Party Time

There were times today I thought the only party I'd get to was a pity party. I'm so glad things always have a way of working out.... to some extent.

We hit the road shortly after 7 a.m. so we could get Carter to that competition in Fond du Lac (about a 2-hour drive from Rapids). There were more than 120 kids in this thing -- but that covered different age groups and separate categories for boys and girls. Carter's division had 15 or so boys.

The competition went as well as we expected but not as well as Carter hoped. Without practice, a person just couldn't hop out of bed and expect to take home a trophy. Carter did OK, but not great. Not good enough to finish in the top 3 and take home a trophy. He finished sort of in the middle and was bummed and pouty -- and we couldn't cheer him up.

Stopped at Friar Tuck's to eat lunch afterwards and then popped in at the Oshkosh Outlet Mall. The "boys" were not thrilled with Bath & Body Works or Rue 21 but somehow Carter talked Daddy into buying him a football at the Nike outlet store. That might have to be Carter's birthday present....

When we got on the highway, the battery light came on. If you feel like this is deja vu all over again, it sort of is. Only worse.

It didn't stay on. And really, we weren't that concerned because the battery is brand-spankin' new. Right? But then it came back on and stayed on. We were 45 minutes into the trip home when the radio quit working. Miraculously, when Jim shut the headlights off, the radio came back on. The signs were not looking good. When I had Jim test the wipers (it was a constant drizzle today), they went very slowly. Before we knew it, various "warning lights" were coming on, then we lost all power.

We knew we were getting close to Waupaca and just hoped we could coast far enough to turn off the busy 4-lane Highway 10 and onto a side road. We did. Long story short, we got ahold of Jim's aunt and uncle (who live in Waupaca). They picked us up. We camped at their house a bit while arranging a tow to a garage and then had Jim's sister Sherry drive all the way from Rapids (45-50 minutes away) to come get us.

We got home around 5 and hope we get our car home with what we suspect will be a new alternator (the only part NOT replaced this week) on Monday.

I was totally in the cranky depths of despair, but am feeling much better now that my life is back in perspective...

We had a surprise party for a friend of ours (newspaper guy we worked with) who had a heart transplant a year ago. Yes, he's a young friend (my age) and yes, by the grace of God, this was a successful operation.

It was also great to see some other friends we'd worked with over the years we both were at the paper. We snuck across the street to see friends at another party, too. (I guess it was a party day.) After hanging out with them awhile, we decided to stop back at the heart party to say goodbye on our way home. Of course, we ran into more people and visited more. (And I survived -- even though it was past my bedtime.)

It was a good day after all. Just seeing our friend healthy made me realize how blessed he is -- and how blessed we are. Who cares about that stupid car? We're healthy and we're happy... even without any trophys.