A few Sundays ago Bennett called us at 9:30 at night. That's when we usually go to bed. He knows that, so getting a call from him at that time would be an oddity. He's like, "Ya, so I got a flat tire. Don't worry. I pulled into a parking lot. I can change it, I just don't know how. So Dad, you could please walk me through it?"
So many questions: How did you get a flat? Where are you? Did you run into a curb again? Are any of your friends with you or close by?
Long story short, he was just out for a lovely little night drive while all his friends were somewhere else. He has a hard time avoiding curbs. He veered into one and popped his tire. This would be the second time this has happened. The first time, Chuck could drive up to where he was and rescue him. The second time, Chuck was two hours away and could only walk him through it over the phone. This is a herculean task.
Luckily for us, Bennett has 70% battery power on his phone. Unluckily for us, bedtime has been obliterated. Bedtime occurs once we know our boy is back to his dorm safe and sound. We ask him if he can call a friend to come out and help him or at the very least hold a flash light for him since he's in a very dark parking lot with no lights. He says he wants to do it all by himself. Great timing for choosing complete independence!
Chuck texts his brother, John, and alerts him to the situation around 10pm. John lives 50 minutes from where Bennett is and can get to him sooner than we can if need be. He's okay with being on stand-by. He offers help in the form of sending YouTube videos to Bennett to watch on "How To Change a Tire."
Thus begins a 3 hour long ordeal. 61 texts, numerous phone calls and 1 YouTube video later it is finished. It was HARD! It took over an hour just for him to figure out how to get the spare tire out of its resting place in the back of his Forerunner. It also took forever for him to pull the old tire off. It eventually came off but the force of it threw him backwards with the tire landing on him. By the very end he was down to 1% battery. This was the part that scared us the most. If anything went sideways, we would have no idea.
Finally, he made it back to his dorm a little after 12:30am. He did a hard thing all by himself. He persevered. He grew. That's what you hope for as parents.
