Miracle on 300 North Street

My husband is building a Pinewood Derby car for my nephew, who lives in Texas. No, my nephew is not in a single parent home without a father. And no, he's not mechanically challenged either (though he is 9, and that is a challenge of its own). No, my husband just happens to have a completely out of control obsession with building Pinewood Derby cars. I know what you must be thinking. "Wait. Your husband is 37 and your son is 2. Why would he be building Pinewood Derby cars at all?" Well, it all started when the Elder's Quorum decided to have their own Pinewood Derby about 5 years ago. No rules about weight and materials. No rules at all other than "There can't be a motor." Well, my creative, mechanical, bored husband got to work researching what makes for the fastest Pinewood Derby cars. He spent hours pouring over plans and photos, reading blogs and articles, visiting hobby shops and websites. Finally, he started. On Prototype # 1. Seven or eight prototypes later, he was ready to race. His car was made of a special wood that was light, yet flexible (Not pine. Oh no, not even close). It had carefully filed down wheels (three of them--don't ask). It had suspension. It had hot molten lead poured into various parts of its thinly sliced and carved chassis (Impressed? That's what happens when you have to listen to hours of Pinewood Derby ideas bounced off you. You learn fancy words like chassis.) Anywho, the car was a huge success. So huge, in fact, that it not only beat every other car that raced that day, but it also beat the all-time fastest record in the track's history. Result? No more Elders Quorum Pinewood Derbies. No one wanted to compete against a fanatic like that again. So now my Big Daddy takes out his racing fervor on the young, naive boys in our extended family.

The topic of this post, however it unlikely it must seem now, is actually not my husband or his engineering prowess. It is actually to tell you about a miracle that just occurred. My husband had to head to the hardware store for more Pinewood Derby supplies, and he took BOTH of our kids with him. He just took them and left. And now I am at my own house ALL BY MY SELF. This has never happened before. Ever. Not since we had our first child. I don't even know what to do with myself! ( Yes I do. Blog like a man woman, of course!) It's such a wonderful, liberating feeling to be here with no one else. I might drink a full Coke. I might take a long nap (well, a 40 minute nap, at least). I might blog the ENTIRE TIME with no one to ask me for drinks, or help with the potty, or to find their missing Polly Pocket, or to turn on Diego, or to make me feel guilty about sitting on my butt and staring at the computer. Or... I might just sit here and listen to the silence. It is heaven. It is wonderful. It is a miracle.