My mother is the most positive minded person I know.
Sometimes I refer to her as ‘Cup Half-Full Connie.’ She always has an uplifting .02 up her sleeve. For example, instead of taking your side during a vent session she’ll offer up her medicine for a bad day in the words of the famous Transcendentalist, Ralph Waldo Emerson,
“For every minute you are angry you lost sixty seconds of happiness.”
What I’m really trying to say here, is that though her constant stream of positivism may be borderline annoying (sorry, mom)…she is always right (you’re welcome, mom). And as I’m soon to find out for myself as a mother-to-be, mother knows best.
This tidbit about my sweet mother is relevant today because I’m going to put on my positive pants, take her advice, and try to follow the example of Cup Half-Full Connie as I tell you the {mis}adventures of my past week. Bear with me, k? Here we go.
So there I was on the side of the road with my friend Chelsea modeling our oh-so-stylish orange reflective vests…
…you know, I’ll get to this in a minute. Let me start over.
It had been a few days since I spoke to the Viper Pilot. I know that he’s busy and I had to trust in God that everything was okay, but those days can really drag a girl down. Finally it was the weekend. A much needed time to relax and unwind from the stressful week. I decided to beat the heat and clear my mind by getting up early when it was still cool and take Elle for a walk along the Mosel River. I made the short drive to Bernkastel-Keus, parked the car and away we went.
It was a beautiful day and the walk was much needed. On my way back home, I noticed a noise that I’d never noticed. I rarely drive with the windows down and I assumed it was probably normal. The car was handling just fine despite the clunking noise. Still, I decided to stop at my favorite overlook to make sure my tire wasn’t flat.
With my luck and cars, you can never be too sure about these things so I even got down on the ground to look under the car. Nope, nothing hanging down or out of place as far as my untrained eye could see. It was only about 10 km to home so we loaded back up and hit the road. I promised myself I’d take the car in to be checked first thing on Monday.
It all happened so fast. Without much warning, the whole car began shaking violently. I put on my hazards and started to slowly slow down to pull over on the two lane busy road with no shoulder. Something was definitely NOT right. A guy passed me, honked, and pointed at my car.
“Really? You think something might be wrong with my car? Jerk…” I muttered.
Then, in the blink of an eye, there was a horrible thunk and scratching sound as I pulled my car to the side of the road. The sight before my eyes was unbelievable.
Oh Lord, I prayed, why couldn’t it have just been a flat tire?! WHY?
The sight my eyes refused to accept was my tire…bouncing along the road and crossing the ditch before coming to rest 200 meters away in a field.
🙂
I literally drove the wheel off my car.
You know, that’s always been something I joked about, “driving the car til the wheels fall off,” but now it’s not really that funny.
I sat and cried for about 2-3 minutes (clearly, pregnancy hormones), then I put on my positive pants, said to myself, a quivering Elle, and the kiddo in my belly, “I’ll handle this,” and called my friend Chelsea who dropped everything to come to my rescue, put out my caution triangle, put on my orange reflective vest (the latter two are German law), and spoke with at least ten of the most kind people who stopped to make sure I was okay.
As Chelsea and I stood there trying to decide our course of action, one of God’s good Samaritans pulled over. We were oblivious to him until we noticed him digging around in the trunk of my car. Great, I thought, I’m getting robbed. Then he asked where the tire was in German (he didn’t speak English) and I realized he wasn’t mugging me, he was there to help. Thank God. We pointed to the field. He laughed. Hysterical.
The kind man put the tire back on, tightened up all the tires, and explained that I needed a new bolt because he had to borrow one from another wheel. This one, he said, was kaputt (broken).
Though he refused at first, I gave him money and thanked him a million times for his assistance and drove (slowly) home to park the car. Ironically, the song on the radio during this short drive was Carrie Underwood’s Jesus Take the Wheel. I couldn’t help but laugh as I performed an award winning duet with Carrie. I parked the car and it won’t move until Thursday when I take it back to the shop that recently had the tires off to balance them when I had the flat fixed. And it has to be Thursday because Monday through Wednesday, I have a repairman coming to fix the water heater. One thing at a time…
While Blue Thunder the Volvo sits in timeout, I have to drive Tori the Touareg.
Tori is one of a kind. It’s an electric car AND it runs on gasoline! Shortly after the Viper Pilot deployed, Tori’s battery went…well, kaputt. So when Tori is in the garage, she has to be plugged in to charge. When she’s in a parking lot, she has to have her solar panel in the windshield to keep the battery charged. (Both items were purchased after the battery was repeatedly found dead.) Jumper cables are always close at hand.
That evening while on my way to a friend’s birthday party, I learned that Tori doesn’t have air conditioning. With the weather nearly 90 degrees every day, a little heater strapped to me, and no air conditioning in any building, being in the car with the AC full blast is my refuge. Thank goodness for popsicles.
If you’re a follower of this blog, you know that I’ve complained and whined about the long winter and lack of spring recently, but now that summer is here in full swing, I’ve decided I’m ready for cold again…even some snow. I wouldn’t say this if I weren’t pregnant. Being pregnant in the summer without AC is miserable.
This was after a run, but it makes my point. |
Please know the very mechanically inclined Viper Pilot had both cars in tip-top shape prior to leaving so to avoid any issues like a continuously drained battery and wheels falling off. The Viper Pilot is also very particular on who works on his vehicles so I’m afraid Tori will remain in this state until he gets home and can work on it. Even when I told him about the lack of AC, he texted back,
“I don’t know what you are talking about. That thing has the model 4-1×80 power air conditioner…4 windows – 1 sunroof x 80 mph.”
Sigh.
So, as I end my day laying in bed watching my new fave show Revenge, I try to stay positive and try to think like my mother would. Thank God for moms. It’s not really so bad. Tomorrow is a new day and this deployment will eventually end.
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin in serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tamera says
Ah! Sorry you had a bad day! Tomorrow is a fresh start, as always :^)
Shannon at Beginnings in Bayern says
Hi! Hopped over from Lift Love Life. Nice to see another Military Wife in Germany. I'm right there with you being over this crazy German weather…first nonstop snow, then floods, now heat wave? I'm very impressed with how you handled your car, you did way better than I would have done! 🙂