like a bad dream

Wanna hear a funny story?

Four days ago I wrote a little post about a roaring thunderstorm, and spring flowers, and the idea that spring really is coming.

When you read it, did you hear the maniacal laughter in the background? I somehow missed it, but truthfully I wasn't listening for it. I should have been, though. I'm sure it was there.

Wanna see the view out my dining room window? This is what it looks like right now...

And that is where the funny in this post ends. Yesterday we got about five inches of snow in about five hours. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to call yesterday's weather a blizzard. And in this lovely weather I got into the car to drive to the health clinic to hopefully get new medication for the Sinus Infection That Will Not Die. (This was the beginning, notice the date...) I could see to drive, and growing up in Michigan I certainly know how to drive in the snow...but it was very slippery. Very. I was not yet out of the apartment complex when I turned a corner, barely moving, and hit a slick patch. The wheels wouldn't turn, the brakes wouldn't brake, and my front driver's side tire banged into the curb.

I somehow managed to move the car out of the way. It can't be too damaged, I thought to myself as I struggled to make the car move and turn. I was barely moving. And all I hit was a curb. And I was fine, although a bit mortified that a seasoned snow-driver could do something so ridiculous.

Flash forward a bit to the Sergeant talking to the dealership, repeating to me what they say is wrong "so far": ...drive shaft, tie rod, tire, rim, power steering... And today we learned that if the frame is bent, which is entirely possible with all that damage, the car is totaled. Our 2007 Ford Focus, the car we've been driving for just about one year, might be totaled. Because I hit a curb. Going about 2 miles per hour.

It was a nightmare. The Sergeant had to bundle up the Little Mister (many, many thanks to Crazy Grandma Judi for the snow suit!) and hike down the very slippery, snow-covered hill to where I was with the car. We had to wait for the MP, go over it all with him, call a tow truck, call the dealership...a nightmare. When I was no longer needed I re-bundled the Little Mister and trudged back up the hill (In Baumholder, the hills are not alive. But they might kill you.), into the wind and blowing snow, carrying a twenty pound, screaming baby, with my body already weakened by the Sinus Infection That Will Not Die. Until yesterday I never fully appreciated the phrase "my lungs were burning."

See that sad, runny-nosed face? That was after our trek up the hill...

We made it up the hill and to our apartment, where I pretty much collapsed. And I'll fully admit this: after the accident, I wallowed. I was crabby about missing my doctor appointment, I was stressed about the car, and I was still sick. So I did nothing but the necessary mothering activities, and even many of those were handled by the Sergeant. I curled up on the couch, put M*A*S*H into the dvd player, and played my new computer game. When it was time I went to bed, although I couldn't sleep due to coughing fits...

But.

Today is better. We still have car troubles--obviously--but for now we have a rental and the rest is out of our hands. I got to the clinic this morning, where I was given stronger antibiotics and something to still this wretched cough. The Little Mister is taking a nap, I'm cozy in the house, and outside the snow has stopped falling.

And, somehow, I'm still hoping for Spring.