Yesterday was a really weird day. It was VERY busy, with some nice things, and some not so nice things happening. I won't divulge all, but I will talk about one instance in particular.
My husband had a job interview yesterday (one of the nice things, considering this is a company he's been DYING to get into for years), and he was determined to take public transportation, so he could gauge the amount of time spent riding the "T". He quickly discovered, though, he'd missed his bus, so he showed up back at the house a short time after leaving, asking me to give him a ride.
My youngest daughter and I took him to the front door of the company, then off we went. Since my oldest daughter was staying after school for extra help, I knew I had a small block of time in which to run to the store and pick up a Mother's Day gift for my sister. I drove back to our house, refreshed my daughter's sippy cup and filled a half Baggie full of pretzels and fishies, took her to the potty, then back out the door we went.
I had a good hour (maybe hour and a half) to run and get gas, then head on over to the store to pick up the gift and a card, before I needed to go pick up my oldest daughter from school. While at the gas station, the regular attendant was chatting it up with my daughter in the backseat. Next thing I knew, she'd dumped her ENTIRE Baggie of snacks all over the place... on her, on her carseat, on the seat next to her, and all over the floor in the back. I was beside myself.
We headed off to the store, and I proceeded to lecture (okay, yell) at her about dumping her snack like that. I got even more angry when we arrived at the parking lot of the store, and I had to spend fifteen minutes picking up pretzels and Goldfish before I could even unbuckle her from her carseat.
I calmed down, we entered into the store, I picked out my purchases, paid for them, and off we went to get my other daughter. We picked her up, and then went off to get my son, who'd already come home from school, and was waiting for me at home to take him to our local Boys and Girls Club.
Once we met up with him, I told him we'd have to make a quick detour to the car wash, so I could vaccuum out the back of the car. Since it was a beautiful day outside yesterday, and I knew it would be cold and rainy today, I figured I should do it then. If I was quick about it, I'd still have time to drop my son off, then run back to the company where my husband was interviewing to pick him up in time.
Now, let me fill you in on something else that happened this week (that's not so nice). I was, once again, sitting in my car, waiting for my oldest daughter to get out of school, when I noticed that one of the diamonds fell out of the anniversary ring my husband gave me for our 10th anniversary. I love that ring, and I was devastated when I discovered this loss. My husband and I both spent a few days scouring EVERYTHING... the car, the driveway, my bed, the rugs, the stairways, all the floors... with a fine tooth comb. I finally resigned myself that looking for this thing was like looking for a needle in a haystack, and I had to let it go. If I found it, I found it. If I didn't, well... I'd have to figure out an alternative to get my ring fixed.
So... back to the car wash. The kids were being rambunctious, as usual, which wasn't doing anything to help my already stressed-out mood. So, I figured the quicker I could get this particular task over with, the better off we'd be. Before starting, though, I did take the time to once again examine the both the rugs and the mats in the front of the car. Nothing. So, I thought it would be safe to vacuum everything up, once and for all.
I changed three dollars into a huge handful of quarters, popped four of them into the vacuum I was parked next to, and started vacuuming the passenger side first. Once that side was clean, I flung the vacuum hose through the front door, and into the driver's side seat. I moved around to the backside of the car (trying REALLY hard to ignore my three children, who, by this time, were bouncing off the walls of the car's interior) and grabbed the vacuum. I started to work on the rug under the driver's seat, watching all of the salt, sand, and other debris being sucked up. All of a sudden, a small, shiny, faceted thing, with a point on one end, appeared as if by magic. By the time I said, "Oh my God... my D-I-A..", WHOOSH! It went... sucked up into the vacuum! I tried so hard to move the nozzle of the vacuum away in time, but I was too late.
My kids, who obviously heard me screaming, thought I'd found my diamond and were overjoyed. They quickly discovered where my beautiful little jewel wound up, and we all rushed to get the attendant, to see if he could rescue my lost gem.
He opened up the barrel of the vacuum, and he and I began the not-so-lovely process of sorting through all the muck (mine as well as everyone else's) that had been deposited inside. We rooted and rooted, and came up empty. I felt like a dirty, scummy mess. I also felt like crying.
It just KILLED me to drive off without my diamond in hand. He did promise me though, that would continue to look, and call me if he was successful. He handed me a pad of paper and a pen, and I wrote down my telephone number, my name, and "The Crazy Diamond Lady". I only hope my prophecy comes true!
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