First Impressions

I've had an eventful weekend. Yesterday I decided to take the truck into Spokane because it has the really nice snow tires and I love my truck. It was snowing HARD, and it was so warm I swear there was 8 inches of slush on the road. After dropping Zach off at Sylvan, Edward, Baby Michael and I went to ToysRus to get a birthday present for Edward's friend Max.

On the way back to pick up Zachary, the truck spun out of control while I was traveling I-90 East. Luckily no one was near me. We skidded. The second Edward felt the truck slip he SCREAMED at the top of his lungs, and was crying and kept SCREAMING. We "landed" facing oncoming traffic in the far left lane. I went to turn the truck around and nothing. The truck was completely locked up - how the heck did I blow the transmission?

Through Edward's screaming and crying I shouted at him to keep his seatbelt on. "Why, will I die?"

Very matter of fact I replied "Yes, Edward, if you take that seatbelt off and we get hit by a car you could die, so please keep it on."

Which only begged more screaming and crying as I'm calling 9-1-1 to get a police car out there. (I did tell them I had an infant and a 7-year-old with me, hoping they'd move faster.) Not many cars were driving in the far left lane, but it was evident when they saw me ... a few close calls happened while waiting for a policeman to hopefully keep our lane clear until a tow truck could come.

How the heck did I blow the transmission?

After the third near miss from an oncoming car I decided we couldn't stay in the truck like sitting ducks. I dialed the only person in our office who lived in Spokane Valley .... and then someone stopped in the middle lane, threw on his hazards and ran over to us.

"Is anyone hurt?"

"No, we're fine."

"I'm going to stop traffic so you can turn around."

"I can't move, the truck is locked up. I don't know what happened to it."

"Hit the gas, let me listen."

"The gas is all the way to the floor, nothing."

"Put it in reverse."

"Nothing."

"Is it running? Try starting it ......... no no, you need to be in park first."

And then, my truck started.

"Ok, pull forward a bit, let's make sure it goes."

It did.

Superdude stopped the only moving lane on the highway while I turned around and got to the shoulder. Snow had completely caked all my windows and I couldn't see. It was then I noticed the little red pickup in the ditch, and what looked to be blood spatter on the windshield. Did this person go off the road and die because of me?

With Edward unconscionable and still screaming at the top of his lungs I approached the truck. The door swings open and I see the red puffy face of a teenage girl.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes."

The 'blood spatter' was the shadow from her crazy ponytail. "Did you hit your head?" Only then noticing that her truck had been stopped by deep snow, nothing else.

"No."

"How long have you been here?"

"About 15 minutes."

"Are you okay?"

"Yes."

Superdude flies over. I run back to the truck to try and comfort Edward again. This time him and the baby are crying. "Stop leaving me. We're going to die. Michael is crying. You need to feed him now or he's going to die."

I was hugging him, telling him it was okay, but nothing I said was going to matter. I brushed the snow off the truck, we merged back on the hwy and we were only two blocks away from Zachary when a light turned red as we were going up a massive hill. When it turned green, we were stuck. After being stuck for 10 minutes there was finally a commercial vehicle behind me. I jumped out and ran over.

"I've been stuck for ten minutes, I have an infant in the back seat and I can't be here all day. I have snow tires, but there's no grip - even when I've been able to back up a foot or two I can't get moving forward."

"Is it in 4-wheel drive?"

"No. I don't have 4-wheel drive."

"Oh."

"Yeah. It sucks. I'm open to suggestions here. I really need your help."

"Well, if I could see, I'd back up to let you turn onto 28th. Can you drive backwards?"

"Well yeah. In that case, there's only one, no, he just changed lanes. You're clear now."

"Ok."

"Thanks!"

We got to Zachary's slyvan. Edward was still panicked from earlier. He begged me to let him get Zachary out early. We were early by about five minutes so I said sure.

Edward comes running back to the truck and about two minutes later Zachary come out. He's got a goofy grin on his face. "Mom, what was that all about?"

"What do you mean?"

"Edward comes into Sylvan and shouts to everyone 'Is there a Zachary Gregoire in here? The sidewalks are wet. We've got to go.' Then leaves."

Edward is now upset because he's hungry. I figure a snack for then would be good to keep them quiet on the way home. We stop at the Starbucks around the corner. I ask Edward if he wants to go in with me. He starts screaming and tells me not to abandon him again. He refuses to go in with me. I say fine. A minute later Edward joins me. We get our snacks then we make it home without anything else happening.

Today, our new Airman arrived at Fairchild so I invited him over for dinner. Not more than two minutes after picking him up I was driving by the clinic looked down and realized I was going 40 mph. I don't talk and drive very well at the same time. I realized it, slowed down in time to realize there was a cop car nearby. And yes, I got pulled over.

"Do you know why I pulled you over?"

"Yes. I was speeding. I can't talk and drive at the same time. I was giving a windshield tour to my new
Airman here and realized I was speeding. Did you catch me going 40?"

"No, I caught you going 35 then accelerating to 39."

When he comes back with my papers he says. "No ticket today. I was studying when it started beeping. Slow down."

"Thank you!"

What a way to make a first impression.