Have You Ever Felt Like "Why Me?!"...
Yesterday Was Definately The Most Challenging Day I've Had In A Long Time...I'm A Pretty Patient Person, But Mix Puke, With A Towed Car, And An Adorable But Very Impatient Three Year Old, And You Get Nothing But A Bad Headache And An Empty Bank Account...
It All Started When We (Ava & I) Arrived At My Doctor's Appointment...I Was A New Patient And Unfamiliar With The Facility And Parking Arrangements...There Stood A Tall, Brown Building With Probably 50 Different Doctors...But Yet, I Pull Into A Parking Lot With Maybe 10 Parking Spaces...Ok, Ok, Im Exaggerating...Maybe There Were 20 spaces....Either Way, It Was Obvious Parking Was An Issue Since I Saw 3 Cars Parked On The Sidewalk In The Woods... Great, What Am I Suppose To Do?! I Guess I Could've Just Sat Around And Waited For An Innocent Human Being To Pull Out Of A Spot And Attack It Like A Vulture...Luckily For The Other Cars Waiting Around, Thats Not My Style...Instead I See A Ton Of Cars Trickling Into A Parking Lot Below And Instinct Tells Me To Follow....Sweet! I Find A Spot Right Near The Entrance, Hurry Ava Out Of Her Carseat And We Make Our Way Into The Building...
We're Doing Good On Time, We Find The Doctor's Name On The Directory And Head To The Elevator. Ava Absolutely Loves Elevators. I Don't Know Why, But She Always Has To Push The Buttons. She Asks With Eagerness, "Which Number Mommy?", I Tell Her, "Number Two"...Without Hesitation She Presses Button Number Two...As We're Moving Up In The Elevator, I Look At My Sweet Girl And Her Face Is Full Of Excitment...When The Elevator Stops And The Door Opens, Before I Could Even Take One Step, Ava Quickly Pushes Number 5 And Giggles As The Doors Close...Great...We Have To Go Up Three More Levels Then Go Back Down Again...Finally We Make It Back To The Right Floor And Continue On With Our Agenda...
As We Enter Suite 208, I Notice That All The Chairs But One Is Empty In The Waiting Room...I Tell Ava To Go Have A Seat And To Quietly Watch The T.V. Which Was Tuned Into Sponge Bob...She Sits Down While I Check In And Get New Patient Paperwork, I Lean Against The Wall And Start Filling It Out...Ava Then Offered To "Share" Her Seat With Me, But Ava And I Sharing A Seat Is Like Trying To Fit Your Size 9 Foot In A Size 6 Shoe...Not Gonna Fit! She Looked Baffled When I Declined, But Was Distracted When The Little Girl Next To Her Started To Dry Heave. Ava Looked Confused, I Probably Looked Disgusted, But Before We Knew It, The Little Girl Had Thrown Up All Over The Waiting Room AND All Down Ava's Arm And Dress. I Was Frozen With Disgust. Im A Germ Freak. I Know It Wasn't The Little Girls Fault, But Obviously She Was Sick Since They Were At The Doctors, And Now She Has Shared Her Sick Germs With Ava...The Little Girl Continued Her Business In The Waiting Room Trashcan While I Fumbled With Trying To Figure Out The Spanish Pronunciation For "Please Take Her To The Restroom"...Im Frantically Googling The Translation On My Phone, When The Receptionist Started Speaking In Spanish To The Mother & Daughter And Pointed Her In The Direction Of The Restroom...*Sigh Of Relief*...I Then Shuffle Ava Out The Door To The Bathroom To Clean Her Up And Change Her...But Then I Remember...Ava Has No Change Of Clothes In The Car, We Accidently Left Her Backpack At Home That Morning. We Rush Down To The Car Anyway To See If There Was Anything, A T-Shirt, A Swimsuit, Something! My Trunk Is Normally A Closet...I Dig Thru My Trunk Of Junk And Find Nothing...Well Actually, I Did Find Something, And For A Mili-second Thought About Putting It On Her...But A Snowsuit In 95 Degree Weather Was Completely Out Of The Question...Poor Ava, She Had To Keep Her Little Dress On :-(
We Head Back Up To The Doctors Office And I Finish Filling Out My Paperwork. My Appointment Time Was 11, But By The Time All Of This Got Under Control, It Was Nearing 11:45. I Was Scheduled To Be Back At Work At 1pm. I Figured We Were Ok And Would Probably Make It Out Just In Time To Drop Ava At The Babysitter And Get To Work...All Goes Well With The Doctor, He Diagnosed Me With Swimmer's Ear...Apparently There Was A Fluid Buildup Which Explains Why My Ear Never Opened When I Got Off The Plane A Week Earlier. I Get A Prescription For Some Ear Drops And Take It 2 Doors Over To Get It Filled At The On-Site Pharmacy!
