Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Right as I was getting ready to walk out the door to pick up Nicole from school, it started pouring. I mean...like I opened the door and got wet just looking at the rain. It was a baaaaaaad storm. I figured I would just wait it out. Storms pass pretty qucikly here. Surely, this one would pass too. Nope. Ten minutes after the time I was supposed to be at the school (and a 15 minute walk away mind you), I decided I would just have to go for it. As I was running down the sidewalk, a brilliant idea came to me. I would drive to pick up Nicole. Yeah, the clutch is tricky. And yes, only one wiondshield wiper works. And technically, I haven't driven by myself yet. Oh, and the car has been very difficult to get started lately. But surely this downpour was the perfect time to try driving this temperamental beast by myself.

By the time I reached the parking lot, I was soaked. I had puddles in my shoes and my clothes were wet all the way through. The umbrella had done very little to protect me from the horizontal rain. And, it was very likely it wouldn't do me any good in the future...as I tried to very gracefully climb into the car, I broke half the little spoke thingies. But I couldn't worry about the umbrella now. I was going to drive. I was going to drive. I just kept telling myself that...trying to psych myself up. After five failed attempts, I finally got the car to start. Ok. This is a good start. But that's where the luck ran out. I couldn't get the car to go into reverse. The stick just wouldn't go where it was supposed to. I was on kind of an incline, so I hoped I could just let the car roll back. Well it rolled back some, but not enough. I wondered how easily this car turns. Perhaps I could use the empty parking spaces beside me and turn the car around and head out. Nope. I almost got all the way around but then came smack-dab up to the curb. Now what?! I was in the middle of the parking lot...unable to go backwards or forwards. Push I guess. I got out in the pouring rain and tried to push the car back into a spot. It started to go back, but at a nasty angle. I rushed around to the front seet and straightened the wheel. But in the process, I had lost the valuable progress I had made trying to go backwards. Push again. I was moving backwards again, but still at a bad angle. At this rate, I was going to take up three parking spots. At that exact moment, the two neighbor girls came walking up with their grandma. The angels that they are (the girls, not the grandma...she high-tailed it back to the house) helped me push. We finally managed to get the car into an acceptable spot (only using two spaces instead of three). But I still had to get Nicole and there was NO way I was getting back into that beast of a car. And now, I was really late. And more wet than I had ever been before in my life. I grabbed my sad, useless umbrella and started walking.

At the exact moment I walked up to the school door, it stopped raining. Good grief.