Today was a chilly day. We've been really fortunate this winter, which is great, but it makes the cold days feel really cold. Today was the day that our furnace died (and we thanked our lucky stars that we have a service contract). And it was also the first day of Madison's dance competition.
As Madison and I maneuvered her huge Dream Duffle and her solo prop through a parking garage, down three flights and a city block, we were glad for our winter coats buffering against the wind. Madison is a lovely dancer, but still sort of useless in the "carrying stuff" portion of the competition experience, so I was playing the role of pack mule, and pack mules can only move so fast. It wasn't a quick stop outside.
My standard is that we don't wear coats in the car, and generally speaking, the girls don't complain. They're used to it. They wear their fleece jackets, and if we're dashing into a store while running errands, it isn't a big deal. If we're going to be outside, we put the big coats on once we're unbuckled. Situations like this, where we won't be outside, but we have a long walk from the car, are unusual. In this case, Madison fought me on putting on her coat as we went in, but on our way out, she didn't want to take off the heavy coat once we got to the car.
What's the big deal, right? It's just a coat. It's cold out. Plenty of kids wear coats in the car, and are just fine. I'm not going to lie. I was tempted. Had we not been heading right into rush hour traffic on a stretch of highway that is perpetually under construction and littered with accidents, I may have consented.
But I held my ground. We kept our coats on as I warmed up the car in the garage, chatting about the afternoon and planning what Madison wanted for her celebratory dinner. But once we were comfortable, we lost the heavy coats, buckled, and then drove into the ridiculous traffic.
It's just not worth the risk.
