The Monday following my accident and subsequent car trouble, I called the car dealership to schedule a time to be seen. The lady on the phone told me that they could not get me in until next week. I told her that wasn't going to work, that I had to go out of town that week, and that the vehicle was not functional. She told me she could get me in on Wednesday morning. I took the appointment.
Wednesday was a little crazy. I dropped the kids off at school in my car and when I got home around 8, my dad was at the house. He was going to follow me to the dealership which is just a mile away from the house. I drove the Jeep and he was behind me in my car. The damn car stalled out before we even got out of the neighborhood. My dad showed up at the drivers side window.
"Get out of the car. I'm driving it. You have babies to take car of. I'm driving this car...." He was acting like he was going to risk his life or something.
"Okay dad, but you have to be really careful. The car just shuts off when you are in the middle of driving it. If it does that, you need to turn the ignition really hard and press on the gas and it will start. Drive slowly with the emergencies on and let me follow behind you," I told him, handing off the keys.
He gets into the Jeep and I get into my vehicle to follow him. What does he do? Tries to ditch me, turns onto the main road and is weaving in and out of traffic, cutting people off....in my husband's car that just STOPS WORKING while driving with no warning.
I am trying to catch up with him and I am having a full on freak out. I couldn't breathe.
We pull into the dealership and I'm like, "What the f*ck, dad?" He just shrugged, "I'm not afraid to die." I was annoyed but he was doing me a favor so I couldn't really complain.
We get in and this guy Larry offers to help us. Larry looks like he spent to many days out in the sun. The kind of guy who smoked Pal Mals and had himself a lot of hoes in the 80s. I told him my name and he looked me up in the computer.
"I don't have you in here for an appointment today."
"Well, I called Monday and told them it was an emergency and they told me to come in this morning."
"That's impossible, we're booked a week and a half out," Larry replied.
While this interaction was occurring, my father was pacing, breathing hard and clenching his fists. He couldn't help himself. He butted in loudly, "You need a car! You have kids and you need to go to Tennesse! This is bullshit! They better not charge you either- that car is under warranty, right?" Then he gave Larry a dirty look.
I glanced at him like,
I'm going to need you to stop acting like you're from New Jersey right now.
"Dad, you need to go sit in the lobby. I'm a big girl. I'm an adult woman now. I can handle this situation." He was not happy but went into the lobby. I turned back to Larry.
"I'm sorry about that. Listen, my husband is out of town. I need to go to Tennessee tomorrow morning. My car is not functioning and is a death trap. The lady on the phone told me to come in this morning. I need you to help me."
Larry was very reasonable. He pulled up some information in the computer, "Did you know a part of your transmission is under recall? I think that might be your problem."
"No. You would think they would send us information about that...."
"I can get you an estimate for the light, and we can fix the transmission problem, but we'd have to re-schedule you for an oil change."
"Perfect."
I retrieved my father from the lobby and we went back to my house. He drove home and I went directly to go get the oil changed in my car since I had decided to drive it to Tennessee. I'm waiting in the lobby and get a phone call from my husband.
"Hey! The planes can't take off from Colorado Springs because of wind. I already missed my connecting fight. I'm going to drive up to Denver to see if I can catch a flight home today."
"No, you NEED to be home today. I need to leave for Tennessee in the morning and our oldest can't miss school."
"I'm trying. I might be home late tonight...."
"Just keep me updated."
The day was quickly turning into a shit show. It was a 2 hour excursion to get the oil changed. I ran home and did a load of laundry and made a batch of fondant for my penis cake (will explain later) and then picked up my dad to go back to the dealership to pick up my Jeep, dropped the Jeep off to get the oil changed, and then took my dad out to lunch as a thank-you.
It was nice. We don't get to hang out as much as I like and we laughed and had a nice time. I got a text from my husband that he found a flight out of Denver and would be home shortly after 8 pm. Was so happy.
Then began what I call the Wednesday evening shuffle. I dropped dad off at his house, went to pick up my youngest from school, dropped her off at gymnastics, drove ALL the way back to the school to pick up my daughter and her friend from jazz band, dropped off the friend, picked up my brother from work for dinner, picked up the Jeep from the oil change place, went back to my house where I served him and my daughter dinner (I did BBQ pulled pork in the crock pot at 6:30 am), packed food for my youngest, dropped my brother back off at work, dropped off my oldest at dance, picked up my youngest from gymnastics, drove ALL the way back to pick up my oldest from dance, and then headed to the airport to pick up my husband.
It was almost 8:30 when we got home. I was exhausted. It was one of those days. I laid in bed and thought about the next day. I need to drop off a box at the school, come home and pack for Tennessee, bake a cake for Saturday since I won't be home, prep dinner for husband and make lunches for Friday, place grocery order, pick up youngest from school around 11, drive 5 and a half hours to Tennessee.....
I'm just over here, leaving the dream every day....
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