Stuck in the Muddy Mud

So, I have done some silly things in the past, one of which was lock myself in the garage...actually I've repeated that mistake a few times. But today was too funny of a goof up not to share.

"J" and I had a perfectly pleasant morning complete with an appearance from Spider man and a lot of cape wearing. When it came time to go to his weekly OT appointment, we headed off on the 20 minute trek to the clinic. I was feeling quite accomplished because we were on target to be early even with the stop to get gas. We were happily cruising down a 2 lane dirt road when the truck in front of us dropped his ladder out of the cab of his truck. The ladder didn't hit us, thank God and landed right in between the 2 lanes on the road, directly on the double yellow (do not pass) lines. At this point I start honking my horn and trying to get the man's attention so he won't lose his ladder. He keeps waving at us, thinking I guess we are someone he knows. I follow him all the way into his neighborhood where he finally pulls over to see what I want. He kindly thanks me after I inform him of the lost ladder and where he dropped it. He offers for me to follow him back to the road as I have totally lost my way in the unknown neighborhood. Here is where I make my first big mistake. I should have parted ways when I found my way instead of curiously following the man to see if the ladder was still there. In case you were worried, it was and someone had very kindly taken it out of the road and leaned it up against a fence. Did I mention the area is a tad bit more rural than other areas nearby and apparently everyone there is quite thoughtful?

Even after the detour we are still going to be on time to our appointment, that is until I try to turn around on the narrow 2 lane dirt road. I pull into what looked like a driveway but was really a very short, narrow rocky path that let to a fence that had a sign on it that read "Beware high voltage." Not the best place for me and my precious "J" to say the least! I was too chicken to stick my tail end out there in the road so I made my 2nd major mistake. I tried to turn around on the dirt driveway that was surrounded by mud. Yes, we got stuck in the mud and the harder I tried to get us out the worse it got. Mud was flying everywhere and at that instant I wished I had a SUV instead of my low lying Saturn sedan. I tried to explain to "J" to be calm, but we were stuck. It's almost comical that the boys often pretend their toy cars are "stuck in the muddy mud." It was for real no matter how much I wished we were pretending. Just then "ladder man" pulls over and offers to help us. I laughed about how I paid it forward and the return was much quicker than expected. Our bald super hero for the day and another kind gentleman who stopped to help made a make shift tow cable of what looked like an old fire hose and pulled us out of the mud. The lady with ladder man commented that this is what you call "southern engineering."

Despite the antics, it was an excellent opportunity for me to clearly show "J" the value of helping other people. At one point he asked to get out of the car while the men were trying to get us out of the mud, probably wanting to help. I got to tell him that when he is a man he can help other people like our friend the ladder man was doing for us now. I love any chance to plant seeds of character in my little men! We needed a good car wash anyway and the boys got a kick out of that experience too!