I can’t really say when my day began Friday because I was up and down most the night with not feeling well. I think I finally got up for the last time around 9 a.m., but I wasn’t really paying attention.
Me thinks that perhaps I should have just stayed in bed! But I’m choosing to go with the idea that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger and considering I’m here typing this, I’m pretty sure I’m not dead so I must be getting stronger 🙂
Anyways, I got up around 9 or so and still wasn’t feeling well so I didn’t go into work as quickly as was planned. I ended up having to stay at home until about 1 p.m. or so because of health concerns. That in of itself wasn’t amusing but considering I’m somewhat used to that, it’s hardly what I would call a “bad day creator”.
So I get to work and figure all will be fine. How could I have been more wrong? First of all, I check my email to get phone numbers and information for people I need to be calling in the next couple of hours. I knew I had them, because I had already seen the emails when I checked from home. Well, a technological glitch made it so all the emails I had opened at home were wiped off the server. Lovely. So I had no numbers or background information that I needed for the afternoon. But never fear, I would just email or call my contacts and get the information in pretty short order.
Just as I start to make calls to get the numbers, some of our phones, including mine, start making weird noises. We then realize that we keep feeling wet and look up. The ceiling is leaking. Seriously. Actually, the AC above our heads has frozen up and it made water flood the area around the desk next to me, including the phone lines. So I had to use my cell phone. Another setback, a little more bizarre, but really not a major tragedy. I just felt a little strange explaining to people that I had to A) get their phone numbers again because they got wiped away and B) I would be calling from my cell phone because the ceiling leaked. I think people must be used to my strange life because no one expressed that much surprise at what I told them, ha! I finally get the information I need and figure I will move on.
Anyways, as I’m trying to make something of my bizarre day and get something accomplished before I left for a personal meeting at 6 p.m., I get a phone call from my husband. I figure he’s returning my missed call from earlier and I know he’s about to start his work day in a few minutes so (thankfully) I took the time to answer the phone. It turns out that his old clunker of a car broke down on the side of the road just a few miles from his job (in other words, he was about 35 minutes from where I was!). I had just confirmed our membership with AAA a few days before when I realized we hadn’t received our membership cards so I gave him the roadside service phone number and told him to call.
John called me back and said that I had a membership but that his had been canceled. This made no sense considering I had just confirmed our membership and was expecting “replacement” (I never got them the first time but to AAA they were replacement) cards within a week. So I called AAA myself and figured out what had happened. They said I had only paid for one membership, not two but I told them that I had been offered a free add on to my new membership (I got a new membership when I got married, it was just easier than changing names). The thing was, that was only for 2008 and I didn’t pay until 2009. I told them I wasn’t BILLED until 2009 so it should still apply. They agreed and got it sorted out after they had to start our membership file all over again because of some computer glitch. This whole conversation took about 20 minutes, all on my cell phone that by this time was at only about 15 percent battery power.
They transferred me to roadside service and I was finally able to get someone dispatched out to help my husband who was in the hot Arkansas sun on the LEFT side of the increasingly busy interstate. They had said that if I was with him it didn’t matter if he had a membership or not, because I had one. I knew they said they got his membership sorted out, but I wasn’t taking any chances! I also figured he would need a ride home after getting his car towed so I left work to go find him on the highway. I found him, but missed getting over in time so I went to the next exit, turned around, went to the NEXT exit (previous exit?) and then got to him again. We waited on the left side of the road (where there’s no shoulder) for about 35 minutes for the tow truck to arrive (which means John had been waiting for more than two hours at this point).
We then tried to get back on the highway but at this point, it was 4:30 p.m. and traffic was really picking up. Since I was parked in grass I couldn’t gun the engine to get into traffic because I would just spin out. Visions of my wreck a few years ago where my car flipped then rolled tried to come to my mind but I fought the fear as I waited a full 20 minutes for a clear shot. Finally a kind soul slowed down enough to let us in and we were on our way. We went to the repair shop that the car was taken to and John spoke to the guy there. The irony is, John could have probably easily fixed the problem in our drive way, but we only have classic AAA service. That means we only get three miles of towing for free and it would have cost us about $90 to tow the car back to our place, then he would have had to put the time, money and energy into fixing the problem. That’s if the problem is what he and the repairman think it is! So he decided it was worth just having it towed locally.
We then started to make our way home but both of us well, need to use the restroom so we stop at a gas station. Oh, I forgot to mention that I had less than a quarter a tank of gas by the time I got to the roadside so we got me gas too!
We were pretty hungry at this point and knew there was nothing easy to fix back at the house so we headed to a drive thru. At this point I’m thinking I will try to make it to my 6 p.m. meeting, which technically doesn’t start until 7 p.m. (the first hour is dinner). So I was going to get some food for the two of us, drop John off at home and head to the church for my meeting. I didn’t really feel like going, but I knew that sometimes the places I don’t feel like being is the exact place God wants me to be so I decided to try and make it.
HA!
At this point I’m truly amused by the entire day because it’s all been so incredibly bizarre. So why was I surprised that a trip through a “fast food” drive through took 30 minutes? I kid you not. The two people in front of us took a really long time to get through then when we got to the window they of course had to have us pull off for another 10 minutes before our food was done (I don’t think I’m letting my husband order 10 fish tacos ever again). At this point there’s no way I can make my meeting so I just plan on having a nice, quiet night at home with my husband where we can laugh at our weirdo day.
Ahem. If the previous events of the day had taught me anything, it’s to not get an idea of what’s going to happen next.
John had had a rough day and understandably wanted some alone time (although I didn’t realize he meant all night). I did my own thing while he did his own thing. The problem was, my own thing was to get sick. Apparently my medicine and the food we got didn’t mix because I got really really sick. I ended up taking a nearly 3 hour nap followed by multiple trips to the bathroom throughout the night. The stupid thing was, I later tried more of the food because I thought the nap was just a reaction to the stress of the day. Of course it wasn’t and I got sick AGAIN. No three hour nap this time, but I still got pretty sick. So no more Long John’s for Jamie.
The entire night was like this for me. I felt sick all night and since I had slept so much earlier in the evening, I couldn’t sleep. I passed out sometime around 4 a.m., I think, just grateful for the day to be done. I wasn’t upset, and I’m still not upset. As I’ve told several people, I think the day’s events were so bizarre that I just had to chalk it up to being surreal, not bad. And hey, it’s great blog material, eh?
I woke up around 9 this morning still not feeling great but feeling tons better. I felt well enough to take the trash out and to go get our mail. Oh, guess what was in the mail?
Our AAA membership cards. A whole week earlier than what we expected. This day is already looking better!