Last night, Jason took the middle school kids to the local corn maze. Itapos;s a pretty cool place; there are actually three good-sized mazes that open into a common area, and then there are goats and inflatables and pumpkins and activities. Iapos;d already been there earlier in the season, and I was certain that I didnapos;t want to be stomping around on uneven paths in the dark in 40-something-degree weather at 7.5 months pregnant. But I was more than willing to be the centrally-located adult if needed. I dropped off a couple youth at the entrance and went to find a parking spot in the unpaved lot. One of the youth said, "Thanks, Jaime. Donapos;t get stuck in a puddle"
The lot is quite bumpy at this time of the year. On the way back, I was driving **really** slowly and hoping it wouldnapos;t give me contractions. I got onto the grassy area and pulled into a spot a few cars down from where Jason had parked... And as I pulled in, the long grass gave way and I heard my wheels start to spin. I was stuck. After a few minutes of trying to drive myself out, I got out and joined Jason and the group. There were several parents there, so I wasnapos;t needed.
Plan #1: Jason sent a few strong middle schoolers over to try to push me out, but we ended up just digging in a little more deeply (and covering my car and one of the boys with a fine spray of mud).
Plan #2: Nice guy with a big truck came over in the hopes of nudging my car from behind. When he looked at how our cars lined up, he realized it would probably damage his car or mine. Nice Guy and his two female friends call out lots of contradicting advice, like "Put it in neutral" "Turn your wheel back and forth" "Give it some gas" "Put it in drive" "Leave your wheel straight"
Plan #3,4,5: Jason and another adult arrive to help, and with Nice Guy, try the pushing again. No luck. They think of trying plywood (which a neighboring car is using) or towels or a rope (given to us by a Corn Maize employee), but at this point the wheels are well-dug.
Plan #6: A friend whoapos;d driven by offers to call Triple A. It turns out itapos;s in her husbandapos;s name, who isnapos;t there, and they wonapos;t come out unless the cardholder is there.
Plan #7. Another adult chaperone who *is* a cardholder calls Triple A and waits with me near the entrance. Jason goes back and forth between seeing how things are going with me and with the kids. I am thankful that there are so many adult chaperones. While we are waiting, an employee says most of them have pickups and are used to helping to tow people out, and that we shouldapos;ve told them. (We sort-of did when we asked for the rope, but that doesnapos;t matter at this point.)
When the very large flat-bed tow truck arrives, Jason and I head out to the car while the other chaperone goes with the driver to direct us there. There are TONS of cars at the maze by this point and it is very crowded. We are parked near the back, and it has gotten very dark. As we arrive at the car, Jason is checking out the field behind the car to see if the truck will have room.
I turn toward my car, step in one of the many ruts in the lot, and FALL. Very scary at this point in my pregnancy, but I land on my hands and knees which is a huge relief. I am, however, now covered in various degrees of mud. I stand back up, call Jason, and assess the damage. My shoe makes a sucking sound but pulls free of the mud, although itapos;s entirely covered and I can feel muddy water seeping through my socks. My pant legs are covered with mud from the knees down, my hands and the sleeve of my jacket are covered with mud, and Iapos;ve dropped the blanket I was carrying into the mud too, and there is a fine spray of muddy water elsewhere. It is a gotta-laugh-or-cry moment, and the laughter is not winning, but I am already a pathetic stuck muddy pregnant woman, and I donapos;t want to add "crying" to that list.
The tow truck is too big to get in and tow me out. In addition, Triple A will only cover within 50 feet of the road. Tow truck man offers to call someone else if we want to pay cash. Haha, very funny, but no thank you.
We head back to the main area to ask the maze employees for help (plan #8). We run into some of the kids, one of whom finds the whole situation hilarious. I guess it is kind-of funny... Or at least I think it may be in the future. While Jason talks to the employees, another chaperone (well-known for her thoughtfulness and compassion) asks how it is going. So... I start telling her, and start crying (ugh, hormones), and she buys me a spiced cider. Nice lady. By the time we navigate the cider line, Jason and the employee have managed to get the car out, and I can finally go home (two and a half hours later).
There tend to be three situations where I get very frustrated: when I lose things, when I feel thwarted, and when things become a big deal. This scored a two out of three (good thing I didnapos;t drop my keys and lose them somewhere, or Iapos;d probably be extra crazy). However, I am very touched by the number of nice people who helped... And in the end, I am OK, my car is OK, and we didnapos;t even end up having to pay for a tow.
Now itapos;s 2:30 and Iapos;m going to go back to bed. I am trying something new tonight; instead of doing my normal tossing and turning from 2-6am, I got up for awhile. Weapos;ll see if I sleep better after this. In a month and a half, Iapos;m going to be getting up for many many little nighttime stretches, so I figure it canapos;t hurt. :)
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