best case scenario

are you ready for a long drawn out story described in excruciating detail?

i thought so.  let's get started.

yesterday, i had to stop at pricerite for 6 gallons of 1% milk to take with me to work.  it's about 12:00 when i get out of the store and i have just enough time to get to work by 12:30.  i load the milk in the backseat and go to start the car... and it doesn't turn over.  it doesn't even make a sound.  i take the keys out and put them back in, hoping it was a fluke.  it still doesn't start.

my mind starts racing.  do i call AAA?  that will take forever, i don't have the membership card, jeremy does.  do i call jeremy?  he can't do anything to help me, he's at school. it would just make him worry.  do i start asking people around me to jump my car?  i don't have jumper cables.  oh there is a firestone auto place next door, should i start there?  the milk is going to spoil!  i'm going to be late!  ahhhhhh!

unsure of what to do, i take a moment to say a silent prayer.  always my go to in a situation like this.  you know, one of those please-help-me-think-clearly-and-take-care-of-this-quickly prayers sandwiched between things i'm grateful for.  after my earnest supplication, i try one more time to start the car seeing if the answer to my prayer is in the form of my car miraculously functioning.  still nothing, so i text my supervisor to tell her "i have the milk. my car won't start. i will be late.  i don't know how late."

then i call AAA.  they tell me they can't help me unless jeremy is with the car since the membership is in his name.  i tell them it is impossible for him to be at the car (it's our only car and he's in the city).  they tell me i can pay $68 to add my name to the membership and that it will take an hour for someone to come help me.  i tell them thanks and no thanks, i will try something else and call back if i am that desperate.

then i get out of my car and ask the gentleman about to get into the car next to me if he has cables and would be able to jump me.  he says cables? and seems very confused and gets in his car.  he may not have known english.  i eye the lady about to get into her car in front of me and i totally judge her (tsk tsk), assuming she doesn't have the cables or the time to jump my car. 

then i grab my belongings and walk over to the firestone tire, hoping the milk won't curdle in the oppressive heat.  i relay my saga to a nice man with awesome glasses and he asks if i have called AAA.  i report that bit of the story as well and he says the same thing happened to him once and his wife had to call them and tell a little fib (that she was with the car, but had to leave and that's why he was there instead) to get help.  i call jeremy to see if he can call AAA and he doesn't answer. 

the nice man with awesome glasses sees that jeremy didn't pick up.  he looks around and asks what my car is and looks to see if he can spot it from the store.  he decides it is close enough, tells his co-worker he's going to take a look, grabs the magical box that starts cars, and we head outside.

he takes a look under the hood and immediately says, "yeah you need a new battery."  he explains some car stuff to me about the relationship between the alternator and the battery while he hooks the cables up.  i hand him he keys and the car starts right up.  he takes the cables off and it is still running. hooray, the battery still has some juice. 

he tells me to not stop until i am at a place that give me a new battery or else the car will not start again.  i ask if he can give me one right now and tell him that there is also a toyota dealership across the street from where i work.  he says "if you gotta go you gotta go" because he knew i had work and he said that toyota batteries have a better warranty.  so i tell him thank you about a bazillion times (i am so happy at this point i think i could have kissed him) and hit the road at 12:18.

on my way, i tell siri to call the toyota place across the street from my work.  they tell me they can get me a new battery right away and to drop it off whenever.  i call my mom next to tell her the crazy story so far and how everything is working out quite nicely.  as i get closer to work (it was about a 25 minute drive), i call cassandra and ask if she can come get the milk because i can't turn my car off.

i arrive in the parking lot at 12:41 (only ten minutes late!) and unload the milk while my car continues to run.  i pass off the heavy load and tell cassandra and nellie i will be back shortly.  i drive across the street and pull up to the service department and wait in line to pull in... and my car dies.  the window is stuck down. the car won't start. the line of cars in front of me has dissipated. i figure this is as good as it's going to get and step out of my car.

an employee sees me walking towards him and asks me to pull up all of the way. i laugh as i tell them my car died in that exact spot and needs to be jumped.  he disappears and another employee tells me to pull up all the way and i tell him the same thing.  luckily, there is no one else showing up so my immobile car is not that big of an inconvenience.  one guy goes to the car, one guy takes me inside to meet with the delightful emily rose.

she starts typing my information into the computer and i overhear one of the guys from outside, "it died again."  i think that this whole thing is quite hilarious and can't stop smiling.  emily rose comments, "you seem to be in a pretty good mood for your car breaking down."  i tell her this is working out great because i work right across the street, it really is the best case scenario.

i call jeremy at this point to see if we need an oil change while we have it in the shop, i can never remember the timing on these things.  he says sure and asks why?  i quickly tell him that the car died, i am at toyota, and i will tell him the juicy details later.  emily rose and i chat about this and that while she gets my stuff all squared away.  and then i am good to go and she will call me when it is done. before i know it, i am walking back to work and it is only 12:53.

i start my work day, catching up on emails, meeting with patients, and writing notes. i get a voicemail at 1:30 saying my car was all fixed and ready to be picked up.  now that is fast.  i end up walking over at about 3:00 to pick up the silver stallion.  i chat with emily rose to get some updates on my car's health and pay for their kind services.  and i am out.  done.  with a car that runs.  and a bunch of new friends at firestone tire and toyota.

i am such a lucky girl!


let's recap the miracles of the day shall we:

1.  that i bought the milk this week for work.  usually natalie does.  if i hadn't, my car would have not started tuesday night at 8:30 pm when things are closed, rather than at 12:00 with a firestone tire next door and a nice man with awesome glasses to jump it for me.

2.  that i called AAA first.  it seemed to be a futile move since they couldn't do much for me, but if i hadn't called them first, the nice man with awesome glasses at firestone would have recommended i call them.  instead i was able to tell him i tried that and it wasn't helpful.  he took pity on me was willing to help a sister out.  (i think i will take him some donuts.)

3.  that my car didn't die while i was dropping off the milk (or at a stop light, or while we were in vermont, etc).  serious miracle here.  how would i have gotten it across the street?  it hung on just long enough for me to get where i needed to go: the entrance of the service department at toyota.  amazing.

4.  that there is a toyota dealership across from my work. i was able to drop off the car and pick it up with only slight disruptions to my work day.  so convenient and friendly.  they totally rock.

5.  that everything happened so quickly.  how amazing is it that my car breaks down, gets jumped, i make it to work, and take it to get fixed all within an hour??!  and 25 of those minutes were spent on the highway. considering the events, i wasn't that late to work and i was able to meet with my patients, etc, etc. 

6.  i'm sure there are other miracles that i just can't see right now or that i may never recognize.  

God was watching out for me and answered my prayers in such a profound way.  I know that God is real.  He knows me, He cares about me.  He is involved in the details of my life.  And for that, I am so grateful.