Election Day disaster (not exactly what you think.)

Election Day dawned sunny and warm, and the excitement in the air was palpable as I drove by small town voting booths on my way to the city, which had all but shut down for the day. New York City public schools were off for the occasion since most of them turned into polling places. As I walked to school past families taking their kids to vote, I reflected that this really should be a holiday everywhere (for many, many reasons. But I digress.) 

Seth and I had sent in our absentee ballots weeks ago, and my last class of the day let out an hour and change early. By then, it was actually in the 70s with fall still evident in the burnt orange trees, and I couldn't resist. On my way home, I stopped and bought the first pair of running shoes in my size I could find (for once I didn't have any in my car)  and detoured to Hook Mountain in Nyack for a quick run up the rocky northern palisades. It was beautiful.

And then, because I must have the worst luck in the entire f-ing planet (or perhaps because I had opted to run a rocky, leaf-covered trail a little too fast in lightweight road shoes), disaster struck. I slipped, skidded, and rolled an ankle, and it hurt. I had to hobble the last couple miles back. I spent the early evening like this (Finley wanted a ice pack too):

and just as election coverage was getting interesting, had to make an emergency room trip, leaving with crutches, a boot, and- yes- a bottle of motrin.

It was just a bad sprain, but with two kids who still needed carrying, a parking garage more than a mile from school, a million things that need done to keep our nutty household running, and a half marathon planned for the following weekend (in Texas!)... it was pretty devastating news.

Of course, we stayed up all night watching the nail-biting election coverage, and it turned out that- in retrospect- falling down a mountain had been the nicest thing that happened that day.

And so went the week. We processed election news in stages, took turns being frustrated over our social media feeds and cable news and people everywhere, and coped with the schedule upending caused by my crutch-induced inability to handle morning daycare dropoff. Seth stepped it up around the house, handled mornings on his own while I squeezed in physical therapy appointments, and- generally- put up with being snapped at because I hate being off my game (and after the last couple insanely stressful weeks with a sick Ford, hobbling miles around the city in the rain on crutches and trying to rejuggle complicated schedules and make dinner hopping on one foot while Finley ran off with my crutches just seemed like a bridge too far.)

It wasn't pretty (by any wild stretch of the imagination) but we made it.

By the time the long weekend rolled around, our social media feeds filled with pictures of veterans, I got to ditch the crutches for an unwieldy boot, and the weather held up for one last weekend at grasshopper grove.

We tried to split our time so that I could get caught up on schoolwork and Seth could escape to his deer stand (although- hmmmppph- I'm not sure that thousands of pages of reading should count as my "me time.") Not to mention that this adorable face is not super conducive to paper writing.

We did finally make it to the Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze (yes, that's my still-impressive black eye, causing us all to wonder why they weren't a little more concerned when I also showed up in the ER with a sprain),

Seth cleaned out the garage, and the kids and I got the Christmas tree up. Which was no small feat (and Sara still beat me to it this year!)

 

And now we're muddling/hobbling through another week. I'm fighting off being majorly bummed that my first weekend away/ girls' running weekend in as long as I can remember is ruined by the fact that even jogging the 5k may not happen. Since a brisk walk around the block still requires an ice pack.

But Tony & Jayne get here for Finley's belated birthday party tomorrow. And her hair now fits in a ponytail, which she adorably calls an "a-po-tale" and demands whenever she happens to think of it. Seth has really stepped up his hairstyling game, and watching him try to get the tiny rubber bands around his fingers while Finley waits not-patiently always makes my day. (This was after a particularly insistent demand for two. After I obliged, we realized she looked like a tiny stegosaurus.)

And- these have to be the pictures of the week- Ford is finally big enough to play with Finley's toys, and gets no end of enjoyment out of stealing them.

Oh, and one more (I hope this works!) Finley loves her new guitar, and plays her favorite, "Shoo Fly," for Ford sometimes. She also walks up and down the halls strumming it and singing "I feel... I feel... I feel (like a morning star)" and it kills us every time.