a little help from our friends

i somehow managed to leave on my auto-shutoff headlights after returning home from dropping the boys off at preschool. i had a meeting and when it wrapped up early i decided to run a few child-less errands. 

as soon as i opened the garage i knew my fate. my battery was too drained to start the van. since the van has a fob, i could not 'crank' the engine with a little gas. i couldn't even get it into neutral because of all the power controls. 

thankfully, i had an hour before i needed to pick up the boys. unfortunately, matt works almost 30 minutes away. so he started to drive while i prayed that a neighbor was home - with jumper cables. i know we have had some (i have used some more than once with other cars) but they must have gotten lost in one of the moves and forgotten as we have gotten more reliable transportation. the plan was that i would call him if i had any luck so he could turn around and head back to work. he was heading home so that we would have some way of picking up the boys.

i saw that one neighbor's garage was open and headed down the street. not only was lori home and had jumper cables, but she was willing to help me get the van out of the garage and give me a jump! not to say that it was easy (way too much on this van is "power"), but with kristen (another neighbor who was meeting up with lori to head to the gym) reading the manual, and lori and i in our respective vans, we got our van started! 

(i look deranged because i had ripped off my sweatshirt as my embarrassment was causing me to overheat and pulled my bun way off kilter.) 

i was even able to pick the boys up from preschool on time! i did leave the van running while i ran in to get them in fear of it not starting again. we were able to get home but i was not brave enough to attempt my errands for the day - including my free coffee for "coffee day." love.