Homecoming

The boys both came home last Sunday, very late.  Braden, of course, had only been gone for little over two weeks (although it really seemed like much longer), but Evan had been gone for 11.  In some ways that time sped by, and in others it lasted forever...

Anyway, I was very excited and anxious to have EVERYONE home where they belong.  Evan's girlfriend Cheyann came with Savannah and me to the airport to pick them up; we figured we'd have just enough room in my car for the five of us plus luggage. After a wait, we got their luggage and lugged it all out to the car and hit the road.

As we were driving home, Braden asked if we could please, please, please stop somewhere to get something to eat as it was almost midnight and they hadn't yet had dinner.  I pulled off at a McDonald's just off the freeway near Roy, but noticed that there were about 5-6 cop cars in one half of the parking lot, lights going, and many men in uniform milling around, which was a little strange.  However, there were several cars in the drive-thru, so they obviously hadn't closed the McDonald's so I got in line.  We ordered our food and were pulling forward when all of a sudden, my car died.

"Hmmm... I must have let off too much on the clutch," my tired brain whispered to me.  So I pushed the clutch all the way to the floor and tried again. 

Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Again...

You know where I'm going with this. There were other cars behind us, so the boys (Evan in his Class A uniform) had to get out and push us out of the line.  I had to walk through the drive-thru to get our order (something I would have loved to do when I was about 14, but not so much now) and then back to the now-defunct and dejected looking car.

Tom had just replaced the radiator in it 2 weeks previously, so I knew it hadn't overheated (besides, I've been paying close attention to that when I was having the problems with the radiator). So what could it be?  I called Tom, then called again, and again.  Drat - he's a heavy sleeper, IF he even had his phone nearby.  More than half the time he leaves it in his truck at night so he won't forget it the next day. I felt like there were too many of us to pile into a tow truck, and besides all of which, I'd probably have to sell one of the kids to pay for the tow!  I finally broke down and called my mom, knowing that I was probably going to scare her to death with such a late call.  She got my uncle on the phone and he walked me through checking the radiator, etc.  I finally told him to listen to the sound it was making, so I got in, pushed in the clutch and turned it over, when of course it fired right up!  I hurriedly loaded all the kids back in the car (they were eating on the grass and watching the crime scene investigation as it played out) and off we went to my parent's, where Dave promised to take a look. 

Once there my mom convinced me to take her car home so that we wouldn't break down in the canyon and become cougar-bait or worse :). We finally made it home, but it was close to 2:00 a.m., then Evan and I stayed up talking until almost 4:00 a.m. which is a good thing since I haven't had more than 5 minutes with him since - he's been busy visiting friends and running around, trying to shove an entire summer into a week before school starts.  On another note, he also bought his first vehicle, but that's a story for another day!

Welcome home boys - now PUSH!