Bad Hair Day!

My husband and I got caught in the rain today. It’s been a long time since that’s happened. By the time we briskly walked the short distance from the pool to our apartment we were drenched beyond the drenching of the pool where we had been swimming only moments earlier. Now laughing, we wondered if it could possibly rain any harder before we climbed the stairs to the front door? Why, yes it can! It reminded me of a distant time when I got caught in the rain with my kids.

It was 2007. A two car caravan. I, with my son, leading the way. My daughter following behind. Her car bulging with her college possessions. We were traveling south on I-95, from Melbourne to Boca Raton, when suddenly warning lights flashed all sorts of red across the dash of Ben’s car! I quickly changed three lanes of traffic, an impressive feat I assure you, and coasted into the corner gas station.

We would have to wait for a mechanic to figure out the problem before we could be on our way. I don’t wait well! I had a better plan. Let’s all squeeze into Mariah’s Suzuki and go to Target. Might as well take care of a few things while we are waylaid. “I’ll drive”. That left one seat to be filled by two occupants. Although clearly illegal, and obviously uncomfortable, I was confident they’d be able to figure out how to puzzle arms and legs together to make it work. Surely at least one of them was wearing a seatbelt! We didn’t have far to go. Upon our arrival I unashamed left them in the parking lot to figure out how to untangle themselves. They were, after all, attracting attention and embarrassing me!

As we prepared to leave the store it was raining! Raining really isn’t a big enough word for the avalanche of water spilling from the sky. Mariah ran to get her car as Ben and I huddled on the only postage stamp spot available in an effort to stay reasonably dry. She pulled up and we crammed even more stuff into her already jam-packed car. I switched places with her, securing myself behind the wheel. You don’t think that just because she shagged the car in the rain she was going to boost that enviable position? Well do you? Not happening! These two grown kids were far more capable of playing Front Seat Twister than I was! Regrettably, they were now playing it with an audience of all the other patrons who were standing under the eaves considering a dash to their cars. “We’ve got this! Nothing to see here!” We laughed! We laughed at our situation. We laughed at being soaked to the skin. We laughed at one more thing being added to our out-of-control day. We laughed at the sight that we made. We laughed that other people were laughing, even if it was at us, not with us. We laughed so hard it hurt and I needed my inhaler!

Later than evening, having unloaded Mariah’s possessions into her dorm room and finally being able to take a moment, we enjoyed dinner together at the Cheesecake Factory. Looking around I spied a woman sitting in an adjoining room who I thought looked a lot like me, but was obviously having a bad hair day. She looked as though she had spent as much time in the rain as I had. I pointed her out to the kids. They looked at each other and then said, “Mom, that’s a mirror”!