Trying to Find my Way

Today started out good enough. It was our second day on the routine change. Timmy is taking it like a champ - me, I am missing the snuggle in bed each morning. Somehow, this little man has grown out of snuggling. I was grasping on to what little snuggling he did and I didn't want to let go. I still get snuggles before bed time, but oh how I miss the morning snuggle.

Following breakfast, we played with trains and blocks on the floor. Then it was time to clean up and head out on our little field trip to the prospective day care center in VT. Okay, so here's the thing. I am not from New Hampshire; I can't even claim to be from New England. I'm a born and bred Southern California girl; I can get a little lost when left to my own devices. What should have took me 25 minutes, took me 1 hour - that's right, 1 hour! I left the house with the notes of the center planted firmly on the kitchen counter. Arghhh! I knew the address was 165 Main Street in Ascutney, VT, and that it was on Route 5. What I didn't know, was that Ascutney is so tiny that if you blink you miss it. It's hard to not find what you are looking for in that town. There should be no turning, and if you do turn, you can't go more than a few hunderd feet and still be in Ascutney. So guess what I did - I turned right and kept going!

I called my husband, in the hopes that he was in his office and could go to http://yellow.com and do the same search that I did, because I couldn't remember the name of the center to save my life. No such luck, he's was on the road. I called my dear friend Paula, her line was busy. Arghhhh! So, I kept driving on Route 5 - which was the route this center was supposedly on. Finally, I was able to stop at a gas station - hey this is rural VT, so the towns are few and far between (okay that's an overstatement, they are like 10 miles between). I got in touch with Paula. She did the same search, but the center didn't come up. I called some center and they said they weren't anywhere close to Ascutney, VT. Oh, fabulous! Instead of calling Paula again, I pulled my car to the phone booth at the gas station. Now, if I may ask, when did phone booths stop having phone books??? I pulled back to the front of the gas station/food mart, and went in. Here is where I get nominated for bad mommy of the year again, I left Timmy in the car. Listen - can you imagine a 23 month old boy in a jiffy mart while Mommy looks up a day care center in a phone book? No, well I can and it's not pretty in my imagination! In my defense, I locked the doors and used the remote start to restart the car. In addition, I could see him and the car from where I stood in the food mart. he was like 10 feet from where I stood inside, so I felt okay with my decision, but I am sure there will be some critics out there. The nice ladies there said I could use their phone book. Their phone book did not contain the day care center I was looking for - arghhhh! I am annoyed now!

I got back on route 5 and continued to drive. Hmmmmm....there's a sign for I91. I called Todd, "if I get on 91 is there an exit for Ascutney, VT?" The answer is affirmative. I hung up, because I was not in a talking kinda mood. He called me back a bit later, while I was on 91 and crying. How many of you out there have been on the interstates in rural parts of the country? If you have, you know that exits are something like every 10 miles. Well, don't you just know that I felt like I was driving forever and that I was going to end up lost in a cow pasture somewhere in rural VT. It's times like these that I miss Boston and even the crazy LA traffic. I told him about the internet search, and he was going to do it for me when he got to his office. I thought "fine, since I will be on this interstate for hours, what difference does it make if it takes him a few minutes to get to his office?"

Finally, the exit for Ascutney appears. I take it and park in a gas station parking lot. He found the center - which had castle in the title, so I should have remembered that given my M&M princess status! I called the center and they talked me through the 2 inches I had to drive to get to the center. My mistake, where I took a right on Route 5, I should have taken a left. What's even better, it's in a shopping center (I use the term shopping center loosely - there's a gas station, a bakery, a beauty salon, and the day care center), where there is a sign cleary posted for view on the road I was coming from. Really, what it boils down to is this....I assumed I knew where it was. I assumed I knew I needed to take a right, so I was looking right! This is where that old say comes from about assuming!