I missed the bus and somehow found my way back on....

Man, yesterday was a hard day for me. It was supposed to be Porter's first day of riding the bus, but we completely missed it in the morning. We walked out of our house at 8:10 a.m. and looked down the street at the stop and saw the bus already there, the bus was not supposed to come until 8:15 a.m. We started to run down the street, which I can only imagine what that looked like (me and four kids, two of which were still in their pj's and Tessa was sporting her amazing morning hair). I immediately checked in with reality and decided we should turn around and head back home and just get in the van to drive to school. Porter was such a great sport and never complained about missing the bus, he understood that the bus was early and there was no way we could make it on time.

This little incident affected my whole day, as soon as we walked in the door from dropping him off at school I broke down crying. I felt like I had let him down and that I had failed him. I know that is not what happened at all, but at the moment, that is how I felt. It was also one of those moments where having four kids and just one parent home affected me, I was truly out-numbered. Had I not had to wake Tessa up and change her diaper, wake Marin up and put her in the car seat and get out the stroller, if I didn't have to get every ones jackets on them maybe I would have made it and we could have been early. But my life is what it is, have four children, 3 of which are girls who like to sleep in and get their beauty rest. So I have been asking myself, is riding the bus worth it? The answer is yes, of course, because Porter has always wanted to be a "bus rider".

I eventually got out of my funk and was ready to change the way the day was going. I picked up the house, did the laundry, picked up the kids rooms for them, and made the beds. While I was sitting on the floor of the girls room I got to thinking about my grandmother who lives in Cali, she has stage three cancer of the bladder. I have not seen my grandma in over two years and I miss her so much and have wished everyday since Marin Ruth was born that she could come and meet her. I decided to go to the computer and check to see how much it would cost to fly her out here. And what do you know Southwest was having a sale, and not just a sale, but a super duper sale!! I called grandma right away and sent a e-mail to my grandpa telling them my amazing find. I didn't really think anything of it. I mean my grandma is 79 years old...with cancer, yeah right she is going to come. But....a few hours later I got the call, she said "I think I can do that." And that was all it took, well, that and an American Express credit card. It is official, in December I will be having one of the most important visitors of my life and it will be a time I will forever cherish. My grandma thanked me on the phone for doing this for her, for finding the ticket, and while she was saying that I was just speechless. Was she really thanking me? I have no words for how I feel about her coming, maybe just one, JOY.

So, by the end of the day, I managed, to find my own way back on the bus. My ride was crazy for the day, I think there were some serious wrong turns, but it worked out, which things always do. And I am happy to report that Porter also got on the bus to ride home and I was there with the girls 10 minutes early to pick him up, oh, and this morning, we did not miss the bus.