For Real

It's the 2nd day of spring here and it hasn't really snowed all winter so naturally, there was a snowstorm last night. Apparently our trees weren't prepared for it because this is what I woke up to.  A giant branch - really really huge - fell and part of it hit the car. The little branch sticking out the window is a twig compared to the main part. It crashed out the back window, dented the roof and the side rail of the van.

And of course, Peter is at work. On a 48. So here I was, 2 kids, one without school and one who needed to be there at 11 and a car filled with broken glass and snow. I got breakfast going, dealt with the child who decided the van was getting too much attention so she figured some button pushing was in order, and called the body shop, and filed an insurance claim, and went outside and started gently clearing snow and branches off our car. All the while realizing that this is going to be expensive and that there is a spring break trip planned to start on Monday, and that I don't know how exactly to cover the back window of a car. Plastic tarp? Duct tape? Would the duct tape take the paint off? Somehow I feel like I have a college degree and therefore should know how to do this.

As I am trying to wade through all of this and deal with it in a somewhat urgent manner (did I mention the trip that starts Monday? the kid that needed to get to school?), Miss E suggested that we call Daddy and have him come home to help. I told her that yes, that would be very nice but no, we were kind of on our own here (sometimes being married to a firefighter is not so awesome). I think this was the first time that it REALLY TRULY sunk in to her what his job means to our family. There is no coming home to help in an emergency, we are really on our own when he is at work. Basically, I might as well be a single parent when he is gone. Any issue that arised, whether I know how to handle it or not, has to be handled by me and the kiddos. Flooded toilet? Busted van window? Power out? Help is not a phone call away. The buck stops here as they say.

So I carried on dealing with the van, took the day off work to care for the kids and this problem, took Miss E to school in a glass-filled car and got it dropped off at the auto-body place. They are telling me the ESTIMATE will be ready Monday. That's not great news, but it is what is so we are rolling with it. Before we dropped it off, I counted three body panels and the rear window that are damaged and right now my biggest hope is that they don't total out the van and that our insurance company doesn't decide to break up with us (Did I mention this is our 3rd comprehensive claim in a year for something ridiculous? Yeah. We are the insurance company's irresponsible boyfriend). For now though all we can do is wait and tomorrow, when Peter gets home, start cleaning the glass and tree out of our driveway. I knew spring was my least favorite season for a reason.