Here’s the continuation from Some Time Away – The Days Before Departure.

As I sat in traffic, I was making phone calls. A friend was checking on me to see what I would be doing while I was away. I made a list. He laughed because I had a list for my quiet time, and it was supposed to be relaxing time. The things on the list were relaxing, but there were a lot of things planned. I had three bins of books packed because I couldn’t decide what to read since nothing was technically assigned. I plan on swimming daily. I want to watch season two of Only Murderers in the Building. Most importantly, I needed to finish that last paper and submit it by midnight.

As I am driving, I note that the deadline for submitting the 2500-word paper had come and gone. Thankfully, I had stopped to get it in. The GPS said I would be arriving at the condo at around 7:15 pm. Plenty of time to get the 1600-word paper written and submitted, since it was almost done. I was just crawling along in traffic, but I felt ok about it. I ended up pulling over to get some caffeine, since I didn’t know how long traffic would last. It ended up being a good decision since I ended up on a frontage road and bypassed a lot of the traffic. The GPS still said the same arrival time, but at least I was moving!

I got to the condo and unpacked the car with help from my mom. I threw everything into my room and pulled out the laptop. I started writing and then realized that I didn’t change the font type on the 2500-word paper, even thought I was supposed to! Oh, no! At this point, it would be considered late if I resubmitted. I decided that I would have points taken off, either way, and that there might be fewer points off for the font than for tardiness? 50/50. Done is better than perfect, I suppose.

I finished the paper right around 8pm and submitted with plenty of time to spare. I settled down to eat and relax. I unpacked and got ready to go to bed. I was running around a bit, so I didn’t hear my phone ring. My older daughter called around 11pm. I tried to call her back, but she had already called my mom. Her car broke down on the way to pick up my younger daughter from the concert. She had Molly, the dog, with her, so she was trying to figure out what to do.

I ended up talking to her, and it looks like she had something crack or come loose in the cooling system of the car. I told her to have it towed, but the mechanic wouldn’t open until morning. She was working on getting my younger daughter to her, so at least she wouldn’t be alone, with the dog. She couldn’t take the dog in the tow truck, so we were trying to figure out how to do this. I suggested that my youngest go home in Uber and get her car and go back and get the dog. $60 and over an hour wait for the Uber. Suddenly, my mom suggested a cousin who has dogs and lived nearby. Yes, the cousin would come! The tow truck would be at least 2 hours, though. How would we do this? Someone pulled out of a parking spot right in front of the girls. They put the car into the spot and decided to wait until morning for the tow. The cousin arrived and took the girls and the dog home. She and Molly fell in love with each other, according to my daughter.

Everyone was safe, so now I have to figure out how to pay for repairs once the kids get to a place where we know what’s wrong with the car. It has to be towed still, then diagnosed, then I have time to figure out how to get money to the mechanic. We also have to figure out how to get the turtle fed with no car. She can walk or get a ride from her sister, but she’s solo after Monday morning. We’ll see. Hopefully the car is a quick fix.

Not really a great start to a relaxing time away.