Skip to main content

I Couldn't Make This Stuff Up.

Today has not been a stellar day.

It was the last day of school, which was fine. There was apparently an armed man running around, so my girl's elementary school was placed into lockdown and according to my girls, lots of kids were crying and scared and I don't blame them. I took them home early.

But not because of that.

First, let me say that I did make it to the gym this morning, which was good. Then I went off to buy some unmentionables, as I needed new unmentionables. While I was there, my cell phone rang and it was my seventeen year old, demanding to know where I was.

She and three of her friends were going to our beach cabin for a celebratory over night stay, and I was to drive ahead of them to show them the way. (She of course thought this was silly and that I didn't trust her, yada yada yada)

So we drive. it's about a two hour drive. As we're driving, a rather large bug splattered my windshield and for some reason I kept thinking how horrible that was and I felt so badly. For a bug. Honest. I thought it's really true, sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug.

Then I looked at the beautiful scenery that I was driving through. Not much in the way of houses, fairly rural and thought about next week when I begin my three thousand mild adventure, driving through several states with just me and the kids. Then I looked around and thought.."Gee....I wonder how I'd handle a flat tire out in the middle of nowhere?"

BOOM!

I kid you not.

At first it didn't dawn on me. I thought, wow, this is really a bad road. Then I thought...this is a really really bad road. Then I realized it had nothing to do with the road.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

You can't really tell from this picture, but it was a very, very flat tire. Thankfully my exit had come up, I wobbled off and down a hill a bit before coming to rest against a curb.

My wonderful daughter and her carload of friends pulled in behind me.
"Mom, you have a really flat tire! Hey, can we just keep going?"

Um, no. You go find me some help. (This was after I considered whapping her senseless and then realized she was already senseless.)

She went, only because three of them needed to look for a bathroom. They found a Goodyear Tire place at the bottom of the hill and to the right. She called me on her cell and I told her to give the phone to the guy behind the desk. I explained what was wrong and was there anything they could do for me?

"I knew these girls were trouble when I saw them come in here giggling", said the man.

He said he could have someone to me, but not right away. No problem, I was just glad there was help on the way.

They sent me someone who flunked out of Tire Changing School.

:::Hmmmm....that doesn't look like a flat tire to me::::
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Um, no, that's because the flat tire is ON THE FRONT OF THE VEHICLE!!!

Then he attempted to free the spare tire from my suburban. This did not go well. In fact, this did not go at all.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

He finally admitted defeat and said he could pump some air into the flat tire so I could limp it down the hill.

That didn't work either.

Then he went back to looking for a way to get my spare tire from my suburban. Nope.

Hey, what's this? How about I remove the tire, take it back to my shop, remove the bad tire, put another tire on the rim and you can pay me for a new tire.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

This is nearly two hours into it and I would probably have agreed to cut off my right arm to get out from the hot sun and on my way again. Could he get my flat tire off? Well, of course not.

This is when I killed him.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Ok, not really, but I was tempted.

Then he left again. He came back fifteen minutes later with something he said he'd taken from his boss. Whatever it was, didn't work either.

Tick tock, tick tock. By this time I am sunburned. I think it might be coming from the heat inside my head.

Finally, he was able to get the tire off. A miracle.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

He took the tire down to his shop, put a used tire on, brought it back and put it on my vehicle.

All this took a mere three hours.

Next time I think about 'what ifs' it won't be about flat tires. I'll be thinking about the lottery.

We went to the beach cabin just long enough for my two girls to dip their feet in the water and for me to search for the meaning of life in the waves crashing on the shore.
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

The girls and I took a ferry back to Seattle, had dinner with my sister and my dad, then they decided they wanted to stay there. I drove home alone, the sunroof open the stereo cranked up about as high as it could go.

When I got home it was time to hug and kiss my friend Dan. I suppose I'd been a bit over stressed all day and had kept it all in, because it all came out as I said goodbye to Dan for a year. He's shipping out to Iraq and it hurt my heart to give him one last hug. I couldn't stop crying.

All in all, there are a lot worse things than having a flat tire fixed in three hours flat.

