The low tire pressure indicator light had been on in my car since yesterday. But I’d looked at all the tires and they seemed fine, so we chalked it up to changing temperatures and decided to give it a few days.

When I picked up Addie from school this afternoon and went around to her side of the car to put her in, I knew I should have listened to that annoying little light: the right rear tire was almost flat.

In the fourteen years I’ve been driving, this has never happened to me. I was scared. I found the nearest tire place and drove there, slowly and carefully, Addie securely strapped into her seat, telling myself over and over that we’d make it there before the tire blew out. And we did.

Once we’d checked in and the mechanics were at work on the car, the hot panic of the flat tire was replaced with a cooler, smoldering anxiety: Addie was wearing undies and it would be at least an hour and a half before we got home and I didn’t have any extra undies or pants. And we’d somehow failed to get her daily report, so I didn’t even know when the last time she pottied was.

Oh, and this whole “undies all the time” thing is basically brand new for us. As in, we just started yesterday. Continue reading »