The next day, I left bright and early to go to a memorial service for the mother of one of my childhood friends with whom I have remained in contact. Drove the three hours to Michigan and when I got there, the weather was so bad I didn't do a portion of my planned agenda, but slipped into the church and waited. Fortunately, when I went to go home, the weather had cleared somewhat.
Monday, I took dd who is trying to figure out where she wants to go to College to the University of Akron, normally a 3 1/2 hour trip. We left the University at 4:00 and it was snowing heavily. I slithered to the interstate and decided that my gas was getting too low for comfort and got off. I contemplated taking secondary roads to get past Akron, but thought the highway would be cleared better. After 17 miles which took 45 minutes, the traffic came to a halt. Dead, stopped in your tracks. The next exit ahead was 6 miles away, the one behind (which was an impossibility) was 2 miles behind. The opposing traffic eventually stopped too. Two lanes of traffic not moving. For 6 hours. We had water. Meg ate two large Subway cookies and I had a bag of Clementines. We did not have a bathroom nor the shelter of a stone wall or trees to crouch behind. I had coats and a wool blanket. We were fine, in fact, I was somewhat grateful that because we weren't moving we couldn't be in an accident as everyone was stopped as far as the eye could see.
I called my husband and let him know that we wouldn't be home at 7:30 pm as planned. He called and got us a hotel room in Mansfield, 48 miles down the road. At 11:30, the traffic started to move again after they hauled some of the jack-knifed tractor trailers and vehicles which had run out of gas while waiting. We stopped to go to the bathroom and eat at 12:30 and I called ahead to make sure that they knew we were still coming. They had given away our room (even though it was held with a credit card and my husband's VIP status with the chain). There was one room left out of 82 and the desk clerk had to change the linens and clean the room. We finally piled into bed at 2:00 am on Tuesday.
We fought traffic and weather back on Tuesday. My daughter was to go to work at 11:00 and I had an appointment to check out a quilt show venue with another MVAQNer in Dayton. I dropped Meg off at home to get to work in time and turned around and went back a half an hour to the meeting....Pam Geisel was there, but the person we were to meet wasn't. Sigh. Dead tired and it hasn't shaken.
I have decided to name the Taurus "The Minnow" after the famous one which set out for a three hour tour, but the weather started getting rough ...." A friend of mine said that if that was the case, then I had to be Ginger....in reality at present I look more like the Skipper.
I've been struggling to keep all the balls in the air and things going. Today, I had my chemo treatment in the morning, only I got up to ice and snow. My daughter didn't have school and texted me that she thought she had conjunctivitis (which she often gets when she has a cold and she has been fighting one off for a week and succombed on Tuesday). So, after eating a quick lunch after chemo, I took her to the doctors which I had gone to on Tuesday (I am now known as the one with the funky fingers there) where they gave her a script for her eye. We went to three pharmacies before we found one which actually had the medication. Total time consumed by the eye visit? 3 hours.
Hopefully, this weekend will be more productive. In the meantime, I just want to run away!
3 comments:
I got exhausted just reading that! ;) Even with what you're going through you've got more energy and drive than I do.
I don't know how you do it. I am glad that you took "couch time" when you needed it. How could the weekend be more productive. It sounds to me like you fit a lot into a few hours even though you were exhausted. Wonder woman, indeed.
The worst part sounds like not having a bathroom for six hours! Carry on! And happy belated birthday.
Post a Comment