You can't make me

In my never-ending quest to keep my inbox down to a minimum, I read emails and then promptly either file or delete them. But The Aunt and I had a bit of an email exchange that I wanted to share with you. It started with an email sent to my whole school:

From: {the principal}
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 8:49 AM
To: {my entire elementary school}
Subject: Bad news for someone

If you drive a {my color and make of car} and are parked in the front parking lot, your driver side rear tire appears to be going flat.

I forwarded it on to her, with the following addition:

And it's raining.
And I'm wearing a white skirt.
Thursday's turning out to be awesome.

She's been on my case because I don't have AAA. I drive to and from Lubbock, and I frequently run into things like coyotes, cows, and other miscellaneous adventures out on the open road. So, she feels that it's a necessity, and I keep telling her "uh-huh... you're right...I should do that" which means I'll think about it later. So, she responded with this:

Would that be you? who needs to get AAA?

And, because I'm me, and The Aunt is The Aunt, I sent her this reply:

Your mom.

Never one to back down from a sassy remark, The Aunt replied:

She died, thanks…

And to get the last word, The Aunt added:

Oh, and she would have wanted you to get AAA.

Well, it turns out I can resemble a real adult when I needed. After three other teachers came and told me about my flat tire (because I was too busy teaching to read my email), I went out during my break and discovered that it wasn't flat, but getting there pretty quickly. After it took a few people to determine it was drivable, I went and filled it up with air at the nearest gas station. Did you know you can swipe your credit cards if you don't have quarters? You can. It helps those of us that don't have change.

I went to The Wal-Marks to have them fix the flat, except that the nail is in the sidewall, and that requires a whole new tire. Of course it does.

I took it to Sears- which is open on Sundays, FYI- and they got me all fixed up (a hundred or so dollars later) and out the door quicker than it took me to read a chapter of my book. Apparently, since everyone is travelling over Labor Day weekend, there is nothing for the Sears guys to do on a Sunday.

Long story short: I got a new tire like a real live adult.
But not before sending an email with the phrase "Your mom" in it.

I'm not growing up and you can't make me.