Country Roads Take Me Home

Weeks ago, I felt like Super Mom when I spotted a great deal on a brand new adorable Easter dress at a local consignment shop. I was weeks ahead of the Easter game when I checked buying Amelia's Easter dress off of my to do list.

Fast forward to 2 days before Easter when I realized that

A.) The weather was too cold to wear the Easter dress without a sweater and leggings.
B.) I had not yet purchased a single thing for her Easter basket.

So much for Super Mom.

So on the Thursday before Easter, I found myself frantically searching online for some cute leggings to go with Amelia's dress. I had gotten the idea in my head that I wanted the cute leggings with ruffles on the bottom, and I just wouldn't let it go until I found some. But the thing is.... those leggings are just not for sale anywhere in a store. From what I could tell, they could only be found in cute Etsy boutiques.

I searched and searched and searched some more until FINALLY....amen and hallelujah, I found a retail store here in Louisville that not only sold cute ruffle toddler leggings but all kinds of other cute boutique goodies that I couldn't wait to go buy for Amelia. It was an Easter miracle! So I left work early on Thursday to stop and shop on my way home. I followed Siri's directions to the shop....but to my dismay, when she said "your destination is on your left" there was nothing but a cafe and an outdoor store. No cute children's boutique to be found anywhere. What the heck?

So I regrouped and did some more online searching for this mystery store, which led Google to inform me of an address in LaGrange, KY. A ha! I thought to myself. The store must have relocated to LaGrange (approximately 30 minutes north of Louisville).

This brings us to Friday afternoon when this stubborn mama took off of work 2 hours early to drive her Easter-desperate self 30 minutes north in search of the mythical unicorn of children's boutique stores.

Imagine my utter dismay and confusion when Siri once again said "your destination is on your right" and I saw nothing but an upper middle class neighborhood. ARE YOU SERIOUS, CLARK?

By sheer coincidence, I spotted a woman unloading things from her car in her driveway and so I rolled down my window to ask her if she had ever heard of this so-called boutique. To my complete surprise, she told me that she was the owner of the boutique and that she no longer had a retail store, but only ran an online store.

Well color me embarrassed.

Though I was horribly embarrassed, my desperation for those leggings persisted so I asked her if she had any in the colors I was looking for. Unfortunately, she said she didn't have any in those colors....but this sweet woman must have sensed that I was hanging on to my sanity by a thin strand, so she offered for me to come into her home and look through the items that she had in stock.

Again, color me embarrassed....but also, color me intrigued.

This is how I found myself on Friday afternoon foraging through a Rubbermaid tub of toddler Easter outfits in a stranger's basement.

So even though it wasn't exactly how I pictured shopping for Amelia's Easter outfit....and even though I ended up having to completely change her outfit to something different and didn't even use the original Easter dress I had bought weeks ago...I still ended up finding some ADORABLE Easter goodies for Amelia and was quite pleased with how it all turned out.

I was so relieved to finally walk out of this woman's house, newly acquired Easter outfits in hand, contemplating my next stop where I would be searching for the perfect little bunny shoes to go with the outfits....when I hopped in my car, turned the key in the ignition....

...and my car wouldn't start. It was dead as a dang doornail.

Now let me run you through a few of my panicked thoughts at this particular moment in time. Chris and I have AAA, but it's in Chris's name and he has the card with him. So there would be no calling roadside assistance for me. I don't have jumper cables, so even if I go knock on this lady's door and ask her to jump my car, I have to hope and pray that she has cables and that she knows how to use them. Because the sad truth of the matter is that I don't even know how to pop the hood of my car. And lastly, if I decide to call my husband or father-in-law to come to my rescue, I have to explain to them why my car is stranded in a stranger's driveway in the middle of LaGrange, Kentucky.

So what did I do?

First, I swallowed my pride and went back to this poor lady's house and knocked on the door. She was probably so relieved to get rid of the crazy Easter lady, and here I come again needing something else from her.

To my ecstatic delight, she informed me that she not only had jumper cables, but that she knew a thing or two about cars and could definitely jump my car for me. Even though this woman is looking at me like I really need to get my life together, I still love her so much for coming to my rescue not once but twice in the past 15 minutes. So she whips her SUV around to face mine, pops her hood and mine (as I stammered something ridiculous about how I knew where the button was, but I didn't know how to wiggle the latch thingy to open it), starts her car, and then tells me to start mine.

But wouldn't you know it. NOTHING. NADA. NO DICE.

We tried again and again for several minutes, but it was time to officially declare my battery a goner.

Time for phase two of roadside resuscitation. I decided to call my father-in-law.

After a brief explanation to him that hey, I'm stranded in a stranger's driveway in LaGrange, can you please come rescue me, I am so happy to say that my wonderful father-in-law drove up with a new battery, switched it out, and got me back on the road in a lickety-split.

Moral of this story - don't wait til the last second to Easter shop. Or maybe - don't trust the internet. Or possibly - always be prepared for a roadside emergency. Or of course - there is only one true Easter miracle and that is that Jesus is alive...it isn't finding ruffle leggings in a retail store.

This was a multi-faceted type of moral lesson for me.

8,000 words later, we had a lovely Easter weekend. Please enjoy these pictures and notice the very adorable outfits that Amelia is wearing.

Lastly, Amelia has a new favorite song. It's the classic John Denver song Country Roads, Take Me Home. You know, because most 3 year olds just LOVE John Denver, right? So here she is singing her heart out on Easter morning.

Country Roads, Take Me Home may be my daughter's current favorite song to sing, but it was also definitely her mama's embarrassed and desperate prayer on a Friday afternoon in a stranger's driveway in LaGrange, KY.