camp - chapter 4: the retrieval, in which Youngest is fine, but other things are afoot.
It's true.
Coughing.
Wheezing.
Sputtering and sniffling.
I had a terrible cough while we were away. Yes. WHILE WE WERE AWAY. And a sore throat.
And my nose was runny. And I was sneezing.
So I took all kinds of things.
Allergy medicine, sinus medicine, cough medicine, medicine for coughs and colds with sneezing and sinus pain.
And I took these things while we traveled there, and back and while Youngest was sick and well and sick and well again.
On and on.
Have you clicked away?
I got antibiotics - that's all you need to know. I'm fine.
Which is more than I can say for my car...
We dragged ourselves out of bed at 5am, to leave to get my fellow - my tiny.
I hadn't driven my car in a couple of days. Mostly because of THIS
...because he comes home from work and I put on my helmet and we RIDE!
And then?
It rains. A. Lot.
You see, it would seem that my car, my 2005 Volvo XC90, and rain, do not mix.
We hopped in the car at five in the morning and the wipers turned on - all by themselves.
Four!
Would you like to see them?
We read them over and over while I whizzed along at nearly 80 miles an hour...
Brake failure!
Stop safely!
(go ahead, read this aloud with different inflections for dramatic effect -
BRAKE FAILURE.)
This one goes with it - and we assume that it indicates that the ABS system has been shut down. And the kind people at Volvo would agree!
Ack.
Who needs it anyway?
I ask you!
They are stopping our checks? Something about a lamp?
This one took a few miles to decipher - but then we pulled over and realized that our brake lights? WERE STUCK IN THE ON POSITION. So. Yes, it appeared we were braking for, oh, three hundred miles.
Vague - and yet, all encompassing.
Sadly, I did not get a picture of POWER SYSTEM SERVICE URGENT.
It was Titanic in it's urgency.
And I didn't get a picture of it as my camera died. Say la vee.
The 'shop,' it beckons my vehicle -
a loaner awaits me.
But you want to know about camp, and Youngest -
and so you shall see camp and hear about Youngest...
The countryside is beautiful.
(What? power system failure?)
The camp is truly spectacular.
And we spent time collecting Youngest and his things -
- and watching and being grateful.
And Youngest showed us the ramp he learned on -
The BIG one.
Stop safely.
This is the stuff you fall into...
And while Youngest merely looked ragged and tired, the camp was sprinkled with kids with injuries. The fellow on the canteen line in front of Youngest appeared to have dozens of stitches in his chin. Behind them, a kid had a splint on his arm, and downstairs there was a sad boy in a full leg splint, with ice packs.
Everyone knows that the bus leaves for the hospital at 10am and 2pm - every day.
We picked up all his medication and the nurse had clearly fallen for him.
We bought him a sweatshirt that he had tried on EVERY SINGLE DAY, snuggled him into the car...(service urgent) and left.
The last little town before the highway was awaiting a parade -
My quiet empty seeming house is set right again.
His stuffed friends were awfully happy to see him - and he, them...
Coughing.
Wheezing.
Sputtering and sniffling.
I had a terrible cough while we were away. Yes. WHILE WE WERE AWAY. And a sore throat.
And my nose was runny. And I was sneezing.
So I took all kinds of things.
Allergy medicine, sinus medicine, cough medicine, medicine for coughs and colds with sneezing and sinus pain.
And I took these things while we traveled there, and back and while Youngest was sick and well and sick and well again.
On and on.
Have you clicked away?
I got antibiotics - that's all you need to know. I'm fine.
Which is more than I can say for my car...
We dragged ourselves out of bed at 5am, to leave to get my fellow - my tiny.
I hadn't driven my car in a couple of days. Mostly because of THIS
...because he comes home from work and I put on my helmet and we RIDE!
And then?
It rains. A. Lot.
You see, it would seem that my car, my 2005 Volvo XC90, and rain, do not mix.
We hopped in the car at five in the morning and the wipers turned on - all by themselves.
Four!
Would you like to see them?
We read them over and over while I whizzed along at nearly 80 miles an hour...
Brake failure!
Stop safely!
(go ahead, read this aloud with different inflections for dramatic effect -
BRAKE FAILURE.)
This one goes with it - and we assume that it indicates that the ABS system has been shut down. And the kind people at Volvo would agree!
Ack.
Who needs it anyway?
I ask you!
They are stopping our checks? Something about a lamp?
This one took a few miles to decipher - but then we pulled over and realized that our brake lights? WERE STUCK IN THE ON POSITION. So. Yes, it appeared we were braking for, oh, three hundred miles.
Vague - and yet, all encompassing.
Sadly, I did not get a picture of POWER SYSTEM SERVICE URGENT.
It was Titanic in it's urgency.
And I didn't get a picture of it as my camera died. Say la vee.
The 'shop,' it beckons my vehicle -
a loaner awaits me.
But you want to know about camp, and Youngest -
and so you shall see camp and hear about Youngest...
The countryside is beautiful.
(What? power system failure?)
The camp is truly spectacular.
And we spent time collecting Youngest and his things -
- and watching and being grateful.
And Youngest showed us the ramp he learned on -
The BIG one.
Stop safely.
This is the stuff you fall into...
And while Youngest merely looked ragged and tired, the camp was sprinkled with kids with injuries. The fellow on the canteen line in front of Youngest appeared to have dozens of stitches in his chin. Behind them, a kid had a splint on his arm, and downstairs there was a sad boy in a full leg splint, with ice packs.
Everyone knows that the bus leaves for the hospital at 10am and 2pm - every day.
We picked up all his medication and the nurse had clearly fallen for him.
We bought him a sweatshirt that he had tried on EVERY SINGLE DAY, snuggled him into the car...(service urgent) and left.
The last little town before the highway was awaiting a parade -
My quiet empty seeming house is set right again.
His stuffed friends were awfully happy to see him - and he, them...
Comments
So glad that Y is home. He is extremely lucky to have the opportunity to go to that camp - and to have such loving, supportive parents...but I'm sure he knows that.
Yuck about the car. Just ONE message would have freaked me out.
SKATEBOARDING.
Glad your house is full again. :)
All I've got to say about the skateboard camp? With the 2-hospital-trips-a-day built into the venue? Youngest is lucky he's a Third. No Oldest would be allowed to even set a Big Toe into such a World. Possible not even a Middle.
May a say again? You and your K are wonderful parents. Your sons are 3 very lucky fellows.
Hope the car doctors can fix your (mechanical) baby, now that the human one is home safe and sound!
Good luck on the repairs.
I hope you get over your crud soon.
And dude, your car sounds like a classic POS.
well, except for the volvo.
Glad all is well for you.
Did you ever see that episode of the Simpsons where Homer's driving and the check engine light comes on, and he says "I can fix that," and puts a piece of tape over it so they can't see it any more and says, "there, all better."
Anti skid failure - check
ABS braking problem - check
Check Engine light - check
lo and behold it has nothing to do with the brakes and everything to do with a very expensive emissions filter.
Glad to see Youngest is home, in one, unbroken piece.
2) The Young One won't talk to me because I showed her the photos of your little guy's camp. Why, she wants to know, do I NOT know about this camp that she would kill to go to?
3) We are taking her to the ER when she gets home from the Yankee game today because we think she broke her big toe while surfboarding yesterday. The big toe that she split in half longboarding three weeks ago.
4) A twice a day ambulance run?????
my mom has a new volvo wagon, and it refuses to let its temperature be adjusted. you can twirl the knob, but nothing happens. ;)
glad you're back safe.
What a country....