This is one of those posts that I'm not sure how to really even start! Therefore, the best thing to do is to go back to the beginning…but where is that exactly? I guess it could begin a week ago when we tried the date thing that failed for the most part because I got the stomach flu. Or, when we drove the girls up to CCA camp for the week, which wasn't too terribly bad even though I still had the flu, because a wonderful woman helped drive me home after we dropped the girls off. We could begin with the chaos that happened at home while I was away that day, or we could begin at any one of the incidences that just kept happening all week long! But, I think I'll just fast forward to yesterday morning.

Yesterday I had to get up early, like 4:30 am, to drive to California to go pick up the same girls I'd dropped off on Sunday. I didn't get a great night's sleep because the Smart One got sick at camp on Friday, along with two other boys, so they were brought home a night early. And even though my hubby was wonderful and went and picked him up in the middle of the night so I could sleep, I still had that mom thing going on through my head and dozing, so restful sleep was not an option.

As I got up and headed out, the Drama Queen woke up and begged to go with me, so she quickly dressed and on our way we went! She promptly fell back asleep in the van, and so I cranked up my Christy Nockels cd and drove off into the sunset into the darkness. (I did get to see a sunrise though, in my rearview mirror later that morning!) I had 2 straight hours of reflection time while I listened the the lyrics, sang my heart out, and prayed. By the time I got to….whatever town it was, I felt better and thought that perhaps I can regroup and focus on Him and make it through these trials that keep getting thrown our way! The Drama Queen eventually woke up so we cranked it up again and we both sang out hearts out until we made our way to the camp.

At camp, I was able to spend some time with the girls counselor for the week because the girls had gone off to say goodbye to their camp families…or something like that. She mentioned it had been a tough week for them and we talked a bit about that, then went in search of the girls. We finally ended up circling back to the cabin only to find out the girls had been circling the camp trying to find us! After hugs hello and hugs goodbye, we started on our journey home. And we made good time, too. As we drove up to Barstow, I mentioned that I'd always wondered why they would stick that fancy outlet mall in the middle of the desert by itself. The girls wanted Taco Bell, which just happened to be next to the mall, so off we went. One of the girls had a birthday this past week and had birthday money to spend, so the girls decided they'd help her find school clothes with her birthday money. We finally made it to a parking spot and headed on in, thrilled that we'd found a PacSun, especially me, since I had $40's worth of pacloots. B-Boo also mentioned that she still had the money I'd given her for camp in case she needed it. I told her to keep it for later if we needed it, and we spent the next hour having the girls shop and model for us as we picked out school clothes.

As we headed back out to the van after our little shopping spree, we realized that we were actually in the wrong mall! We'd visited the older outlet mall and never made it to the mall (across the street) that we thought we were going to! No, I'm not really brainless, it was just part of that series of unforunate events that continues to plague my life right now. But we had a good laugh, were happy with PacSun and ready to travel the next 140 miles to take us home.

Until the air conditioning went out….and we still had a long, long, way to go. And we were in the desert…in August.

I called hubby and told him what had happened and that I planned on stopping in the next town to stock up on cold water and then we'd continue on our way home….in the heat…with no air conditioning. And we did…stop in the next town, I mean. Purchases our cold water, loaded back into the van, and started it. And promptly turned it off, before it blew up.

I'm glad I had the sense to go to the nicer, newer Chevron station that had, yes, Taco Bell in it. The girls went back inside to drink their water and take care of the Drama Queen, while I called the local mechanic…and hubby.

I'll save you the drama of the next 30 minutes, but suffice it to say, the van was undriveable for the rest of the trip. The mechanic said it had just enough in it to take it to his shop a block away. He also said he charged $100 for closing his shop to come look at the van, but he'd take it off the final bill. I understood. Then he informed me he'd only take cash. Um, ok, but I don't have $100 cash. There is no ATM in the gas station. He says he'll wait…he was very nice, not rude, just waiting…for me to figure out where I was going to get $100 cash. B-Boo took off running inside the gas station. In the next moment, the girls came running out, diggin through their purses and pulling every bit of cash that they had so that we could pay the mechanic.  We paid him and I told him we'd meet him at the shop in a few minutes.

And then we took a few moments to compose ourselves. Because you see, I have the priviledge of working with an amazing group of teens! Teens who don't really have a selfish bone in their bodies and who will drop everything and step up when the occasion arises! These were my girls, and I adore them! And for a brief moment, they saw my human side drizzle after my terrible week…and their not so great week, so we cried for a quick sec…then laughed and went on our way…to the mechanic's.

After dropping off the van and calling for a ride home, we decided to walk down to the Valero gas station because it had bathrooms, air conditioning, and most importantly, Dairy Queen! I told the girls to get whatever they wanted since we were going to be there for a couple of hours and I'd pay with my debit card since we were all out of cash. They ordered; I tried to pay. With my debit card. But their computer was down, so they needed cash. I thought I responded well, through my laughter.

"What is this? A cash only town?"

The cashier responded that there was an atm next door at Valero's. And hey, it only costs me $5 in ATM fees, but I was not going to sit in Dairy Queen for the next hour or two and not eat ice cream!

So we laughed, played the card game, "Speed," laughed some more, and before we knew it, our rides were there!

And we finally made it home, 16 hours after I'd woken up to start my day!

And so here I sit, on a Sunday morning, with my van 100 miles away, my sick son sitting next to me, typing this blog. Yeah, it's been one of those weeks!

And to my triplet boys…yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be writing about you….it's just that THIS happened instead!