Change of Plans

I should have known leaving at 7:15 wouldn’t get us to school early enough that morning. With an unexpected inch of snow – maybe – the roads just weren’t prepared. We crawled along 40, took some detours, quickly deposited Yali at the Big House where Carrie-Bri was waiting for him with a fire in the wood stove, picked up Mom, and drove east in a hurry. Just to learn that the school field trip to the Symphony had been canceled due to poor road conditions.

Probably a good idea. Even as we pulled into my folks’ subdivision that morning, we saw a mini van get plastered in the lane right next to us – explosion of metal and plastic. An unfortunate combination of ice, probably driving too fast, and not looking both ways at an intersection, I guess. Fortunately no one seemed to be hurt. And probably because we’d already witnessed that roll-over crash back in October, Puck wasn’t bothered by the wreck this time.

So instead of hushing a row of rowdy 3rd grade boys during Beethoven’s 9th, I spent my morning up at school doing some odd jobs while Mom served up hot dogs in the cafeteria for lunch.

When Oxbear walked through the door that evening, it was about one minute too soon for Yali. His daddy coming home is just about one of his favorite events of the day – aside from picking Puck up from school – and part of that welcome home celebration is being able to run outside down the driveway to greet him at the car. When he realized that Oxbear had beat him to the door, he sat down in a heap and wailed.

And Puck got his long-awaited bacon and eggs dinner that night, which sent off smoke detectors in the kitchen and basement. Because those things apparently just don’t appreciate the smell of cooked pig.