Today I realized that I was out of an essential ingredient for one of my projects. I had just enough to finish one allotment, but needed extra so I could finish the other two parts during the week. And I didn’t feel like going out just for that ingredient later in the week.
So I grabbed my keys and wallet, a bag of garbage waiting to be hauled off the porch and thrown into the trash bin at the end of our long drive, and headed out to the car.
As I went to drop a bag of garbage into the back seat, something didn’t look right. Then I opened up the back door and I spotted the problem.
A flat tire. Same rear tire that went flat months ago. The last time, it ended up costing a new one.
It’s what happens when you live on a gravel road. A lot of pointy things fly out of trailers and truck beds…and embed themselves in random tires rolling by.
Mine just happened to be the lucky one this time.
So there I was. No car. No ingredient. Staring at a very flat, brand new tire. Wondering if I would have to get yet another one. Did I have enough to cover the cost? I was still playing catch up in my car repair fund from the maintenance work done just last year.
Sigh.
I picked up my coat and headed back inside.
Back inside…
“What’s wrong?” asked my daughter.
“Tire’s flat,” I replied.
“Need me to help?”
Having expended all my energy earlier that morning doing my regular full and half plank push-ups, I really didn’t want to have to jump up and down on a car jack.
“Sure,” I answered.
Enlisting one of her kids, my daughter and her son both trooped outside.
“I’ll show you how to change a tire”, my daughter declared to her voluntold offspring as they went out the front door.
As I watched from the window, I saw my daughter show her son how to jack up my little car and remove the lug nuts. He was enjoying himself turning the jack handle and watching the tire slowly lift off the ground.
“That’s good,” she told him as it cleared the 1” mark. “I’ll have you jack it up some more when I have to put the spare on.”
Watching her jumping up and down on the jack made me realize that we’d lost the sturdy four-way jack. That little silver one was bending at every jump. Great.
Or try to. My daughter’s dyslexia kicked in and she proceeded to tighten every one of them.
I headed out the door after realizing she’d forgotten an important safety step.
“What ever happened to our old four-way jack?” I asked.
“Not sure,” puffed my daughter. “I thought it was in the shed, but I haven’t seen it for a long time.”
Great. Got to remember to pick a replacement four-way at the store.
Nice.
“You forgot to put the tire stops behind the wheels,” I said, grabbing a couple of pieces of gardening timbers to chock two tires. “If the car ever started to roll backwards for whatever reason, it will fall off the jack and you’ll get hurt. Or murdalize you and make you buy me another car. Whichever comes first.”
You forgot to put the tire stops behind the wheels,” I said
She rolled her eyes and continued to jump on the jack.
I went back inside and fixed some coffee, not wanting to see what was going on.
“Just trust the process,” I chided myself, pet the dog, and waited.
Soon the front door opened.
“All set,” my daughter said. He son shuttled off to the back room.
In spite of the technical glitches, the car was soon ready to roll. I took it and another grandchild to the local Walmart for repair.
Blessing one: The flat was discovered hours before the car was needed to drop off yet another grandchild for a college class.
The repair…
Leaving the car in the capable hands of the mechanic, I took the waiting time to grab the missing ingredient needed. My grandchild and I took our time looking at the stuff in the clearance racks, knowing it would be a while before we had to go back to the waiting room for the car.
But, running out of all the unaffordable stuff to look at, we finally headed back to the shop area and sat at the bench. The granddaughter pulled out her drawing book and coloring pens. And I took out my planner to enter in things I hadn’t had time to fill out earlier.
About an hour later, the mechanic shuffled out. He was looking around the room trying to figure out if I (the only adult customer in the area) was the one who owned the flat-tire car.
“Are you (insert name here)?” he asked.
“That’s me!” I said.
He looked like he was a doctor about to tell a loved one that the patient had died.
Must be bad news.
“I’m sorry to tell you this,” he began, and swallowed, “but the nail that caused the hole in your tire was a long one. And it missed the tread.” He paused.
“It lodged in the shoulder of the tire, not the tread. We can’t fix it. You’ll have to get it replaced.”
Awesome.
“And what would that cost?” I asked, trying to remember just h ow much those new tires cost a few months ago. I thought they were on sale back then, so I was adding up more dollar signs as I waited for him to look it up on his tablet.
“$60.”
“And it’s the same tire as the ones I just got?”
“Yes.”
So I checked my extra gas money fund. Yea! I had more than enough to cover the cost!
“Go ahead,” I said, “Let’s get it changed out.”
The mechanic looked shocked and had to ask me to repeat my reply. I think he was waiting for me to say I couldn’t afford it.
Blessing two: The money was enough to fix the accident.
The payment…
The car was soon fixed. I went to pay for the tire.
“That will be $32,” said another gentleman who was checking me out.
“$32?!? Are you sure?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. That’s what the Road Hazard insurance does.”
“Oh wow! That’s awesome!”
I have had road hazard insurance before, but I remembered having to pay full price for tire replacements in the past. This was too good to be true! Yea!!
Blessing three: Unexpected savings!
Drive home…
As I happily drove home counting all the blessings that had happened in the morning, I realized I’d forgotten something.
The four-way jack.
The one that came with the car has withstood far more tire changes in a year than I’m sure the manufacturers intended over the life of the vehicle!
Hopefully I won’t need it for a while. I’m not willing to push my luck expecting more blessings when that jack breaks because I forgot to buy a new one.
I guess I’ll get one on the way home tomorrow…if I remember.
Blessing four: The jack that came with the car didn’t break.