Yesterday morning, I was in the middle of typing a blog about how I lost and reconnected with my friend, Natalie, when my mom came to talk to me. She wanted to talk about the coming weekend (today and tomorrow), when my whole family travels up to my project house for our final group-effort to prepare it for move-in day. We talked for a few minutes and decided to go out to a franchised hardware store in town to see what kinds of flooring they had in stock. (My project house is a few hours drive away and there is a same franchise store right up the street from it. We sometimes go to the store near Mom and Dad's house to order things for pick-up or delivery up near my house. It saves time and effort.) So I put down my keyboard and got ready to go into town.
After going to the hardware store, Mom and I headed in different directions. She went to her art class. I went a little up the street from the hardware store to get something to eat, then to the book store. After the book store, it occurred to me that I was already halfway to my friend, Natalie's house and I had both a counter-top chip (for the new kitchen counter that is being installed tomorrow) and a paitrnt chip (for the color I am painting my kitchen tonight) in my pocket and I could take them out to show Natalie. So I called and asked if she was up for some company. She was. (Yippee!)
I got to Natalie's house and we had a lovely chat for a few hours. We talked about my kitchen, cooking, crazy in-love things our husbands have done for us, "the hood" (Natalie lives nearby), and so on. A little later than I wanted to leave, I left for home. When I got on the highway, I could tell that I had waited a bit too long and was going to hit rush-hour traffic. Not only that, but we are into construction season in Wisconsin, so there is a lot of highway construction going on right now. Nervouse about the time and picking my daughter up from school after her activities, I made the decision to get off the highway and drive right through "the hood." I would pick the highway back up on the other side of town and, thusly, reduce my travel time.
Now, honestly, I do not know if it was driving on the city streets or driving through highway construction that was the cause of it, but driving along, almost home, I started to hear really loud road noise.
I thought, "Oh! Whose car is that? Somebody's muffler has a huge hole in it! I hope they pass me quickly."
Well, the cars passed around me and the awful noise did not stop. I then thought maybe there was a large truck driving near me. I looked around. Nothing. A knot forming in my stomach, I deduced the noise must be coming from me.
"Is it my engine?" I wondered, rationalizing that my car does have a lot of miles on it. I listened for a moment.
"No," I thought. "That noise is definitely coming from outside the car." Then it occurred to me. I must have a flat tire!
"Hmm..." I tried to decide,"The next exit is where I get off. Should I try to make it there or should I pull over here."
I had just passed an exit and knew it was about 3 miles to the one I wanted. I decided it would probably be a better idea to stop the car rather than driving another 3 miles on a flat tire. So I stopped and, remembering a similar incident when my ex-hero was in the Army and he rescued me from my broken car on the highway, I stopped and rummaged around in my purse for my cell phone. Traffic was heavy and very steady at that time of day, I was right on the highway and I have never even tried to change a tire on my own. No husband around to rescue me this time, I called my parents to find out what I needed to do to save myself.
"Hi, Mom," I greeted. "What do I do if I get a flat tire?"
"Do you have a flat tire? How bad is it? Where are you?" came her questions, one after the other in rapid succession.
Long story short, not a single soul driving on that busy highway stopped to help this stranded lady-in-distress. Mom and Dad came out to rescue me. That was kind of an adventure on its own with Dad not knowing much about cars, but thank goodness I was close enough for them to save me! Today or Monday, though, I am going to visit Natalie's "Uncle Tim" (coincidentally, my mechanic) to have him walk me through changing my first tire.
After going to the hardware store, Mom and I headed in different directions. She went to her art class. I went a little up the street from the hardware store to get something to eat, then to the book store. After the book store, it occurred to me that I was already halfway to my friend, Natalie's house and I had both a counter-top chip (for the new kitchen counter that is being installed tomorrow) and a paitrnt chip (for the color I am painting my kitchen tonight) in my pocket and I could take them out to show Natalie. So I called and asked if she was up for some company. She was. (Yippee!)
I got to Natalie's house and we had a lovely chat for a few hours. We talked about my kitchen, cooking, crazy in-love things our husbands have done for us, "the hood" (Natalie lives nearby), and so on. A little later than I wanted to leave, I left for home. When I got on the highway, I could tell that I had waited a bit too long and was going to hit rush-hour traffic. Not only that, but we are into construction season in Wisconsin, so there is a lot of highway construction going on right now. Nervouse about the time and picking my daughter up from school after her activities, I made the decision to get off the highway and drive right through "the hood." I would pick the highway back up on the other side of town and, thusly, reduce my travel time.
Now, honestly, I do not know if it was driving on the city streets or driving through highway construction that was the cause of it, but driving along, almost home, I started to hear really loud road noise.
I thought, "Oh! Whose car is that? Somebody's muffler has a huge hole in it! I hope they pass me quickly."
Well, the cars passed around me and the awful noise did not stop. I then thought maybe there was a large truck driving near me. I looked around. Nothing. A knot forming in my stomach, I deduced the noise must be coming from me.
"Is it my engine?" I wondered, rationalizing that my car does have a lot of miles on it. I listened for a moment.
"No," I thought. "That noise is definitely coming from outside the car." Then it occurred to me. I must have a flat tire!
"Hmm..." I tried to decide,"The next exit is where I get off. Should I try to make it there or should I pull over here."
I had just passed an exit and knew it was about 3 miles to the one I wanted. I decided it would probably be a better idea to stop the car rather than driving another 3 miles on a flat tire. So I stopped and, remembering a similar incident when my ex-hero was in the Army and he rescued me from my broken car on the highway, I stopped and rummaged around in my purse for my cell phone. Traffic was heavy and very steady at that time of day, I was right on the highway and I have never even tried to change a tire on my own. No husband around to rescue me this time, I called my parents to find out what I needed to do to save myself.
"Hi, Mom," I greeted. "What do I do if I get a flat tire?"
"Do you have a flat tire? How bad is it? Where are you?" came her questions, one after the other in rapid succession.
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| My Flat Tire |
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