Thank God for Coffee Shops

Some days are out of the ordinary here at the Frost Farm. One particular day last week was one of those days. The reason?  Freezing rain. Call me over-protective, but this mama does not like the mixture of freezing rain and young drivers. Especially when the young driver is my daughter. It was on this day when the combo of bad weather and appointments away from home came together and created a day to remember. My daughter was scheduled to work that evening, we had piano lessons during the day, I had an appointment with a graphic designer, we had an evening appointment with friends to go to pizza and a basket ball game and I had emails to send and phone calls to make for an upcoming event that I am in charge of planning. On a normal day we would all have gone our separate ways and landed back at home by evening. But not this day. There was freezing rain.


Freezing rain meant dangerous road conditions so a plan had to emerge that would keep everyone safe.  I also had a boy I was babysitting for the week and his school was canceled so it added an extra child to the mix.  On top of that, the heater was not working in my van so the only option for transportation was my daughters old Cadillac. Fortunately it's a big one and has seat belts for six. Need I say more about the Cadi?  So this mama did what any good mother would do. I decided that we would spend the day together with me as the driver. We all loaded into the Cadi at 9:30 a.m. and heading to the Walla Walla Roastery.


At the Roastery I met with the graphic designer to design posters and flyers for the upcoming event. I entered with five kids in tow. After two hours we had one cool poster and five hungry kids. We left the coffee shop for Taco Bell where we all ate gut-wrenching tacos and burritos for the low cost of $20. We then got a call from the piano teacher saying she'd have to postpone the lessons for a doctor's appointment. This was fine since one of the kids didn't get enough practices in and was relieved not to have to face the teacher unprepared.


I intended to visit my mother and check on her wellbeing, but she was ill and in need of a nap and rest. We then went to Macy to purchase a pair of boots for one of the said children in tow. After an hour and half we emerged with one pair of boots and one happy child; four other, not-as-happy children. It was about 3:30 by then and we had an appointment at 6:00pm to meet some friends for pizza at a pizza place across from Macy's. What to do?


I didn't want to drive home only to have to head back out an hour later. I didn't have a lot of money, so we couldn't go do something "fun". The roads were bad, so driving was a bit dicey. I opted to haul the five children into a large coffee shop across from the pizza place and wait it out until the 6pm appointment. Thank God for coffee shops. It's the only place one can go and get free internet and a comfy place to crash for under five dollars.


I did, however, purchase drinks for myself and any kids who wanted one. I felt that it was only fair since my intention was to be there for at least two hours. The daughter that needed to work that night works at the pizza place so the coffee shop put us in close proximity; she left us around 4:30 to go to work and the rest of us clicked away on our electronic devices.


The boy? Well he did real good through all this. No complaining. He did, however, consume way too much caffeine and sugar throughout the day and ended up on the floor under my table. It actually sounds worst than it was. His ipad ran out of battery and he had to plug into the wall with a short cord, thus the horizontal position under the table.


I made my phone calls and sent my emails and at 5:45 we headed across the street to the pizza place. Our friends were already there and we were ready for some pizza and good conversation. An hour spent at the restaurant, we now loaded up and headed to Whitman University where we watched a great basketball game. The game ended right around the time my daughter got out of work. We picked her up and crawled through the icy streets of Walla Walla back to our home in the country. Arrival time; 10:00pm.


It was a tiring day. Things didn't go as planned, but I was blessed all the same. My family was safe and I was grateful. Mission accomplished. But one other things stuck out to me at the end of that day. We were together all day in cramped, sometimes uncomfortable, conditions and no one fussed or fought. No one complained. No one was jealous that only one child got boots. No one complained about Taco Bell, but me. No one complained about sitting for hours in coffee shops, first waiting on me and then just waiting for time to go by. NO ONE COMPLAINED!


I was amazed and grateful to have such wonderful children. We were together, they were content.


Until next time...