I like to think of myself as a fairly optimistic, keep-your-head-up kind of person, but today was such an icky, stinky, yucky day. I'm convinced that it would test the willpower of anyone.
Abby helped me make cookies this morning. At 8 am. I'm all about making cookies, even in the sun-bathed winter dawn glow, especially if I've already been up for 2 hours and have gotten over my early morning fuzziness. Abby was much help, pulling herself up on my pants, crawling under my feet, demanding to be held, reaching, groping, grasping my 1 c of packed brown sugar and 2 t of baking powder. I claim that you're not a mother until you can rock your kitchen skills with a child on your hip, which means baking with the equivalent of one hand tied behind your back. This was not an altogether unusual or bad part of my day, but in hindsight, it wasn't a bit of a cherry on top of my mountain of woe that was the rest of my day.
After the cookies baked and cooled, and after I proved that they were totally yummy, the terrific twosome that is Mommy and Abby packed up and drove north my friend, north north to the land of Elkhart County. Goshen, IN was our destination come what may to visit a fab friend from college and her super adorable newborn girl. And in fact, what came was drifting snow. Sneaky drifting snow nonetheless!! As in, it seems not problematic. But oh yes oh yes, drifting snow is not something to be taken lightly. What driver who has lived their whole life in IN, or any state that has a general proclivity for snow for that matter, is ever worried or frankly thinks twice about a couple of small patches of random drifting? No one! Not me. I won't cave in to the wrath of the snow gods. I shake my gloved fist at you with defiance!
Alas, the snow gods bet me and bit me good. Thinking back, I still don't really know what happened. I do know that I was definitely not driving what I consider to be fast. I do know that I was aware of the drifting patches. I do know that I had to time to think "Oh no, oh no, oh no..." before sliding off of the road, through a ditch, and then through a fence. Oh no? Oh yes.
Good news: Abby and I are fine, the snow was actually quite cushioning. We didn't flip, which I fleetingly thought that we might. There were no other cars around me on the road, as we were definitely all over both lanes. My car is still drivable. There's enough damage that it's feasible that it will be totalled out by our insurance co. and we can maybe, perhaps upgrade to something that gets more than 10-14 mpg. My car is a bit of a tank...it can totally take on a fence and snap a wooden post with little more than a bump.
Bad news: We just spent $900 on fixing this car a week ago. (Lest you forget, we have also dropped about $700 in Dec./Jan. on the truck.) I managed to break both side mirrors, both headlights, the bumper, the left flood light, the antenna, and some bracket on the underside of the carriage as well as scratching the hood up in the course of about 5 seconds. I totally demolished some guy's fence. I was prominently featured in a police report by the Elkhart Co. sheriff's department today.
And then the lunch I made wasn't that good. And then I find that my maternity leave sub allowed my students to trash my room today (a "going away" party apparently as I'm returning to work on Monday). But that's another post. I'm still pretty miffed about a lot of things that have happened in my absence.
But, regardless of the stinky, not so very good day, I was able to hold THE most adorable 12-day old baby girl that I have ever been around. And I biasedly thought Abby was supremo in this category. Welcome baby Emma. I'm so glad that I was able to meet you today.
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