Safely home

I must've just been too tired; Isaac heard the alarm (I usually just set my cell phone to ring) and got up, but I never heard it... and I woke up in a dead panic, two hours late -- I knew we would NEVER make it to camp on time to pick up Alice by 9 AM.

We dashed around the house madly and were out the door ten minutes later, and began our trek to Parts Unknown. By 8 AM we were in Fort Worth, and I was able to get someone to answer the telephone at camp. "Okay, that'll be all right; just get here safely and we'll keep track of her 'til then," the nice lady on the other end of the line said.

It was raining cats and dogs, which it seems to be doing a lot lately, and my near-bald tires were skimming and shimmying all over the wet interstate. I managed to keep it together, however.

At about 9 AM my cell phone rings, and it's Rick. "Um, some weird news. I went online to check the credit card statement (at this, my heart sank because I was afraid he was going to chew me out over some purchase or other, but this was not the case) and the site had all kinds of red-letter warnings to call immediately. I did, and they had had to cancel our card because it was among a large batch of cards whose information had been compromised. They promised that our new cards were on their way. I knew there was no way you would be able to get back home without a card, though, so I got them to turn ours back on for another couple of days at least."

WTH? I guess I'm glad they were pro-active in shutting down our account before someone could do damage, but it would've been nice to have *some* notification. He would never have known had he not by chance decided to check it this morning, and I would've been stuck at a gas pump somewhere in the nether regions of Texas with no way to pay. Anyway, it was solved and I was clear to fill up the tank.

All the counselors were still there, doing de-briefing and such, so Alice was being well-cared-for when I arrived. She was bubbling over with chatty conversation (not at all typical of her!) about how much fun she had had, which made me feel a thousand times better about having sent her there. She definitely needs a shower, and I'm not at all sure when she last brushed her teeth, but she's in one piece, which after summer camp is really all that matters, right?

And mom gets a nice pile of laundry to do. Whee! I am so tired I can barely see straight. I attempted to drive over to nearby College Station (home of the Texas A&M Aggies) and get the guys at Wal-Mart Tire & Lube to put four new tires on my van, but they had a three-hour wait. As did every other Wal-Mart between there and here; I suppose Saturday is the most popular time to take care of such needs. The van did make it home on the questionable tires, but tomorrow after church I will be heading straight for the Wal-Mart in Sherman to get it taken care of. Once Rick is finished on Tuesday morning, our employee discount dries up, so I want to make sure we get as much out of the way as possible.

But tonight... at least tonight I don't have anywhere else I have to go, and I can just curl up here and chillax.