Garage Door Adventures

Today, as I was scrambling to leave for church, I backed straight into the closed garage door.  Now THAT'S the way to start your commute, folks.

Julia reacted with her usual level-headed practicality.

ME: (pressing the garage door remote and seeing the door open only a few inches) Uh-oh, I better try and pull the door open.
JULIA: (on the verge of hysteria) BUT HOW ARE WE GONNA GET OUT OF HERE?!?
ME: Hang on.  I have to see if I can pull the door open. (climbing out of the car and grunting around trying to lift the door)
JULIA: Mommy!  You shouldn't be DOING THAT!  YOU NEED TO CALL THE FIRE STATION SO SOMEONE CAN COME RESCUE US AND GET US OUT OF HERE!

I don't know if Julia remembers that we have other doors to our house.  We were not, in fact, trapped inside in need of rescue.  It was just a matter of whether we could get our car out of the garage.

ME: (continuing to pull on the door, succeeding in lifting it a few more inches)
JULIA: Do you need help?
ME: Uh...you know what?  You and Madeleine stay in the car, just for safety.
JULIA: (again on the verge of hysteria) GREAT, SO YOU'RE GONNA LET YOURSELF DIE?!?!?
ME: Oh my-
JULIA: (hysterically sobbing from inside the car) MOMMY'S GONNA DIIIIIE!
MADELEINE: (bursting into sobs along with her sister)

I mean, here, I was just thinking it would be easiest for me not to have to worry about whether the kids were directly under the door as I tried to finagle it, just in case it went slamming shut, but the girls apparently saw my desire for them to be out of the way as proof of my imminent demise.

I managed to get the garage door open manually, and -- SPOILER ALERT -- I didn't die, so we were able to head out for church.  On our way there, the car tires were a little slippery on some wet patches of road.

JULIA: What's wrong with the car?  Is it broken?  IS THAT WHY IT'S MAKING THAT SOUND?!?!?
ME: It's just the tires on the wet road, honey.

I merged onto the highway, and Julia treated every nearby car like a grenade heading straight towards our car to blow it up.  She jumped and flinched at every vehicle around us and at one point began screeching a warning about a car passing us in the left lane, as cars on the highway in the left lane are wont to do.

JULIA: MOMMY WATCH OUT LOOK AT THAT CAR WHAT'S HAPPENING IS IT GONNA HIT US IS OUR CAR GONNA EXPLODE MOMMY I'M SCARED!!!!!!!!!!!

We managed to get to church in one piece, and home without incident, as well.  Ethan got out his tool kit and fixed the kinks in the garage door, getting all the wheels back on the tracks so that it would once again open and close when the remote control is pressed.  Now that order has been restored to Julia's universe, she is surprisingly chipper about the whole ordeal.

JULIA: Mommy?  I feel like the garage door opens kind of weird, but it's okay!  We might have a door that's a little wonky, but at least we have a door that works!!

I appreciate her looking on the bright side, even if it did take several hours of ice-cold panic before she could get there.  I'm so glad Ethan was able to fix the door, though I could possibly use a little tune-up on my spaced-out Mom brain!