Have you ever had those days
- kg
- Jun 8, 2020
- 4 min read
Friday the girls participated in a peaceful organized demonstration for Black Lives Matter. Like so many others, this has weighed heavily upon us all and this opportunity to show support was important. Our hopes are so fragile as we embark on what we want to be a true movement for change in our country.
We had planned to go up north Friday but put it off. We are all trying to get our heads around living in a pandemic, trying to open back up -- what that means socially, with many friends -- and a very overdue recognition of the inequality and injustice our society has perpetuated for years that is finally coming to what looks like a spark to light possible change.
A normal Saturday -- heading out to the cottage - nobody’s on the same pace to leave. This is typical in our household of five people, two dogs. Andre was going to go with the dogs in the old Lexus (225,000+ miles) that I was worried was unreliable, although after he did a little drive around, decided it was okay and reassured me it was good to go. I got ready early so our timing happened to match up -- we packed up the dogs and were out for the first round. The girls followed shortly after accompanied by a hamster that Ella is currently on board to watch for a friend.
Andre and I have a pleasant, mellow drive. We have to stop along the way -- we're incredibly hungry and the car is almost out of gas. We stop for turkey deli sandwiches at Arby’s — probably my only and absolutely favorite fast food treat. There’s a long line at Arby’s but we decide to wait — why not? The line at Arby’s moves fast — for the first time the order was perfect and we drive over to our next stop, BP, to gas up. My back is killing me so at the gas station, after we eat our sandwiches, I take a little walk while Andre gasses up. About 10 minutes later, we get a call from the girls. While driving on I96W, they hit a deer. Maya seems very calm, starting the conversation with, “Well, we have a big problem.” I honestly think that every hard sentence should start with "well" -- for some reason this seems calming to me. She’s super in control and I’m impressed. They are all okay except Caroline is really sad about the deer, and Ella has her foster “comfort animal” to get her through the anxiety of a car/deer collision. Apparently the deer, upon impact, flew up onto the hood of the car. Oy. That just sounds horrible.
Maya calls 911, the police arrive and soon after, the tow truck driver.
Andre and I are close to the cottage, have the two dogs, a leaf blower — whatever, stuff in the car. We speed up, drop the dogs, get them water and head back out to get the girls. They have been left in a Meijer parking lot with bags of food and the foster gerbil by the nice tow truck man who upon meeting them at the incident had asked, “what would you like to do with the deer?” Maya, currently vegetarian and knowing full well that we would never know how to cook venison, replies that they don’t want it. I think she should have offered it to him for a 10 percent discount on the tow -- do you know it is an automatic $350 just for a highway tow? I mean, we get it -- more dangerous, etc. but geesh -- so glad I'm not in charge of the bills and our insurance is tight.
We get to the parking lot, fully relieved that our children are safe. Thank you God. We load up the perishables (which we had sent with them because I still wasn’t convinced as we left that the Lexus was super healthy), the kids, the hamster, and off we go. We are just all relieved and blissfully separating ourselves from what could have been a horrific outcome. We turn off Shelby Road onto a somewhat still under construction Scenic Drive and Andre hits a pothole. Thunk, but still fine. We get to Deerwood (our street) and turn in. The car stops. It utterly, super convincingly stops. Andre and I get out to check out a suspicious sound of unrest underneath the car and I find of chunk of metal. He adamantly suggests we put the car in neutral and coast it on down our curvy kind of hilly almost a mile drive that at certain points passes over a really STEEP ravine and let it just cruise into our driveway. I’m thinking this isn’t such a good idea. He tries to move the car again and another chunk of metal falls from the engine-y part of the car. He agrees that we should push it to the very convenient nook space that is next to our mailboxes and out of everyone’s way. The girls unload their stuff from the car and begin walking the long drive to our place of respite and peace. We arrive carless but in tact and I can’t tell you how blessed and fortunate I felt at that moment. Sure we were down 2 cars in one day — but we were all healthy, unharmed, and I was so so grateful for our good luck. Not only did the girls survive their accident unscathed, but the Lexus actually got us all the way to them -- and then made it back to Shelby and died in exactly the right spot. I definitely know there are bigger plans at play in the universe on days like these.
Given the current state of our every day life, I feel grateful for each day we have to give to each other, mend, reach out, and continue along this journey with all of its crazy ups and downs.
Wishing you all well!
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