Tuesday, August 21, 2012

My starter is a non-starter

I had an all-day meeting in the other building, so none of the kindergartners saw me today until we were lining up for buses. One little guy spotted me. He raised his finger and pointed at me, asking,

Where were you all day yesterday?
I think you mean today.
Today we did math.
Yesterday is the day before today.
Yesterday I played with trains.
OK, well, good to see you too.
Thank you. Can I go to the bathroom?

My car died. It was resurrected with lots of money. Apparently that is all it takes to resurrect a car. What happened was, I drove to school yesterday and all was well. When I left at 3:15 it wouldn't start. I called AAA for a jump. The guy had gotten lost and was given wrong address so it was quite late when he did arrive. Improbably, he arrived in a small Z28 red sports car and even more improbably, he unfolded his wheezing, 6'4" 300 lb frame out of his car and then limped over to my car, explaining his truck was broke and his ankle was sprained. I said, "Oh." He had me try to start my car, and it clicked but didn't turn over, apparently the major clue it was the starter and not the battery. I said "Oh." After fooling around with the car it was 5:00. I took a friend up on her offer of a ride home and left my 1993 Ford Explorer hulk sitting in the school parking lot, to think over his evil, non-starting ways.

Today I got a ride in to school with a friend and went to the training session I'd been scheduled for. At lunch time I called AAA again, this time for a tow. The guy arrived pretty quickly (in 58 minutes) and he backed his truck up to mine to get in position, got out to chain my car up, and that's when his truck stalled. He mumbled something like "not this again", dropped to the ground in what was obviously a well-practiced move, rolled his string bean, jean-clad body under the front wheel-well, jiggled something, and the truck started up again. He returned to chaining up my car. The stop-drop and roll move was performed two more times as his truck stalled and was re-started in this entertaining and unique way.

I watched my car be towed off into the sunset, admiring my frugality in wringing out as many miles as possible from it (215,345 and counting) but wondering if the old dear will now be my albatross money pit. It also occurred to me as my woes were added to the sprained ankle broke truck guy's and the string bean jiggle the truck guy's, that times are so tough we are all really hanging on with dental floss and duct tape.

Be kind to one another. We never know the other guy's troubles. We're in tough times, so we know he's got 'em. Jesus said the Golden Rule is, "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12)

2 comments:

Sara G said...

Hope you are having a better week. Sometimes we have to do what we can to make our vehicles hold out. My husband was in a fender bender in a parking lot two weeks ago. Our front bumper on the right side is being held up by cable wires. We had an estimate done today.. got to save up some money for our deductible.

Troubles are around for so many but glad that Jesus gave us His Word.

Two more days to go, may yours have many blessings.

Elizabeth Prata said...

Hi Sara G,

I'm sorry about the fender! I'm glad no one was hurt in your fender bender.

Yes my car is better, thank you! Though it is always unpleasant to have these things happen, it really was a best case scenario. It happened at work, so it was easy to obtain rides, (several people I work with commute past my apartment) and the car was safe in the parking lot overnight, the tow was only 1 mile, costing me nothing under AAA. The mechanic fixed it in one day, and though it was expensive to fix, I can manage. All in all, a hiccup rather than a cataclysm.

It FELT like a cataclysm at the time but if I remain focused on Jesus and His provision and practice leaning on Him then I always feel better right away.