And big brothers. They do things like drive 35 minutes out of the way on a Sunday afternoon to come change your flat tire on the side of the road. (And I'm sure if I'd been closer to home, I would say husbands.)
Yesterday the little guys and I were on our way to the lake to help celebrate Uncle Brian's 35th birthday with the family. Of course, that would be the day that one of my truck tires decides to blow out, while we're driving. The good news is that no one was hurt, my truck is just fine (albeit with a very ugly, slightly smaller spare), and the day went on just as planned after an hour delay and a little help from my Dad and my brother.
In all honesty, we have a lot to be thankful for after yesterday.
On the ride down, my usually good little rider, Sawyer, decided to become Houdini. He managed to wiggle his arms out of the rather snug five-point harness on his car seat. He was still strapped in by the waist, but not as safely as he should have been. There's not a lot of places to stop on the stretches of road we were driving when I noticed what he had done, but we happened to "miss" our cycle at a stop light. I hopped out and got him strapped back in correctly, about 20 minutes before the tire decided to blow.
Thankfully, when the tire did blow, I was on a nice wide road with a large gravel right-of-way. I wasn't making a quick phone call or messing with the kids in the back. I was just driving, not going as fast as I might have been and certainly going at least 20 miles less than I would have been on the Interstate (which is the first part of our drive). There was no one behind us at the time, and it was easy to just pull it off the road. The kids were happily strapped in, and easily amused with a little juice, a few suckers and the portable DVD player until help could arrive.
When I got out to take a look, it looked pretty bad. The whole side of the tire had pulled away. That particular wheel was actually resting on the rim, because there was nothing left of the inner tire at all. It could have damaged either the rim or the back fender, but it didn't. The only damage was the tire itself.
So, while it was not quite the Sunday afternoon drive we were imagining, it turned out just fine. Daddies and big brothers saved the day (even if they did have to get a little hot and dirty in the process).
The husband did so today, helping me do carpool and taking my truck to the garage to get a new set of tires installed, just in case. We may not drive my car a whole lot in terms of distance, but we have very special cargo pretty much all of the time. A new set of tires was not exactly in the budget right now, but that's how it goes. And they're worth every penny.
(Oh, and I do realize that it would have been a much more appropriate - and cool - photo to have taken it while the blown tire was actually on the truck. I just didn't think about it at the time. I was thinking about calling to get some help and making sure the little guys were pacified. Plus, the people driving by might have thought I was a little bit crazy if I was taking pictures of the problem instead of trying to fix it!)