Exploding tires and family dinner

I had an episode last week that I haven't had the energy to blog about but it's a bit funny and even more I must express my appreciation to another angel that came in the form of a Cal Trans worker. 

I was driving home from volunteering.  Oh, this picture was taken later by my wonderful husband who decided that I needed to have this picture in order to tell my story. LOL! 

As you can see, my window is down because we have no air conditioning in the van right now.  The compressor seemingly blew up with black smoke pouring into the van.  I am currently debating whether or not to get it fixed because I am not convinced that it is a true "need" when we are trying so hard to be able to afford to bring home the twins.  It has been a mild summer though, so if we have very many 100+ degree days my resolve may change. 

Okay, so as I said I was driving down the road when all of a sudden I heard a loud explosion and the van began to careen sideways as I struggled to keep control and steer it over to the side of the road.  Thankfully, there was minimal traffic and I was successful at getting to the roadside.  With a brief glance in the rear view mirror, I saw chunks of of my tire flying down the road behind me.

As my heart pounded, I sat for a second in stunned disbelief. Absent mindedly, I reached up to smooth my hair that was in all states of craziness from driving with the window down.  I went straight back into panic mode once again as I felt that there was something in my hair....was it a bug.....a HUGE bug?!?  I snatched whatever it was and threw it!  Any ideas on what it was? 

A chunk of the blown up tire!  The children and I have a joke now about the new fashion trend that I could start!

It would make a great hair accessory....it is bendable and definitely sticks to the hair.  The wires that were poking out could even be bent into a flower shape.  I could really be on to something!

So my tire was beyond flat and was beyond destroyed.  I could literally see the cloth or whatever it is that is under the rubber!

There was a Cal-Trans worker who was mowing the grass at the side of the freeway that stopped and came over.  He offered to help change my tire if we had a spare.  I was so relieved because I knew that it would take an hour or longer for either Robert or AAA to get there. 

He was not only willing to help but he also joked around to make me feel better.  He lifted up his foot to show his shoe which had the sole literally hanging off.  He told me that his shoe and my tire looked about the same! LOL!  I took this pic hoping to illustrate this point but unfortunately I got the wrong shoe!

So, as he worked to change my tire in the heat of the sun and at the side of a dangerous freeway with cars whizzing closely by, I began to feel horrible that he was working so hard and I had no idea what I could do for him.  I racked my brain....money...no, I was sure he couldn't take it and I never carry any cash anyway......should I get his email and then I could send him a thank you....no, way too creepy!

So, he finished and I meekly offered him the only thing I had in the van. 
"Ummm, I bet you are thirsty, would you like some apple juice?" (It was unopened, I promise!) 
He laughed and said that he already had something to drink.  Then he said that the way he looked at it was that someday his wife might be stranded somewhere with a flat tire, and that maybe my husband would be willing to help her out.  I thanked him heartily for his help and headed back on my way.  Yet another angel placed in my path that literally helped me continue on.

So, are we going to market the exploded tire hair accessories?  Well, considering we nearly had to cut it out of Mary's hair.....I think the idea would need a little more work!

Before closing this post I wanted to mention a link that I read about on someone else's blog.  It talks about the importance of and the hope that we will all have a renewed focus on family dinner.
http://www.thefamilydinnerproject.org/

I love family dinners and agree that it is so important that we take the time to eat together as a family.  We get off course every time I am pregnant and end up on bed rest.  We all end up eating upstairs in our bedroom because the children want to be with me *and* they like to watch tv while they are eating.  It gets to be a hard habit to break since it is also more convenient with a frequently nursing and sleeping baby.  But, Eleanor is two and I am glad to be back at the table and having lively conversations rather than glazed over expressions staring at the tv. 

I hope to talk about this further because it also suggested some good ideas for ways to do family dinner on college campuses as well.  Great website and very inspirational....check it out!