The only thing I really needed to do outside of the house today involved going to the post office. I had already waited more days than I should have so I didn't feel like I could put it off any longer. We were in the car around 4:30 and since the post office is fairly close I knew we would make it in time. And we did.
Just as I was about to get out of the car, another car parked right next to my door. Right right next to my door. I figured I could get out okay, but wasn't sure how well I'd be able to get Lily out of her door. As I was opening my door, something flew out of the other car towards me, hit my door, and then spun off in another direction. This was followed by extremely loud swearing from the man in the other car- including my personal favorite that begins with a b and ends in itch.
At first, I thought he was directing it at me.. and when he, being 3 times my size, got out of his car I paused for a minute. He kept yelling/swearing and I almost said something because my kids could clearly hear him, but he quieted down as he went past my car. I got out and went to Lily's door, but as I started unbuckling her, I saw him come up towards me- so I stopped and shut her door again.
Apparently the wind grabbed his hat as he was getting out of the car- which was what had flown at me and why he was swearing so loudly. He said it had flown under my car.. something something. But the way he said it.. really almost sounded like I was somehow to blame. Which is why I paused before responding at all.
He was trying to look under the side of my car, but hardly bent down at all. As he was still 5 or 6 feet away from me I crouched way down and could see his hat right near one of my front tires. I told him just that and we walked around to the front of my car. I checked again. Yup..
"I think I can reach it," I told him. As I knelt down on the pavement and felt the gravel going into my knees, I swear I heard him say "I hope so!" But, I mean.. who behaves like that? I don't know. So hopefully that is not what he said. I couldn't be sure anyway as I was halfway under my own car.
I stood up and handed him his hat as he thanked me. He went on to say something about his back and something something something so he couldn't blah blah blah. "Don't worry about it," I replied and walked away. But I couldn't help thinking- well, I actually have my own back problems, including having had surgery a year ago but I just crawled under my car to get your hat after you screamed and swore like a psycho around my kids anyway, so..
I finished getting Lily out of the car.. which prevented him from getting the packages out of his own car. But, you know what? For probably the first time in my life I didn't feel bad or apologize for it. After we finished our post office business and got back into the car Lily said to me "Mommy, you're like a hero!" Which made me smile.. if only we could always see ourselves through our kids eyes.
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