It's really cold. My Mormon Assault Vehicle (minivan) has had to have the battery jumped five times in the past two weeks. This morning was another of those mornings. It was running when Scott was ready to take Jaxon to school. He went to start his own car again and it wouldn't turn over. He took Jaxon to school in my MAV. He returned to find the battery cables on his car were loose from jumping my car so often. We were both running late for work because of the battery issues. Got an email from a colleague. His house is flooded. Took time to text him back. Finally left for work. I was already 8 minutes late.
My work is two miles from my house, almost a straight shot from home. I pulled over as a police car passed me. Then another. Then a fire truck with lights blazing. Then another. Called Scott to make sure he was okay. He hadn't seen anything but hoped it wasn't at the elementary school. I flipped around and retraced my path. I was overtaken by two more fire trucks. I honestly didn't think the little town had that many fire trucks. The emergency vehicles were at the grade school. I pulled into the parking lot. School had just started so parents had dropped off their kids and gone home. All of the kids were outside in the cold with their classes. The principal walked out just then and announced that there was a fire on the stage. The children would be evacuated off school grounds to a church across the street. I caught sight of Jaxon. He happily waved at me. We joined hands and I called out to his teacher that I was checking Jaxon out for the day. We drove to the intersection where I would choose to go left and home or right and work. 1200 children were crossing the street on the right. I couldn't turn right. I turned left.
I don't know how bad the fire is. The children are safe. They are probably cold but they are safe. But I am grateful that I have a bum battery that made me late today. That I called my husband who wisely mentioned the grade school. That I had the courage to be later and turn around. That I found my son, happy and safe. That the professional educators were calm and kept the children safe.
The school just called while I was writing this post. They are informing the parents of the fire and that their children will not be at the school for almost three more hours. We may choose to keep our children home. Unstated is that we may also choose to go pick our children up from the school.
That would be a telephone call I missed because I was at work.
I'm grateful for the detour.
My work is two miles from my house, almost a straight shot from home. I pulled over as a police car passed me. Then another. Then a fire truck with lights blazing. Then another. Called Scott to make sure he was okay. He hadn't seen anything but hoped it wasn't at the elementary school. I flipped around and retraced my path. I was overtaken by two more fire trucks. I honestly didn't think the little town had that many fire trucks. The emergency vehicles were at the grade school. I pulled into the parking lot. School had just started so parents had dropped off their kids and gone home. All of the kids were outside in the cold with their classes. The principal walked out just then and announced that there was a fire on the stage. The children would be evacuated off school grounds to a church across the street. I caught sight of Jaxon. He happily waved at me. We joined hands and I called out to his teacher that I was checking Jaxon out for the day. We drove to the intersection where I would choose to go left and home or right and work. 1200 children were crossing the street on the right. I couldn't turn right. I turned left.
I don't know how bad the fire is. The children are safe. They are probably cold but they are safe. But I am grateful that I have a bum battery that made me late today. That I called my husband who wisely mentioned the grade school. That I had the courage to be later and turn around. That I found my son, happy and safe. That the professional educators were calm and kept the children safe.
The school just called while I was writing this post. They are informing the parents of the fire and that their children will not be at the school for almost three more hours. We may choose to keep our children home. Unstated is that we may also choose to go pick our children up from the school.
That would be a telephone call I missed because I was at work.
I'm grateful for the detour.
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