I have two moments to rub together – a rare occurrence these days – so I thought I should take the time and get a blog entry up. This weekend has been an eventful one. Most notably because of baby’s first tire blow-out.
Yup. I blew out a tire on the way to my mother’s house. I must have run over something and gotten a flat, because the tires were brand new. I had just loaded the twelve-million things I bring when I take this kid places into the car (stroller, Ergo, diaper backpack containing four diapers, two bottles, changing pad, three fresh outfits, and pacifier, child securely strapped into his seat, his sweatshirt, a knit blanket, a swaddle…) and merged onto the freeway when the car started to shudder. I got off the freeway at the next exit, and just as I was pulling to the side of the road the passenger side dropped, started smoking, and made a horrible grating noise. I thought for sure the transmission had dropped out of the bottom or something equally dire, and couldn’t think of anything I did for this new-to-me car to have collapsed so epically.
I pressed the red button for the flashers and got out of the car. Relief. Not only was the rear right tire flat, but it was shredded like a doughnut and completely separated from the rim. That was the smoking and the drop. The car itself was fine. We were in a safe spot, and there was shade to wait in. Tires are imminently fixable. I called for help.
AAA was wonderful. The lady on the other end put a rush on the service request when she heard the kid screaming in the background, and then he and I went on a walk in the stroller down the street. He fell asleep in contentment and stayed that way while the gentleman from AAA put on my spare.
The best part? Well, there’s two of them:
One – I broke down in front of a Lowe’s and several construction workers and contractors came to check on me, concerned about the baby. It restored my faith in humanity to see these beefy gentlemen so concerned about us.
Two – it was Anime L.A. this weekend and I was slated to take care of this kid ALONE all night for the first time ever while Brian ran midnight RPG games in Ontario. It scared me to death. But after handling a tire blow-out with aplomb, I knew that 3 am held no terrors I couldn’t overcome. Mom’s got this.
Not the best afternoon ever, but definitely a moment that turned out to have good in it. Tire repaired and we’re on our way.
Casey E. Hamilton 