That’s What Family Is For (Part 2)

I woke up a little bit ago with a kink in my neck, and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I came out to read my morning email and news sites.  As I’m reading about the big ads from the Super Bowl last night, it hit me.  One year ago, on Super Bowl Sunday, I was the one who needed help.  My situation wasn’t quite as urgent as Michelle’s was yesterday, but I got heroic response from family, all the same. 

On that Sunday in 2008, Ryan had stayed the night at my Mom’s house.  We were going to drive down and pick him up later that afternoon.  In the mean time, Allison and I decided to take advantage of being without the kid and went to see a movie at the Putnam Museum’s Imax theater.  (Batman, if I recall correctly.)  We got there in the early afternoon, and after parking the car, we headed in to the museum.  It was about that time that Allison realized she had locked the keys in the car. 

After a bit of frantic searching pockets and checking the locks on the car doors, we confirmed we were in trouble.  I think we called a locksmith or two to ask for prices on unlocking the doors, but in the end, we decided to call Mom.  The line of thinking went something like this: “Hey Mom, instead of us driving down to get Ryan, could you bring him up here?  And while you’re in town, swing by the museum and pick us up so we can get the spare keys from home.”  Well, it sounded like a good idea at the time.  Allison and I went on into the museum to watch the movie, and 2+ hours passed.  We expected Mom would probably be waiting outside when we got out. 

Instead, we found inches of snow on the ground outside, and heavy snow still coming down.  I called to check on Mom, and found out that she wasn’t coming alone.  Before leaving, she had contacted my Grandparents, and they insisted on driving her down here because they were expecting an ice storm.  (Mind you, it was fairly nice out when I called Mom, and I hadn’t seen a weather forecast for the day.)  So, knowing that they would be driving into hazardous weather, my Grandma, Grandpa, and Mom piled into a minivan and came to the rescue.

It took them quite a while to get to the museum, due to the weather and also to Grandpa’s not being familiar with the Iowa side of the river and where the museum is.  When they did arrive, it was in almost zero visibility, and very hazardous road conditions.  The snow had fallen so quickly, plows couldn’t keep up.  Still, with Grandpa at the wheel, we slowly began the drive back across the river to my house.  At the house, Grandpa pulled into my (Inclined, Snow Covered) driveway, and had to really fight to get the van far enough into the drive to be out of the street.  In the process, he got off to the right side of the drive, and stuck in a snowy rut.  We got him out, and everyone came inside for pizza while we waited out the snow.  The Super Bowl was on TV, and Pizza Hut was delivering even in the bad weather. 

An hour or so later, the snow let up, and Grandma, Grandpa, and Mom piled back into the van to drive home.  They made it safely, and now this is a funny story.  A year ago though, it was a big reminder that when you are in a bind and really need help, “You Find Out Who Your Friends Are”.  (Or, in my case, “That’s What Family Is For.”

 

P.S. Allison and I waited until the next day to drive back to the putnam with the spare set of keys.