Comments

  1. bad days are bad days...yours counts no matter who is shipping out to iraq. i'll keep him in my prayers too that he will safely return. i'm sorry that your daughter is not thinking of your right now. i think that goes with the territory of being her age. i read somewhere that a human being's frontal lobe doesn't fully develop until he/she is 25. the frontal lobe deals with consequences of behavior. i've been hurt by others for this reason. as people i love get older, they have turned considerate. still, i know that is little comfort. i'm sure she loves you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12:47 AM

    That is why there is roadside rescue on my Cell phone and AAA if I get stuck anywhere without my husband.

    My family has served in all wars and conflicts. I have a cousin on this 4th tour of duty in Iraq.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gee, I've changed any number of flats. My Dad made me learn when I started driving so I wouldn't be stranded. That guy had to be a total idiot for it to take that long. Sorry you had such a bad day.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bad things come in threes...Lock downs, Iraq, flats! Teenagers are well teenagers, they are a lot of work.

    Wow that is a lot of crap to deal with. The drive home sounded OK. The idiots at that Goodyear should be shut down by the corporate HQ. How is it possible to have a franchise that can't fix flats???

    I hope that your friend stays safe in that terrible mess.

    This world is such a crazy place. You're so fortunate to have such a great sense of humor.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous8:53 AM

    Good drol Pam...

    C'mere a minute...{{{Pammy}}}

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anna, I would have to agree with you on the whole 'teenagers being teenagers' thing. I'd just hoped that I had done a better job of teaching her compassion. ::sigh::

    Thanks everyone. I'm all right, other than feeling like I've had a truck run over me. You know how you feel after a really bad crying jag? Ayup. That's me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. oh pam, i understand...
    write me an email if you want

    ReplyDelete
  8. Pammy,

    I'm sorry that your day was difficult. I can only add to the general comments:

    1) Your teenager will be different once she's in her early 30's.

    2) I would sue Goodyear. Or in the very least write a nasty letter to corporate headquarters.

    3) Your friend will come back from Iraq. I will pray for him as well.

    Outie, peace.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Go ahead....tell me the truth :)

Popular posts from this blog

Wheeeeeeee!

Today I was awakened to the not-so-delightful sounds of enormous dump trucks, (you know the ones that are a dump truck and they haul a trailer behind?) dumping truck load after truck load of dirt behind my house. Then the most incredibly noisey and squeaky (do they not grease the tracks on those things??) grader began shoving the dirt and rocks around. I had to fight the urge to throw a can of WD40 over the fence to the driver. It wasn't even eight in the morning. It wasn't even 7:30 yet. So I reluctantly arose from my bed and cleaned up the kitchen. After it was spotless, I went back upstairs to my freeze-zone (the only room in the house with AC) to do some online banking and make calls to check on medical bills, etc. As I was finishing up, in walks my husband! At first I had a moment of Oh-no-he's-lost-his-job terror. Then it passed after he smiled. Seems they ran out of work for the day. Odd, but then that's Boeing. So hubby was roped into going school cloth

Peace Begins with You

In my readings this week, I came across a video of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. He gave a talk entitled, "Peace Within." Who doesn't want peace? Who doesn't crave peace within their soul? In their lives? In their hearts and in their homes? How often do we have complete peace? I'd say my answer would have to be that there isn't enough peace in my life, heart or home. It's not like I live in a warzone--I do not. I'm blessed to live in a nation where I have freedoms granted to me by the founding fathers and I do not risk being struck down by bombs or shot by snipers when I venture forth from my home. My neighborhood is relatively safe, so much so that I take solo walks. The peace I speak of is something different. It's the peace that can be with me no matter my circumstances. I crave that peace. Elder Wirthlin says that peace begins in the hearts of righteous individuals. How does it begin? With a relationship with our creator. In ferven

She's Something...

Most of you know that I've got four children. My eldest is seventeen. Oh heavens...how did that happen? Wasn't I just seventeen the other day? I'm sure I was.... Well, she's amazing. I know the majority of mothers have very high compliments to pay their children--and rightly so. However, my baby girl is astounding by anyone's standards. She is going to high school and college at the same time. In high school she's taking mostly AP (Advanced Placement) classes, which also count for college credits. She gets up at five a.m. every morning, goes to Seminary, then goes to school, she works four hours daily as an office manager at Winderemere Real Estate. She speaks Spanish, plays piano, guitar and flute. She goes to the gym daily and it shows. This was her yesterday. This is a picture I just took of her, after getting her braces put on. Now, having said that she is gifted and talented, I should ammend this post to tell you the following. She just got home