The funniest thing happened to me….

The next hospital trek is looming.. other than organising children, double checking I have paperwork, making sure the car has enough fuel and has been serviced/wheel aligned and balanced etc, food, drinks and entertainment packed for the trip and wait, finding my bluetooth headset…. yes.. I’m ready.

I do have to be grateful though. It’s only one of the four children for this trip. It’s an afternoon appointment so no morning peak hour rush into the city. It’s the child who is perhaps the easiest to cope with (until he realises it’s his opthamology appointment. ) and as long as I organise everything properly, it will most likely be just him and I for the evening when we finally arrive home.

However.. there are the usual drawbacks. Being at the hospital.. which is a PTSD trigger – of course…
Said child will need eye drops and at least 2 appointments in the one afternoon… so will be extremely emotional after his first appointment knowing what the second holds after nearly 5 years of these trips.

Once we get out of the hospital there’s the $18 parking fee… and remembering to hold onto the ticket to exit the place…

On our last trip, we caught up with an amazing friend (out of costume!) who has been a clown doctor at the childrens hospital for nearly 10 years… She accompanied us as I paid for the parking ticket using my card.. and it promptly spat it back at me twice before it decided it was ok after all. Just as well as I didn’t have any cash on me.

Then whilst walking to the vehicle, my 8 yo asked to hold it. I stressed she needed to keep hold of it securely and she assured me she would. It was only one level after all. Once at the car, our friend and I said our goodbyes and the two children climbed into their seats. I asked Miss 8 for the ticket… which she said was on the console. It wasn’t.

After a quick search around, Master 4 piped up that he “posted” it… and pointed in the general rear direction of the car.. Short of pulling the whole 3rd row of seats apart, I couldn’t see any sign of it. After a good 10 mins of searching and scrambling around in the back of my car (obviously on security camera… ).. I took a deep breath and drove down to the exit, parking in the 5 min space near the attendant’s booth dreading that I would most likely have to pay the $18 again… *sigh*

Explaining the situation to the attendant as he pulled his head out of the novel he was clearly engrossed in, I could see he wasn’t convinced… Yay..
So I started again.. pointing to the machine I used and that it had taken 3 attempts to pay for the ticket and that I had perhaps used some light hearted expletives at the time..

After what seemed an age, recognition seemed to creep into his eyes.. “Oh yes… you came out with the clown doctor,”

Yep.. that was us.. 2 kids, one mum and a clown doctor out of uniform..

“No worries, drive down and I’ll let you out….”

So I need to remember upon leaving NOT to give the ticket to my son…. and perhaps call up my friend to spend the arvo with us.. you know – just in case.

~ by C J on June 6, 2010.