Sounds Good To Me!

Once again, it was proven to me, that you never know what will happen from one moment to the next! I left for work Tuesday morning - early for a change - with the anticipation of arriving at work early enough to finish a home study. It doesn't matter that that was my plan, because obviously, it was not the plan for my life that day. 
While driving on the Nicholasville bypass, I noticed my car seemed to lose power, but I was slowing down and didn't think much about it until I stopped at a stop light and attempted to take off again. My car would not go fast. Pedal to the floor and it wouldn't go into second gear. I pulled over. I put the car in reverse. It goes backward. I put it into drive and it goes forward. I accelerate and it doesn't respond. CRAP!

I just sat there for a few minutes, thinking the worst, like it was probably going to be a major repair like a new transmission or something and found myself asking, once again, the question I find myself asking a lot lately...

"WHY ME?" 

...and then I started to cry. Just a few tears and actually they didn't even fall down my cheeks. I looked at myself in the rearview mirror, wiped them away and said, out loud, "Don't cry! You big baby! You got this!"

As usual, the first call I made was to my Mom, knowing that if she answered I would probably start crying. She didn't.  She was still asleep.

Next I called my friend Danny Lane of D & D Towing.  I just happen to still have his number on speed dial from all the times I called him to tow the Swagger Wagon when I was driving it. Our conversation went something like this...

Ring, Ring
Danny: Hello?
Dana: Hey Danny. It's Dana Woods. (pause) Where are you?
Danny: (laughing) You don't even want to know. Where are you?
Dana: Sitting on the side of the road in Nicholasville.
Danny: Okay. I'm in Myrtle Beach but let me give you a number to call.
Dana: I had a feeling you were going to tell me you were at the beach.

I told him I was hoping to go to the Beach in two weeks, but a new transmission might nix that.  He gave me the number to Crown Towing.  When we hung up, I realized I couldn't call Crown until I could figure out where to have my car towed.  I had no clue where to take it!  So I started making more calls.

First, I called my nephew, Jase.  It's early in the morning.  He didn't answer.
Next, I call Curt's friend, Steve.  It's early in the morning.  He didn't answer.
I call another friend and he gives me some suggestions.
Then I try to call my friend, Jennifer, to get her husband's number because he is a mechanic.  She doesn't answer.
I try my Mom again...she still doesn't answer.

So, I sit there a few minutes thinking...CURT!!!!  I need you right now!!! 

I needed Curt Davis, the mechanic!!  If he were still alive, he would have probably been in Nicholasville that morning or at least on his way.  He would have answered my call and come to my rescue.  He would have probably taken care of getting Patti to the shop where he could take a look at her and complained the whole time that she was foreign and that he hated to work on cars because they were too small and his hands were too big and they sat too close to the ground to get up under them to do what he needed to do!!!

I know this, because I had heard all the complaints before!  When I met Curt, I drove the Swagger Wagon.  I bought Patti last summer when Curt and I were not even seeing each other.  Most of my readers know that when I bought Patti, Emily started driving "Swaggie", the 1999 Chrysler Town and Country Minivan.  Curt helped take care of "Swaggie" on a few occasions.  He installed Emily's new stereo on Christmas day and a few months later, the starter went out.  He diagnosed the problem, told me I needed a starter.  I made a call to my friend, Brian Driskell, who manages CarQuest, and picked up the starter.  Curt put it in and complained the entire time and then discovered the van needed a new battery.  When he got Swaggie back up and running, he brought the keys into Emily and said, "Emily...your mom paid for your starter.  I bought the battery.  If I hear you being disrespectful to your mom or she tells me that you aren't treating her the way you and I have discussed that she needs to be treated, I will repossess my battery.  Okay?"  Emily understood and was thrilled to have Swaggie back in service. 

I've needed Curt, a few times since his death, to repossess his battery :-( but that's another story.

I sent Steve a message:  "My car is broke down in Nicholasville.  I'm getting ready to have it towed but don't know where".  Still didn't hear from him.

Five minutes later I send Jennifer a message:  "I need your hubby's number. My car is broke down."

I update my status on Facebook that says "Good morning to me!  Broke down on the side of the road."

And then my phone starts BLOWING UP!  With FB notifications from my friends making sure I'm okay and offering help.  And then the phone calls start coming.

First Steve calls and tells me I can have it towed to his shop and he and Jase will take a look at it and if he can't fix it he can get it to someone who can.  Okay...sounds good to me.

Jennifer texts me Marvin's number.  I told her I had a plan but if it didn't work out I'd talk to Marvin.  She assured me that Steve and Jase would take care of me.  Sounds good to me. 

