YOU CAN TAKE THE GIRL OUT OF THE SUBURBS...

It's probably not a good idea though. Today was our big "going out" day. We had tickets to the matinee showing of "Noises Off" at Pioneer Theater at the U. I love that we have these great opportunities and they help make homeschooling easier on me. The part that is NOT easy for me is the going downtown part. And it's not even that I don't like being in the city, it's more that I don't like driving in the city. I am not good at it! Not one bit good at it. So today I was going to take a different approach... public transportation. Trax is the name of our light rail system in Salt Lake County and we've taken advantage of Trax a few times with relative success. Today was going to be a little more complicated because we had to exit one train and then catch a connecting train to the University, and walk the rest of the way. A few things I should have considered more carefully before putting this plan into action. 1) The weather 2) Things may not go to plan, and 3) What if things DON'T go as planned.

I think things first started to go bad when I decided to skip the gym this morning in favor of a few quiet minutes to myself at home while the kids were at art class. It would have been fine to take a day off, if only I didn't let myself feel guilty about it. One bad decision tends to lead to a chain reaction and I found myself un-showered and unready to go with only 30 minutes to get to our Trax station on time. Rush, rush, rush, and we barely made the 12:34 train. Whew! Okay, now I could finally relax and enjoy the rest of the day. I studied the routes on the wall of our car as we bumped along and felt relief that I was not driving on this blustery, rainy day. "Brit, do you have the umbrella? No?" When we left home we had clouds and the temps were around 55 degrees. This seemed like jacket weather, so we wore jackets, not coats, hats, and gloves. When we got off at our transfer location we had rain, wind, and temps in the low 40s! Our connection came, we stood their stupidly watching people board, the kids asking if we should get on, and then missed our train! What was I thinking? Well, the train came from the north, and was headed south. In my mind we needed to continue north. My faulty, frozen mind. We stood for 15 minutes in the rain, wind, and coat (not jacket) weather until the next train came around. I told the kids to hurry up and get on because if we missed this one we would not make it to the play on time. I grabbed Kaylee's hand and headed for the nearest opening. Lots of other people must have felt the same kind of urgency to make this train because they were pushing and shoving their way on. We made it though... most of us... then Kaylee screamed, "Mom! Brit didn't get on!" And then she fell apart completely. That was about the time those pushy, selfish people who had shoved Brit out of the way to get on train started to grow a conscience. One guy tried to stop the train by opening the doors, that didn't work, another guy tried to help Kaylee calm down by telling her another train would come by and Brit could catch that one, and another guy gave us his seat. Nice gestures, yet not really much consolation for a little girl who honestly thought she'd never see her brother again, and a mother who just watched her baby boy disappear from view. Kaylee was sobbing and I knew I needed to call Brit's cell to let him know he could catch the next train. At the same time, Brit had the same idea and called me to say he was fine. I gave him instructions on what to do and then put a call in to Jeff to let him know our situation. Jeff was working downtown today and decided to call Brit and offer to pick him up and bring him to us. Kaylee was squeezing my hand and crying, I was trying to make her understand that everything was going to be okay. I wanted to cry too, but that's not really an option when you need to be the strong one. We got off at the University and sat down on the benches in the rain, and wind, and freezing cold temps to wait for Jeff and Brit to find us. Kaylee was now to the point of heaving and shaking uncontrollably so I just sat and held her close. She said, "Mom, I just want Dad to come and pick us up and take us home!" And as much as I really wanted to see "Noises Off", I knew it was too much to ask of my little girl to suck it up and forget that just minutes before she honestly thought she would never see her brother again.

Brit seemed to get through the whole ordeal without much trouble. The worst part for him he said was that he knew how worried we were about him. And in the parking lot when we all got out of the car, a miracle happened... my 15 year old teenage son gave his little sister a big, giant, hug! Oh, and I got a hug too.

I told Brit that this whole thing could have been avoided if he hadn't been so stubborn about holding my hand in public!