced in the truck. No time to deal with the car.

We towed it out of the yard. Not thinking twice hopped in the truck and were finally ready to go. And with three quick bathroom visits, each drawling more frustration we left. Glad to be on the road.

We drove, we were happy and on our way to the beach. Relieved, starting to laugh a little about the situation but still a little to soon still a little to sour and now it was 1 o'clock but we were going.