Driving Disasters

I should have realized today would be a bad driving day, when as I backed out of my driveway, my neighbor called, "You have a basketball stuck under your van."

Yes, I did. Thank you Deacon. I don't know why it didn't just roll away, but it was stuck. I had to do a series of driving forward and backward to finally get it free. I don't want to know what the neighbors thought. But I was on my way until I glanced in my mirror.

I accidentally took out my mirror on Wednesday, when I backed out of the garage and whacked into the wheelbarrow hanging on the wall. I was going to go get the mirror fixed this morning, so I just stuck it back in as best I could and started driving. Well, when I glanced into the mirror, I noticed it was pointing down, and therefore doing me no good, so I decided I would just push it up a little bit.

This was when my mirror fell off onto Meridian road. I had driven all of approximately one block. So I pulled over, turned on my flashers, and collected my mirror from the road, all without dying. This time I threw my mirror onto the passenger seat, deciding to get this fixed as soon as I filled the van up with gas.

I had been driving for a good two minutes when I heard an unusual sound out my window. My window was unrolled, because the air conditioner that I have now fixed twice (Good-bye $1200) is broken again. What now? I think. I'm beginning to think my van is falling to pieces, or possibly pieces are falling off of it again. Then the sound changes into a rhythmic thump, thump, and I have a good guess what's wrong. I pull into the Fred Meyer parking lot, and my suspicion is confirmed--I have a flat tire.

Our secondhand van did not come with a spare tire, and it never occurred to me to get one until this moment. I called Chris, who was in a meeting, and he told me he would help me take care of it after his meeting.

So for a good hour and a half, the kids and I roamed the aisles of Fred Meyer. I now know every single toy that Fred Meyer's carries, and which ones McKay would like for her birthday. (All the girl ones.) I also now own three cans of tuna, a bag of fun-size Snickers bars, and a pair of little girl Sunday shoes.

So my knight finally rode up in his glistening, unbroken, white car to rescue me. I drove home in said car, while he dealt with tow trucks, new tires, etc. I was so happy to be driving a functioning, air-conditioned vehicle. Though the occasional dinging sound was unnerving. (Note to self: Cars will periodically ding at you if you drive with the trunk open.) I was glad to be home with my bad car luck behind me. I let Deacon out of the car, and he instantly walked right into the open car door and whacked his head.

I have to pick Parker up from school in an hour and a half. I'm thinking we better walk.