Saturday: After the yearly church Halloween party, I was taking the kids home. Apparently, the extra load of candy was too much and we blew a tire. Wouldn’t you know, this was the one time I left the house without my cell phone. Fortunately, we were reasonably close to the house and one of my teenage sons was in the car. Run, boy, run.
Lesson #1 When you forget your cell phone, a teenage boy will do in a pinch.
Sunday: With the “donut” spare tire, I loaded up the family to go to church. This time we were carrying the Halloween candy internally, but still it was too much. The donut blew! Once again, I didn’t have my cell phone (I know, I know). Sent teenage son home to get “Dad” who was coming to church in another vehicle.
Lesson #2 Never trust a donut (tire or pastry), and always carry a teenager for emergencies.
Monday: Teenage son rolls old tire down the street to put in the van with bad donut. He lets it roll ahead of him and it lands in a huge puddle. Teenager wades in after it, muttering "hey you!". Mom laughs very hard.
Lesson #3 Teenagers can be great entertainment
Called AAA to get towed to the tire store. A delightful young man with an accent I didn’t recognize came to rescue me. I wanted to ask him what his native language was, but wasn’t sure if that would be rude. Maybe he gets asked that all the time and is tired of it. “Impulsive” is my middle name, though, so I ask, “Would you mind if I ask where you are from? I love your accent.” I really did! He rewarded me with a handsome smile, “Russia.” This led to a very delightful conversation, for both of us, about his home (8 hr train ride from Moscow!) and his family.
Lesson #4 You really can’t go wrong asking people to talk about themselves if your interest is genuine.
In summary…ban Halloween, ban candy, ban donut tires. Embrace teenage boys, and nice young men from Russia (especially if they are cute like my Russian tow truck driver was). Oh, and beware of crazy moms who might turn your life into a blog post.
Thanks for all your help this weekend, Son!
LOL! Wow that was quite an eventful weekend for you. :) Glad you had a "spare" son in the car with you at all time. Kids are such awesome comic relief. My kids have broken the tension in an otherwise bad day for me many times. ;)
ReplyDeleteGood post Leslie. Thank you for sharing. So true when it comes to people wanting to talk about themselves to another. Just reading this post I got tired with all the activity you encountered. I use AAA as well. Great service. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing quite as nice as teenaged sons and nice, young Russian men.
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