Lloyd dropped me off this chilly morning, and about ten minutes later I got a phone call.
“Lauren? I’m kinda in a ditch.”
“What? What?” Immediately I proved my worth in a crisis situation, which is to repeat myself. A lot.
Apparently he had slid on a bit of ice and wound up across the road just off the shoulder. Nothing major – no spinning out of control – just a blessedly injury-free slide, but one he couldn’t drive out of on his own.
We decided I’d go home to get the truck and go get him, but actually Kate was able to pick him up on her way in and bring him to school. Oh, the children were excited when they saw him walk by the window! “Mr. Sommerer’s here!” (Maybe they thought it was already late afternoon – that’s usually when he arrives.)
So, Lloyd came inside and we called a tow truck, thinking that surely it would just be a few minutes.
Um, no.
After waiting half an hour, he took off his coat and joined us for breakfast. Mmmmm…. breakfast pizza. He had to sit at a tiny, knee-whacking table, but the children had the Best. Manners. Ever. He should eat with us every day.
“Surely the truck will come soon,” we thought after breakfast.
Um, no.
He was there for songs. He was there for calendar. He was there for our story. He was there for centers.
He arrived at 7:30 and the truck (disappointingly not a tow truck, since those were off helping people in real accidents) drove in at 10:15. So, while Lloyd was probably quite pained on the inside, it was awesome having him around. The children were good as gold, and one little girl likes him very, very much, but can’t express it. She would skip-dance by him like a hummingbird with two homemade valentines clutched in her hands, but she never gave them to him. She finally expressed her devotion, though, when it was time to Call A Friend for a birthday treat, and she got to quietly say, “Mr. Sommeheh.” Oh, the joy.
Lloyd got picked up just before we served the cake. Sorry, man, but thanks for your help today. I’ll be sure to report to your mom that you have excellent cuttting skilz.
It’s fun to spend a couple hours at preschool, but I could never do that all day long. Whew!
You probably weren’t very good at cutting.
This is one of the best stories EVER! You know, Lauren, you’d never get the same reaction if you went to school with Lloyd. Preschoolers just know how to get it right.
How’s the car?
I agree. This story is great!!
Do you have more pictures you could post…or enough for a video. It’s been a long time since you’ve done a video.
Lauren has a lot of good pictures of the day, but they all have kids in them, and she doesn’t want to post them without permission. I didn’t take any pictures of the car. They wouldn’t have been good pictures anyway. The car was a total of 3 feet off of the road.
Something is goofy with our iMovie program. It doesn’t sync the pictures up to the music when you’re actually working on it, so I’ve given up. I actually had a pretty funny one in the works (Lloyd and I singing), but it’s too much effort.
We don’t care if it’s out of sync. Oh please do show the movie!
We’ll love it!!
Please, please, please show us the movie!!!
A car goes off the road. The driver brings joy to little ones. How God love them! “In all things God works for good for those who love Him,” indeed!
OOPS! “loves”. And I re-read it before submitting it!
The pictures made my day! Everyone needs to slow down and enjoy the little things once in a while. It must have been your turn.