Monday, February 6, 2012

Home Again Home Again, Jiggity Jig!

I got to go home this weekend for this first time in almost six weeks. It was perfectly planned out. Friday morning I'd set out early to see the fam for the day. On Saturday I'd get to visit with Pyro Man and then on Sunday I'd head back to Oklahoma City. Like I said, perfect. Well, at least in theory.
Friday morning started off great. Got up early like I planned, grabbed a coffee for the road, and braced myself for the rain. Fortunately it wasn't raining terribly, I didn't have any traffic problems and I was making good time. Everything was dandy until I hit Lewisville.

As I was driving along the highway, my car randomly started to slow down. It was as if I'd taken my foot off the accelerator and tapped the breaks. I pressed my right foot down a little hoping a bit of gas would help, but no, it kept dropping in speed. Then my check engine light came on. Not good. I punched my flashers on and started to head for the shoulder. Then my oil light came on followed by my battery light. Awesome.

I'm less than an hour away from home and here I am on the side of the road. My car got tired, I guess. A quick phone call to Dad secured me a ride home and left me with absolutely no idea what happened to my car. AAA was my next call. After that, all I had to do was wait. A kind stranger did stop to offer me help and see if I was okay. I had a gentlemen honk at me while my car my actually being hooked up to the tow truck. Thank you for thinking I looked nice makeup-less with crazy hair, rain covered glasses, and a phone plastered to my ear.

Luckily I didn't have to wait long for my tow truck hero, Scott, to rescue me from the racing traffic. Nice young guy, didn't know what was wrong with my car either, but was happy to tow Miss Iris, my car, where I needed. I asked for a ride and this is the part that I hope he never repeats on other calls. "Oh sure, but you know this is how most slasher movies start. The young lady gets in the car with the tow truck driver. You know? Ha ha...oh"

...really? He was waiting for a laugh that I just couldn't utter. My face must have said it all because he quickly tried to cover with several apologies and the guarantee I'd arrive safe and sound to my parents. "Well," I started, "so long as you can tow my car, it's all good." I was too stunned with this whole car situation to really care too much about his crazy remark. All I wanted was to get my car fixed.

Dad told me to take the car to Toyota of Richardson so when Scott The Driver asked, "Where to?" I happily replied Toyota of Richardson. "Well, ma'am, it's $8 a mile after the first three. Toyota of Richardson is a pretty far drive from here." I call Dad back, tell him the price, Dad's voice goes up a couple of octaves, and we all agree Toyota of Lewisville is a better alternative. Not only that, it's under three miles from where I got stranded so my tow was for free (Thanks, AAA!).

Mom and Dad took me for Chik-fil-a for a pick-me-up, but I was still pretty sad. My weekend plans were blown out of the water and my car was broken. I couldn't even begin to guess how bad it was going to be so of course I went to the worst case scenario. Was my car a goner? Was I going to have a buy a new? How was I going to work in another payment? Argh, the trials of adulthood!

I got lucky. I got very, very lucky. Someone was looking out for me. We got a call in the afternoon that my car only needed a new timing belt and it would be fixed that afternoon. My weekend plans were back on track! Huzzah!

It wasn't a perfect situation and my perfect plans got a little delayed, but everything was still turned out pretty darn well. I got to see my family and my Pyro Man. Best of all, I made it back to OKC without having to call AAA again. Now that is a perfectly happy ending to this weekend.
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