I call Crown Towing.  I tell him where I am and where I want it towed.  He asked what Danny normally charged me and I couldn't remember.  He told me he normally charged $150 to tow to Lancaster but that he would do it for $125 since I was a friend of Danny's.  Sounds good to me.

While on the phone with everyone else, my Mom called.  I call her back and tell her my dilemma and that I need her to come and get me.  After we hung up she sent me a text message that said "Do you want me to come now?"  My response "Yes please".  She's on her way.   Sounds good to me.

I try to call my friend Larry, who works for the Sheriff's Department where I'm sitting, to let him know where I am so the police will not put one of those crazy hot pink stickers on my car window to let other law enforcement officers that my car has been "checked" while it sits waiting for the tow truck.  He doesn't answer.

I call my boss to let her know that I'm going to be a little late getting to work but that I will get there...eventually!

I play around on Facebook and enjoy the A/C and my stereo while waiting.  Put my car in reverse and drive a few times hoping it was all in my imagination.  It was not.  I worry...feeling once again that nothing in my life goes right and everything is out of control. 

I call State Farm and talk to my friend, Todd, who confirms that I have towing on my insurance policy.  He said he will write a check reimbursing me $90.00 as soon as I drop the receipt by the office.  Sounds good to me.  He also confirms that most tow bills from Lexington or Nicholasville to Lancaster are $150 so I did get break.  Sounds good to me. 

I write a check to Crown Towing and put it and my keys where I was instructed.  I write a note to let any police officers know that the tow truck should be there by 10 a.m.  While getting everything together, my mom pulls up behind me.  Behind her, a Nicholasville Safety Officer pulls in.  I put my belongings into my mom's car and tell the SO that the tow truck will be there around 10.  She radios in and saves me the trouble of having to remove the sticky stuff from those horrible hot pink stickers at a later time.  Sounds good to me!

We drive back to my Mom's house and then I'm finally on my way back to work...driving her car.  When I drive through Nicholasville, I see Patti on the back of the tow truck.  I know there is nothing cute about a car taking a ride on a tow truck, but I thought she looked so cute sitting up there!!!

When I get closer to Lexington, I get a text message from my friend, Wanda, which said, "I just saw Patti ride through town on the tow truck."

When I was walking into work, my nephew Jase called.  He said "What up?"  and I said, "Nothing...are you at the shop yet?" and he said "Yeah...they just unloaded your car...I'm guessing that's why you tried to call me this morning?"  I told him it was and I was just trying to figure out where to take it.  He asked me what it was doing and said he had just woke up and was changing his clothes when I called and he forgot to call me back.  I remind him that he should always answer when his Aunt Dana calls!

I'm still not sure what's wrong with my car.  I'm grateful to my mom and dad who have allowed me to drive one of their cars.  They are driving Swaggie because, due to his advanced age, he can't travel very far anymore and I drive many miles each day.

When I finally talked to Steve, I told him I was worried that I hadn't heard from him because he has a history of not returning my calls when he has bad news. 

Rewind 8 weeks earlier: When I heard that something was wrong with Curt but didn't know what...the first person I called was Steve. I asked him to go to Burger House to find out what was going on and to let me know.  He immediately went.  When I didn't hear from him, I tried to call him back and he didn't answer.  I sent him a text and he didn't respond.  Deep down...I knew why he wasn't calling me....but I was holding on to hope that he was going to tell me what hospital they were taking Curt to.  Late that night, the day Curt died, I got a text message from Steve apologizing that he didn't tell me.  When I saw him for the first time afterwards, he just looked at me and said, "I couldn't be the one to tell you, Dana.  I couldn't.  I'm sorry."  I completely understood and I never thought anything about it or any less of Steve because of it.  It meant so much to me that he dropped what he was doing and immediately went to check on Curt when I asked him to go.  I'm sorry that he saw Curt like he did just because he was trying to do something for me.  I also asked Steve to do something else for me after Curt's death.  Everyone who knew Curt considered his truck an extension of him.  We all wanted his truck and trailer at his funeral.  I asked Steve to drive Curt's truck to the funeral and to the cemetery, never really thinking how difficult that might have been for him.  He did it...for me and for Curt.  He kept saying "I got this!"  That's one of my catch phrases for life now..."I got this!" and that's what I said when I looked at myself in the mirror to make myself stop crying!  Steve and Tamra have become close friends since Curt's death.  Tamra even went with me to see Curt's headstone for the first time on Thursday night.  That was difficult and I'm glad she was there. 

I heard from Steve about my car...he said "I don't know for sure yet but I don't think it's that bad."  Sounds good to me!

I'll keep y'all posted :-) as I continue praying that it won't be an expensive repair!