The Time Is Now 12:30...I Would Need All 30 Of Those Minutes To Get To Work On Time...I'm Feeling The Pressure And Scoop Ava Up In My Arms And Head Out The Door To The Car...All The While, She's Screaming She Needs To Go Potty And That She's Hungry! Grrr! I Turn Around And Head To The Restroom...I Layer The Toilet Seat, Sit Her Down, And She Stares Up At Me And Says ,"I Can't Go" Gahhhh! Ok, We Wash Hands And Once Again, Head Out The Door. As We're Walking Out, Ava Notices A Vending Machine. She Begs For Cookies, And I Tell Her No Because We're Going To Grab Lunch. She Does A Typical Three-Year Old Whine...I Pick Her Up In An Attempt To Prevent A Meltdown...I Decide To Take A "Shortcut" And Run Thru The Woods To Our Car With Ava Attached Unwillingly To My Hip. Being Focused On Getting To The Car, And Out Of The 95 Degree Weather, I Failed To Notice A Branch Was Right In The Path To Smack Ava In The Face. FML. She Starts Whaling, Im Trying To Console Her And Search For The Car. 'Where's My Car?!" Thru Her Sobs, Ava Manages To State The Obvious, "Mom, That's Not Our Car!" I Then Look Around A See A Little Sign Saying That Parking Lot Was For Nursing Home Parking Only!! Yep, I Got Towed. I Call The Non-Emergency Number And Locate My Car At A Local Junk Yard. I Then Realize Its Almost 1:00...Great, Better Call My Job And Let Them Know The Situation. They Were Pretty Understanding And Let Me Off The Rest of The Day...
During This Whole Fiasco, Ava Is Stunned And Crying About Her Missing Carseat. I Have No Choice But To Go To The Dreaded Vending Machine And Get Her Those Cookies...I Sit Her Down On A Bench And Begin Calling Around To Try And Find A Ride To The Junk Yard...I Immediately Call My Dad, Who Always Gets Stuck Bailing Me Out...But He's My Dad, Thats His Job :-) Well, Not On This Day...I Explained I Needed A Ride And To Come Get Me In Woodbridge...He Works At Ft. Belvoir, And Of All Days He Chose To Slug/Commute To Work That Day, Meaning He Didn't Have A Vehicle. Uhhhhhh, So Now I Have A 3 Year Old, Who Smells Like Throw-up, Who Is Hungry For Lunch But Is Instead Stuffing Her Cheeks With Oreos, No Car, And No Ride...2 Hours Pass Before I Get A Ride...Those Were The Longest 2 Hours Of My Life...Ava Pushed Every Button Possible, But Who Could Blame Her...We Had Been Stuck In That Building Almost 4 Hours!!! Finally, My Dear Friend Brittney Picked Us Up And Took Us To The Junk Yard, Only To Top Off My Day By Letting Those Jerks Swipe My Card for $125...I Guess The Cashier Thought He Was Doing Me A Favor By Charging Me $125 Instead Of the $150 He Had Originally Told Me Over The Phone...
All In All, Thats A Typical Day For Me...Well, Not Really, But Almost. My Life Is Always Filled With The Unexpected, Or Those Things That You Only Think Could Happen On T.V... Maybe I Should Pitch MTV A Reality Show Based On My Everyday Life...
