Screaming in the rain
18 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in Stupid does not descriminate
I love rainy days, don’t you? The sound of rain and thunder are so soothing. Right now it’s dark outside and pouring. I’m snuggled up in bed with my PJs on comfortably sipping my morning mocha, courtesy of McDonald’s, with Katelynn happily cooing and chewing her toys beside me. For once, I have no pressing plans for today other than laundry and dishes (maybe…napping sounds better). Life is peaceful at the moment so I am enjoying the rainy weather.
If you had caught me around, say eight-ish this morning, however, I probably would have lost my religion on you over the torrential downpour I had to walk through to get Hannah to her preschool class. I’m pretty sure Desoto County had a hurricane this morning. I think I saw Geraldo in the parking lot in a poncho. It was awful and kinda scary. If I had cable, maybe I could have prepared and constructed an Ark. Although, as many cool things as the Mothership (my new name for the van) can do, I wouldn’t be surprised if it could morph into a Carnival Cruise Ship.
Anyway, it wasn’t raining when we left the apartment this morning and I only vaguely remember some dark clouds to the north of us on the way there, but keep in mind this was pre-McMocha. I’m not functionally human until I get my coffee. As soon as we hit the parking lot, though, things changed. Raindrops the size of small asteroids began threatening to shatter my windshield and before I could take my next breath we were having a full-on monsoon. So, I sat there waiting for the worst to pass, but after 15 minutes I couldn’t wait any longer since I had an appointment to make and Hannah was growing increasingly anxious about being left at school. So in my infinite mommy wisdom, I decided to grab both umbrellas, my kids, and make a mad dash for the safety of the covered walkway.
I obviously underestimated that we were parked three miles from safety. I opened one full size umbrella and handed it to my preschooler, while I manned the other in one hand, carrying Katelynn and Hannah’s school bag in the other. Hannah did pretty well for about two seconds until lightning and thunder were crashing all around us and the wind caught under her umbrella and threatened to carry her off to Oz. With both my hands full, I was forced to catch her with my body and force her against the wind, as she screamed in terror, towards the entrance. It took us what seemed like an hour to make it to the covered walkway and by that time we had been soaked with approximately 2,000 gallons of cold rain. How we didn’t get hit by lightening, I’ll never know!
Once inside, we squeaked down the hallway, sopping wet and shivering, towards her class. I caught the teacher’s assistant outside and asked her, in exasperation, what my options were for drop-off during days like these. Could I pull under the awning and walk her inside? Did they have staff or volunteers that could walk her from the carpool line to her classroom? She just stared at me for a second with wide-eyes like I had asked her to bare my next child for me and finally said, “Oh, nooooo…you have to park in the parking lot and walk her in. I’m sorry. I know that means you’ll get a little wet…” A little wet?! Lady, I just dodged 15 strikes of lightening, nearly dropped my infant trying to prevent my other child from being blown into the next county, and I’m soaked down to my socks and underwear! In what capacity does that qualify as a “little wet”?! Luckily, that string of word-vomit didn’t leave my lips, but my face said it all too clearly. So she said, “Well, you don’t have to drop her off so early.”
NEGATORY!
At that point, I lost it. I told her that I had important appointments to keep, a schedule to adhere to, and would eventually have job hours to abide by. What did they expect working parents to do? Wait in the parking lot until lunchtime when the rain passed? Humph! Ridiculous! Especially when the other students can be dropped off near the door, but they don’t want the preschool parents holding up traffic. I think I startled her, because she just walked away as I mumbled some half-hearted apology about being irritable because I was wet and hadn’t had my coffee. Then I kissed Hannah goodbye and carried Katelynn back to the car in Hurricane-screw-with-Brittney-Lee. I was so hot I’m sure the raindrops were evaporating in steam as soon as they made contact with my body.
So I made it to my appointment on time and then stopped to get my required cup ‘o Joe. I’m a little better now that I’ve dried out, but it still makes me angry and I’ll probably be sending a lengthy email to the school administration with suggestions that would be safer for the children who are expected to walk three miles to class in a severe lightening storm.
