I love writing so much and, frankly, the days that I don't get to do it feel very long to me. I also have three children who I adore more than anything. Sometimes it can be hard to balance the two. One of the ways that I handle this is that I have some help in the house. For several years now, a woman named Cathy (also known as Saint Cathy to me) has come to help me with the cleaning and to help me take care of the kids. I'm very, very lucky to have her.
In the middle of the night, the phone rang and it was the schools informing me they'd be closed today due to the terrible weather, which meant that all three children would be home with me all day. In other circumstances, perhaps we could go out but other than the backyard, the weather makes it really impossible to do anything else.
My husband still had to go to work, thus leaving me entirely on my own with the three boys. No big deal. Cathy was coming. 7:30 AM the phone rang and it was Cathy. The buses were not running and she couldn't get here. My heart stopped. If she didn't come, there would be NO writing today.
"Don't worry, Cathy," I bravely informed her. "I'll pick you up."
My husband raised an eyebrow at my sudden bout of bravery as I ran through the kitchen to the garage. How hard could it be? She only lives one town over?
The first part of my journey went quite smoothly. My own town was well plowed. The streets, while still snowy, were easily driven over. Then I crossed the border into the next town. They had clearly not plowed.
This amazed me because that town is the town with the hospital in it. Wouldn't it make sense to, say, plow the roads by the hospital? (I'm just sayin...)
I pushed on and even through the unplowed streets, my little mini-van prevailed (yes I have a mini-van. 3 kids, as mentioned before. Also 2 dogs and 2 cats, in my life I never know what I have to transport.) to make it. I found Cathy.
She got in the car, followed by another woman. Her friend Jacki who works at the diner in my town. Would I mind taking Jacki to the diner? I actually know Jacki. She is my favorite waitress at my favorite diner. I hadn't actually known that they knew each other. Okay. Sure. We all get in the car.
Back onto the unplowed roads we go. I'm making it, slowly, over the snow and the ice. When up ahead I see what I dread. Two cards stuck in the snow who have clearly hit each other. No one seems hurt but traffic has STOPPED. I look at my watch. Half-an-hour til husband has to go to work. He is not going to be pleased if I am not home as he, had I consulted with him, would have informed me not to get in the car to go get Cathy.
What are we going to do? Three men exit a car in front of me, shovel in hand. They start to dig. Another man from the SUV behind me comes out. He's going to push. Sirens sound behind us as a police car arrives. The officer gets out. He also has a shovel. They all get to work digging and pushing the two dented cars away from each other. Finally they prevail. With a groan, one car sputters away from the other.
Traffic starts moving--slowly--down the block and after quickly dropping Jacki off at the diner, we return home just in time for husband to leave to go to work. The kids are ecstatic. Cathy, their favorite playmate, has arrived.
Just a few minutes ago, as I was discussing my oldest son's video game with him (he made it to the last castle on the level of Mario he played) she came into the room. "Let's let Mommy work for a little while." He nodded and went with her to play.
Was it worth it? Oh yes. My current work in progress, requires a little TLC from me and thanks to Cathy and a lot of luck this morning I am able to get it done. Nothing like a little adventure to get the blood pumping first thing in the morning!
