Funny how things turn out...

When you wake up in the morning, the day is still full of promise and even though from the moment you get up, you run a mental list of "things to do" in your head, you never really know how the day will pan out.

I had the perfect plan for today: get up, take the boys to IKEA and have breakfast and then let them play in Smalland for the two hrs alotted while I read a book I had wanted to read since it was announced (Half-Baked by Alexa Stevenson) and had come in yesterday's mail.

The boys did not want breakfast so I took them in to play while I enjoyed my cappuccino and it's free refill while reading my book.
About 20 minutes after I had settled down, my dad called asking me to go to the other side of the city to pick up some test results of his.. I adore my dad and I would have loved to help, but at the moment, I felt lazy and a tiny bit annoyed because, I had just sat down to drink a coffee in peace which is a rare thing for me now the boys are out of school... plus G. is on duty today so I (thought) I had the day to myself, free of rules, demands and restrictions (although I could hear my husband in my head "Don't keep them up past their bedtime" "Do the dishes, iron my clothes, where's my dinner? I want dessert" etc)

I called my brother who lives like, 5 minutes away from the exam center where my dad's results were kept and asked him to walk over and pick them up.
Turns out the lazy sod never did because just as we were sitting down for lunch in IKEA my dad called to tell me he went to pick up his test results and he had a car accident and could I please get there ASAP?

Da-duhm!! You never know how your day will pan out..
I hurriedly shoved Swedish meatballs into my kids' mouths as I called my brother, fuming.
WHERE ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH WERE YOU?? I barked into the receiver after he picked up (on my third try to reach him!)  AND WHY DID YOU LET DAD GO PICK UP THE TEST RESULTS WHEN I SPECIFICALLY ASKED YOU TO DO IT TWO HOURS AGO???

At this point I was feeling a lot guilty. Had I gone to pick them up myself, my dad wouldn't be driving. But on the other hand, what was I supposed to do? The boys were playing downstairs, would it have been fair to get them out after only 30 minutes and drag them crying and protesting across town?

Turns out dad doesn't have insurance... and he crossed a STOP sign. True it is a very weird and hard to see STOP sign and I know because twenty minutes after his call I was there and I had to stop the STOP sign, hiddne behind a tree branch, myself... but still the law is the law.

I think there must be some sort of court held and authorities notified because it is an uninsured vehicle involved (my dad's)...
My stomach was (is) in a knot as I drove the kids home. My brain is already working out ways to pay for my dad's car damage because I know in his salary, he can't afford to fix it.
All because my brother (who is 27 and unemployed, waiting for the "big chance" to fall into his hands so he can turn his life over) was too lazy to get up from playing WOW and go pick up the test results, five minutes from his home....
Or because I didn't want to leave my hot cappuccino and my book and my two hrs of childless peace and quiet... I feel SO guilty... and drawn into different directions...
Whose fault was it really?
*sigh*

Hopefully this too shall pass... and for the record, my dad's test results weren't good :(