How I Ended Up in a Brand New Car at Disneyland For Free

Special ed is an island, separate but equal. In that room, you never see the other kids. You never engage in the whole school. There were 7 kids, and this is one class where if you don't know what you're doing, the kids aren't going to tell you. No one talks. I figured out by the end that their social and speech skills are like a 1 yr old - they don't string sentences together. They are smart, but don't feel the need to outwardly show anyone. All the rules we all follow for life just don't apply. There would be no trying to please a boss. It's just a different way to think. One kid couldn't socially function at all, really - he clapped all the time, and grimaced. First I felt sorry for him, trapped in that body, but then I thought I guess that's his body. He doesn't feel sorry for his situation. He's trying to cope in our world, and we're trying to force him to say words and be OUR way. I guess because he wouldn't be able to function since most of us are socially aware and he's not so he's stuck having to morph into OUR way so he can get food and try and survive out here in our world.

They were pre-k kids, so we spent a lot of time playing and the two adult aides I had were used to it and did all the disciplining. Then I had to run home at lunch and make sure 98 yr old Poppa got his breakfast, and then run back to school.

Then after school I was running around getting Nathan and his friend, getting Lilly and her friend, getting Emma from gymnastics, getting people food, trying to get people to and from practices and then there's dinner. So I'm in line at Pollo Loco because 98 yr old poppa wanted fries and chicken, and some guy backs into the side of my car. CRUNCH. I get out of my car, and the dog jumps out. Some lady in the truck behind me says "your dog jumped out," so I get Becky and shove her in, the go around to look at the dent. The guy is saying I barely hit you and I'm like dude, there's a dent. Then the lady behind me starts yelling at me to move because she must be REALLY hungry and need that taco, even tho there is no line behind her, and she could just park and go inside, and I get mad and say "COULD YOU GIVE ME JUST A MINUTE HERE???" Since it's been an actual MINUTE since I got out of my car, a minute further from the taco she is DYING to order.

So I hastily get the guy's number on a napkin, and the lady is still yelling behind me, so I don't even get his insurance info which is a mistake, but the guy is saying oh Juliet, that is such a beautiful name, and I'm like YUCK, you just hit my car, go away, old middle eastern freaky guy. So as we're leaving I tell Emma, oh I should have gotten his information, but that lady was yelling at me, and Emma says "no problem, I took a picture of his license plate."

YES. That's my girl.

I try to work it out with the guy over the phone over the next few days and I would be willing to just say "ehh, it's just a dent, don't worry about it" but he keeps making all these weird comments to me like "How old are you??" when we're talking about the car, so I decide screw you, dude, you're paying for my car to get fixed now. So my car went into the shop. And then Emma's old teacher called and said her friend could get us into Disneyland for free on Emma's 13th birthday.

This is how I ended up in a brand new giant rental SUV at Disneyland for free on Emma's birthday. It's been a week, I think I'm still recovering from that 10 hour run through Disneyland (we don't stop. We run.) And Emma had the flu for 3 days afterwards. But we got to ride on this one Mickey rollercoaster like 80 times in a row, at the end of the night, because there was no line. That Disneyland day, and the fancy car with the secret compartments, that is the way to start a new year.

Lilly said, "People should run into our car EVERY time."