Sunday, January 9, 2011

Back On The Road

Since the flat tire was on the front, Wally had to change the rear tire first and put the donut tire on there. Then he removed the flat front tire. It was the normal tire changing ordeal right up to the point where Wally had removed the flat and needed to jack the car up slightly more to fit the good rear tire onto the front. Then the car fell off of the jack, we all jumped back and saw that the jack was in pieces... 


Wally asked Dani to call Tony and see if he could round us up a jack from somewhere. "We're going to have to call for a tow," Wally said. He was completely exasperated.


My mind was spinning... can't call for a tow... I only have three dollars to my name... Tony will never be able to help us... There is no one else to call... The jack cannot be broken... It just can't be!


I picked up the pieces trying to figure out how it was supposed to fit together, yes, this looks right... I picked up the heavy four-way and smashed the piece on top of the jack and it popped right into place. Fixed. I handed it to Wally. Dani burst out, "Wow Mom! You're a pro!" I had to smirk a little bit, not letting on that I was as surprised as anyone that it worked. 


Before long we were on the road again. 


We missed the dentist appointment of course so we took Dani back to her new temporary home. She's living with a woman that has three little kids. They are just barely getting by, just like we were. I am just so thankful for Kay's generosity to offer to take Dani in for a while. Another mouth to feed is probably the last thing that she needs. 


Living in our car is definately a different kind of life.


We've found a place to park at night that tolerates us and others like us... a lot of others like us... As we snuggle down for the night we watch the other vehicles and the people in them. We've made up names for some of the people and joke and giggle about some of their habits... like Mr. Andrew, who checks his trunk about 20 times before he finally climbs into his backseat to sleep. 


We have a fuzzy blanket and two large comforters to share that keep us warm enough at night. We cuddle and struggle to get our covers arranged just so... "You know, this would be fun if we didn't have to do it," I told Wally and we both started to laugh.


Wally went with me to work on Wednesday morning. I worked from 7am-7:30pm and Wally explored the little town up there. Before I left work I used their microwaves to heat up some cheap frozen dinners for us. We drove a couple of miles down the road to a rest stop to eat and sleep for the night before I returned to work another 7am-7:30pm shift the next day. We had to sleep close to where I worked because I was running very low on fuel. That night we did the same thing. I thought it was a pretty good idea. We got to have hot dinners. 


We drove back to "our" town Friday morning. We stopped at the coffee shop where my computer seems to have decided that it will never start again... *sigh*... We went back to the church, where we were able to take showers, do a load of laundry and had a home cooked hot meal of chicken noodle soup, Peachy chicken and rice (bbq sauce with peach preserves used as the sauce) salad, corn, and buttered bread. From there I went to donate plasma.


Then we went to see Danielle for a while. Kay and I went down to the bank to get some papers notarized. I've signed over guardianship of Dani (temporarily) to Kay so that she can see to Dani's doctor and dentist appointments. We are finally getting all of that caught up with since I was finally able to prove that Jake's "insurance" will not cover any of Dani's care, so I was able to get her health coverage through the state... finally... finally... 


It's breaking my heart but I have to do what's best for my daughter. 

1 comment:

  1. Kim, no one who knows you would believe you aren't keeping Dani's best interests in mind. I have utmost respect for you and Wally, and all you're doing to get through this rough time.

    Please don't lose heart, and please keep your chin up; you're mamaging okay and winter won't be here forever.

    I'm sending lots of hugs and all the encouragement I can think of to you and Wally.

    Hang in there!

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