This Morning... Parts 1 & 2

PART 1:
Today was a very exciting, bitter-sweet, emotional roller coaster sort of morning. To start it off, it was my sweet little E's first ever day of kindergarten. Here starts the last phase he enters before being a grown up and leaving home. I know I know, this phase lasts 13 years, but still.... He has been my job for the last 5 years. Now, he is also someone else's job.
Giving up some of my time with him is hard, very hard. Even though kindergarten is only 2 1/2 hours long.
It was an extremely exciting day for him, and he absolutely LOOVVED it. I have been feeling very bitter-sweet about the whole thing for quite some time, but was actually only excited dropping him off! I didn't want to leave, but of course, it's the thing to do... so eventually I left.
As soon as I closed the class room door behind me I realized I was starting to cry. So hoping Ben would get Ezra, I ran out to the car so no one would see me!
(It doesn't help being pregnant and all, on the emotions you know....)
He was such a big boy and came home tired out and in love with kindergarten and all the year has to bring.
I love this boy!



PART 2:
While E was at school, I figured Ez and I would go pick up some groceries to get out of the house. I didn't want to sit at home and wish time away, and I knew Ez could use something 'special' so off we went.
Dumb me. We took the 'scenic route' to check up on all the rain we've been having and how some certain, ahem, properties we have a specific liking to may or may not be flooded.
Not flooded.
Cool.
Off we go to the store. And then, wow, it sure gets muddy right in front of us. K, crazy muddy. Should I turn around? No, I'm not turning around because the car will get dirty, it's raining anyway, may as well just go. And the traction control starts kicking in and I brake ever so slightly to slow us down, and the anti-lock brakes kick in. Geez, it's like driving on ice! I say to myself. So I keep going, just trying to stay on the road because I'm really sliding all over the place and don't really have any control of the car, but the road is wide and as long as I don't stop I shouldn't get stuck....
Until, that is, the car slides over towards the shoulder, where it's REALLY muddy. (Technically speaking, it's mostly cow crap on the road, not mud, thanks to the huge farm right there that must be spreading their manure and not caring about what they do to the road.... thanks a lot!) And, I get stuck. In the mostly cow crap, some mud pleasant mixture.
I try to get myself unstuck- you know, put it in reverse, accelerate, then when releasing the gas and it rocks forward you quick put it in drive and try and go forward to work with the momentum of the car. Ya, worked somewhat for a little bit, but then I was just digging the tires in deeper and deeper, and not moving at all.
So, I turned the car off and assessed what I could do.
Ben's at work in the city an hour away, nothing he can do.
My brother! Maybe I'll call my brother and see if he can possibly drive his truck over and help me out.
Go to get my phone, battery is dead. (Good forethought, self!)
Okay, looks like me, my 6 month pregnant belly, and my 1 3/4 year old will have no choice but to walk out of this mess to the nearest farm (that is also responsible for the mess) and ask for help.
So, I open the door and look down. Yummy. And I also, by the way, wore flip flops today.
I get out, get Ez out and make him let me carry him. We're walking along and each step I take the "mud" is completely going over the tops of my feet to my ankles and I'm having to literally flex my feet and pull hard so that when I step up, my shoe will stay attached to my foot, making the delicious scchhloooop sound. When Ez squirms to try and get down, we almost fall over because my feet are both stuck and I can't to anything to balance myself. So I firmly tell him he needs to stay still or we'll both fall, and surprisingly, he listens!
(On a side note, this made me fall ever so much more deeply in love with him than I already am!)
He lays his sweet little head on my shoulder and just sits still while we drudge through this together.
We make it to the farm yard, and knock. Wait.... No answer.
Great.
Now the only option is to walk about 1 1/2 miles down the country highway. My sister-in-law's parents have a farm up there, and I only pray they're home!
Also, going through my mind this whole time is that E needs to get picked up from school in just over an hour and I need to be back in time to do that!
So, my pregnant belly makes a good seat for my 1 3/4 year old to sit on while I walk us down the highway. (I do not recommend carrying a 27 lb child while being pregnant for this far, by the way! Oh my stomach muscles are sore!!!)
I start wondering if I should flag someone down for help, but the idea of asking a total stranger for a ride while I have my baby with me doesn't seem like the most responsible thing to do. So, we walk.
I told myself I wouldn't flag anyone down, but if someone stopped and asked if I needed help, then I'd assess....
A mile later, a truck pulls up to us and a very nice man asks if we need help. I said actually, we would love some help, I'm just trying to get to the next farm up to call for help because my car is stuck.
He said he has boots and a tow rope in the back of his truck, and can help us out no problem.
So, in we go. On the way back, he said he passed by us once, and when he got up ahead thought it was weird seeing me walking down the highway carrying a baby and that he felt bad for not stopping, so he turned back around.
Oh I cried to myself for this man. He physically laid down in the mess to get the tow rope around the chassis of my car, talk about being a gracious person!
Then Ez and I got back into our car (had to walk through the mess AGAIN- thankfully only a few steps this time!) and tried to work our car with his truck as he was pulling. Would have worked great were the roads not so crappy. As soon as our car started to move, it slipped sideways right into the ditch. Like all the way into the ditch. Our hood was in the bull rushes. Nice....
He tries to get us out a bunch more, wasn't working....
He got out and said we'd try one more time and if it didn't work, we'd have to go get a tractor.... And I know that will take a while, and I now have 30 minutes until E's out of school and needs to be picked up.
So he gunned it, and he backed up to my bumper, and floored it and it jerked on our car, and I floored it into reverse, and we danced like that 5 or 6 times, and then, the car yanked out of the ditch and we were flying 40 miles an hour in reverse while he's trying to get us out of the mess and keep us from sliding sideways back into the ditch.
Not a good feeling, by the way, to go that fast in reverse while a big truck is pulling you and you're just praying they know what they're doing!
But, he did know what he was doing, and we were out safe and sound!!
And I wish I could relay to that man how truly grateful I am for his servant's heart and willingness to stop his day and whatever he was on his way to do just so he could lay in cow crap and get himself and his truck completely filthy so I could get my car out of the ditch.
It's so humbling to have a reminder that there are some truly good people, not just good because you know them, but willing-to-lay-in-cow-crap-for-a-stranger good.

About an hour later it was pouring down sheets, sheets, I tell you. Like you couldn't see what was in front of you because of how hard it was coming down. It only rained like that for a few minutes, but I realized how thankful I was that it was not that kind of weather when we were out walking!

And, it's amazing how having a little adventure like that with my little sweet Ez made me just fall head over heels in love with him. As we're walking and I'm carrying him, I could tell the wind was bothering his ear because he had his hand over it, so I switched him to my other side and he immediately laid his head on my shoulder and said "thank you, momma." Oh I love him!