You know your day isn't going well when . . . .

Friday, March 28, was a day for the record books.

Karl reminded me on Thursday night that I needed to get gas in my car.  The fuel message read 45 miles to E.  Not to worry, I could get to my office and back on 25 miles to E.

My day began with a meeting at Lincoln Elementary School.  As usual, I took the "back way" route to Lincoln through a joint parking lot shared by the Jones Center.  Today, however the shared access gate connecting the two parking lots was chained and locked.  Not a problem, I decided to park at the Jones Center and just walk through the locked gate through the parking lot to one of the back doors into the school.  I was a little bummed that all of the back doors on the parking lot side of the school were locked (student non attendance day).  So, I walked to the front of the school, entered the one and only open door and proceeded down the long hallway nearly all the way to the back parking, 10-15 minutes late for the meeting.  There wasn't a chair for me ( the late comer) in the back of the room, so there was a big commotion and disruption in the meeting just to get me a chair.  Arrggg!!!!!!

Following the meeting at Lincoln Elementary, I headed to the district office for another meeting. I stopped at McDonald's for a Diet Coke on the way. The time in my office was busy but pretty uneventful.

Around 4:15, I talked to Karl and told him I was just about ready to head for home.  I pulled out of the parking lot around 4:25 and headed north on Main Street toward 2100 South.  As I approached the intersection of 2100 S Main Street, my car sputtered a little bit.  I didn't think much about it until the engine died.  I attempted to restart the car when it hit me -- out of gas. Rats! Why didn't I remember to stop and get gas at some point during the day!

Seeing a gas station just through the intersection (a few 100 feet), I so hoped that with any luck my car would make it there on fumes.  Sadly, no such luck :(

Embarrassed???  Absolutely!!!  Humiliated????  Yes!!!!  Call for help???  Absolutely not!!!

So, I turned the emergency flashers on, got out of my nice little Flex car and walked to the Shell Gas Station/Supersonic Car Wash on the NW corner of the intersection.  Once there, I approached a few workers asking if they had a gas can I could use because I had run out of gas in the intersection (I pointed to my car sitting patiently in the left turn lane with the flashers blinking).  They looked at me confused and got someone to help me who could speak English.  The English speaking worker chuckled as he fumbled through a few things in the back of the car wash building and came to my rescue with a gas can.  One of the Spanish speaking workers offered to help me.  I gladly accepted his offer even though I couldn't understand him nor him me.  I filled the can with gas and the worker and I walked to my car.  We couldn't get the gas into the tank.  Apparently there is a latch inside the gas tank area that can only be released by a gas pump nozzle.  Hmmmm . . . what do we do now?  I walked to the Jiffy Lube on the SW corner of 2100 S Main Street.  There were three workers there trying to keep their composure knowing full well my situation.  One Jiffy Lube worker decided to help.  I made him promise not to tell anyone, especially my husband.  He got a screw driver (you can fix anything with a screw driver) and after a few attempts at trying to break the fuel pipe thing, he and the car wash worker were able to release the latch inside the fuel area and pour the gas into the tank.  I told them not to share my story with anyone!  I was embarrassed and didn't want anyone to relish in my stupidity.  I drove to the Shell station where I felt obligated to pay the $3.42 price tag for gas (the most expensive gas around).

I eventually made it home - 30-40 minutes later than expected.  Karl didn't say anything about my later than expected arrival.  Whew!  By this time, he was hungry so we decided to go to Red Robbin for a hamburger.  (We drove separately because I planned to visit Dad and he wanted to get back home to watch basketball games.  Had we driven together, he would have asked me about getting gas.  Dodged an awkward conversation!)  We were seated at Red Robbin and had our Diet Cokes when the restaurant manager approached us and wanted to ID us for drinks?  What???  First of all, I think we look old enough to buy drinks that require an ID and second, we had our Diet Cokes in full view.  Go figure - he had the wrong table.  Embarrassing for us and him!

Needless to say, the day came to an end without any additional awkward and unfortunate events.  I haven't told anyone about my not so good Friday; I do however, want it recorded for posterity that every once in awhile I fall flat into a series of weird, embarrassing situations or events.  If you are reading this blog post, laugh a little and know that stupid is as stupid does.  I just hope the next time my day isn't going very well, I check the fuel tank message before there are no fumes left in the car.

The end!

It's in their eyes . . .

Even wonder if my children are related?  Just look at how the squint their eyes!

What to write about . . .

I haven't written much about anything but the mission and the missionary for awhile.  Not sure there's much else going on around here.  Karl and I have been "empty nesters" for 13 days now, and to be honest, it is very different.  We've been married for a long time (yes, it's a miracle that it's lasted this long).  Annie was born in 1978 and for the past 35+ years we have had a child/children living in our home with us.  We have given 110% to our kids and their upbringing -- no fancy vacations away from them, no "dates" without them, always there for them.  Needless to say they are turning out ok.  And, even though we have a full house for Sunday dinner every week and our home is always open to any and all, it's an adjustment to go from some to none.

I think one of our secrets to parenting success over the years has been pushing our kids through tough situations and helping them grow from disappointment. Mind you, we push(ed) with them; side by side and involved. 

For example, Annie thought she was a failure at AP Calculus and that I was an ogre for making her stick with it.  The teacher was not the most positive and instilled little confidence in her abilities.  For some reason, we worked through the tough homework assignments and hours of anxiety and stress and by the end of the school year, the teacher sheepishly admitted that Annie would like pass the AP test if she were to take it.  I didn't make her take the test; and by sticking it out in the class for the entire year she benefited in so many ways.

Haley excelled academically (and still does).  Her challenges were more emotionally charged.  She struggled with going to school and as the anxiety of a new week, a new term, a new year in school came around we took her emotions a step at a time.  We plowed through the ups and downs together with notes back and forth from teacher to mom and back.  We set goals and work hard to reach them, together.  She still gets emotional about school on Sunday nights, but she has made huge progress.

When Willie tried out for the 7th grade basketball team, he got cut.  He was devastated.  He recorded his feelings  in a blog post which includes his 7th grade problem-solving process:

So the bottom line is that when things appear tough for your kids, don't succumb to their level of emotion.  Rather, help them through the situation or circumstance that brings them down and gets in their way and help them to set goals to improve, to move forward, to do better and to be better.  It's worth the effort and both you and your kids will be the beneficiaries. 

I like the quote Willie included in his blog - "Disappointment, when it involves neither shame nor loss, is as good as success . . . "

One week down and 103 to go!

Last Tuesday, Willie was 100% ready to serve!  The image is a screen shot from the MTC homepage.

Then on Wednesday, we wasted time singing to the ukulele and then we headed to Provo!

Delivered our son to the MTC -- as documented on the car monitor at 12:52 p.m. - 8 minutes early!

Now just waiting for correspondence!