i love them pirates.

Yesterday afternoon our auto wouldn't start. (Technically, it'd start, it just wouldn't stay started.) And Robs was getting out early, so I had nine minutes until the bell at Robs's school was going to ring. Three minutes later I'd managed to get the auto to the end of the driveway and then realized it wasn't in our stars. So I called my parents. And then I called Steve's parents, but neither could come. I laughed because what are the odds of that happening? And then we opted for bikes.

Erikbear and Squish were thrilled. (Secretly I was too.) We donned hats and gloves (as it was a bit cold and a bit windy) and started riding up the first big hill. We had two pedals into our ride and one minute to spare, and then the chain fell out of gear. I laughed.

But somehow things worked. I fixed the chain. We started riding. Erikbear stopped to clear cold, windy tears from his eyes. And then to walk his bike up a hill. And once more to clear his eyes, again. But after all that he spun his twelve inch tires as fast as they could go and we found Robs with no problem. We met her, I gave her a squeeze, she showed us her cherry flavored sucker and asked if she had a bike to ride home. Erikbear explained the situation but then he took Robs' backpack to lighten her load. Honestly, it was lovely. And even though it would never in a million years come close to qualifying as a hardship, it was fun watching the pirates' reactions in the situation, and even more fun to see them willing to help where help was needed.

I love them pirates.