Pajamas

Last Saturday, after sleeping for only 4 hours, my son woke me up at 7:00 a.m., frantic with worry because we had overslept. I had to drive him to the train station. We took longer than expected to leave, so at 7:25, thinking that I will just have to drive for 5 minutes to BART and back, and hopefully I can go back to bed and get some more rest, I decided to get behind the wheel in my pajamas. Who will see me at this hour on a Saturday morning? No one, I told myself. We got in the car and started the drive. He was really anxious that he won’t be able to be at work in Hayward by 9:00 a.m. So, in a moment of tender motherly love, I decided to drive him to work, 40 miles away. We listened to music and chatted. We went to McDonald’s to get him some breakfast, and I dropped him off at his work right on the dot at 9:00 a.m. Mission accomplished!

I was driving back when I realized I was hearing strange sounds. I was trying not to think about having a flat tire. I was thinking it would be so awful to have to get out of my car to change the flat tire in bright daylight on I-580, IN MY PAJAMAS! It was one of those things where I was hoping NO ONE would come and help me, as I didn’t want them to see me in my blue pajamas with yellow polka dots! My raincoat was in the car. I thought I would put it on and change the tire. The bright sunlight and the already warm day were worrying me about how warm it would be to have thermal pajamas AND a long raincoat on, while trying to change a flat tire, a task already too overbearing to contemplate! I pulled to the shoulder. I climbed out of the passenger side and got out. I looked at my tires. None of them were flat. I climbed back in and got going, feeling hot and stressed. Driving the 40 miles back home was filled with the worry of having to face the world in my pajamas! I got home all shaken up, and promised myself to NEVER do that again.