My Bad Luck

On the eve of Madeline's 15th birthday, we're hoping that our string of bad luck has come to an end. I hesitate to even mention the possibility of an end so as not to jinx myself, but I'm also trying to be totally optimistic. Yeah, good luck with that.


We're busy with birthday preparations around here right now, having just returned from Madeline's annual birthday celebration in Roanoke Rapids, NC. Every year we make the trek to this dying town to eat Crazy Bread at Little Caesar's Pizza, drink coffee at Starbuck's, and peruse the aisles of Walgreens. We TOTALLY know how to have a good time. Madeline will be jetting off to Oregon in a few weeks (this is what she wanted for her birthday) so I think our celebration at home will be pretty low-key. I don't exactly remember what I got for my 15th birthday, but I do know that it wasn't a plane trip across the country. Lucky kid.

About our bad luck: In the past few weeks we've had two cars die on us. And one of them wasn't even ours! My van's transmission failed the first week my parents were visiting here. All of our plans to visit Norfolk's Naval Base and Jefferson's Monticello flew out the proverbial window. Thank goodness my parents were here and I wasn't left without a working vehicle. And their AAA membership allowed my van to be towed to the mechanic at no charge. I won't even tell you how much a new transmission will cost, but suffice it to say that most of the cars I've ever owned have not been worth as much as the new transmission. All of the other cars combined, that is.

And then some friends generously lent us their pickup to use until my van was fixed. During my weekly trip to the bank on Friday, an unnamed child accidentally bumped the 4-wheel drive switch on said pickup, which resulted in our inability to get the vehicle out of 4-wheel drive. It was 8:30 at night, we were 30 miles from home, and we were stuck in 4-low. There might have been a really poopy diaper too. With no extra diaper or wipes in my possession. It took us over an hour and a half to limp home at about 30 MPH, driving the entire way with our hazard lights flashing. Jon was crying hysterically. I assumed his concern was for our safety, but then he blurted out, "Daddy's going to get fired!" (We borrowed the pickup from the family that Bill works for) Now THAT was funny.

Then there was the day last week that Jon was attacked by our rooster, Big Herb. This was a traumatizing experience for poor Jon. Now, Big Herb did not come to us on purpose. When we bought our baby chicks this spring, we were assured they were properly sexed and that we would end up with 8 lovely laying hens. Well, as the summer progressed, one of the hens grew a little larger than the others, and started to make funny noises in the morning. Jack, who feeds the chickens in the mornings, thought this hen was choking on her food, and thus, the reason for the funny sound. Can you say, "Cock-a-doodle-doo?" Big Herb grew more aggressive by the day, attacking anyone who ventured too close to his ladies. He attacked me, he attacked Bill, and he attacked Jon. That was the final straw. Big Herb is now residing in my freezer, waiting until the next cool evening prompts a craving for chicken and dumplings. Or more like Big Herb and dumplings. Personally, I think that the remaining hens are a little relieved to be rid of that rooster. He had only one thing on his mind.

"Bill's Problem -Pet Euthanasia" business was further dispatched last week when our vagrant, feral cat returned home after many years of freedom. Not sure what the exact cause of his injury was, but he now resides under our big pine tree, free, at last, from pain and suffering.

There was also a nasty burn from the lawnmower on Sarah's knee, a shower drain that backed up, and some really awful weather that threatened to blow our roof off. But I think that's all over now.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a great day, and the start of some better times. We can't believe that 15 years ago we were looking at our baby girl for the first time and being completely awestruck by the miracle. Now THAT was a great day.