Missed Busses, Lost Earrings & Time Well Spent

It was going to be a great morning. I had turned my alarm off, I could see that the temperature outside was already a balmy 49F and I was just in a comfy, happy place. I could sleep in for an hour or two and then begin my day. Yeah. You guys know where this is heading, right?

The rapid knocking began at my bedroom door. Sierra, my oldest had missed her bus. She takes CNA classes in the morning so giving her a Friday off from school just isn’t an option. So I drug myself out of bed.

As I got dressed I realized two things. First, it was raining outside, which explained why my pain level was so high. Having a spinal cord injury, multiple herniated disks putting pressure on my spinal cord, makes me very sensitive to the weather.

Today is going to be a rough one.

My second realization was that I had lost an earring somewhere yesterday. Yeah, big deal, but this annoys me when it was part of a set of spikes that I had to order specifically online because I couldn’t find what I wanted around here. I now only have three spikes, one looped spike and a double loop.

And an empty hole.

This is where your empathy should really be kicking in.

As I walked out into the house I realized that I hadn’t let my dogs out before I went to bed. Sure enough, Anika, my black lab and best friend had peed all over the conservatory. My oldest cleaned that up as I finished getting ready.

That’s one of my biggest frustration about my injury. Everything has to be so slow and precise now. I can’t just throw something on and go. The wrong move or a rapid turn can ruin me for days.

So my kid and I were finally ready to leave. We stepped outside into wind and rain so heavy that I found myself looking around for a Deadliest Catch camera crew.

Ever since my accident a few weeks ago, where my car slid off of a slick curve, my anxiety is beyond belief just getting behind the wheel. The weather today was a nice touch.

But Sierra and I drove on, laughing and talking about new things and old times. The kind of conversation we don’t seem to have a lot of anymore.

My kid missing the bus is going to cause me to hurt a lot more today. I’m glad it happened.