I win…

You know how when a group of women get together, and one of them starts talking about childbirth, and suddenly the room erupts into a huge competition of stories, each vying for the “Can you top this?” prize?  Or it could be a story about one’s children, or the latest weather woes, or even a trip to the grocery store.  There is always one story that tops all, and that person in essence “wins”.

I don’t like those sort of competitions, the ability to tell a great story has a lot to do with who wins, and it sort of dismisses the first person to start the whole thing, as if, “Honey, you think you’ve got something to complain about…”

Anyway, yesterday I had one of those days, you sort of had to have been there, but I think in the competition of life for the “I win” award, it ranks up there.  No one died, and it all sort of turned out fine in the end, well not really, because I’m out a ton of money, but the day went something like this…

I left early in the morning with plenty of time to spare, especially since it would be rush hour down the Garden State Parkway in NJ.  I was taking my daughter to Rutgers University where the plan was to shadow another student in her major, and get a feel for the university and campus life.  Rutgers at this point isn’t her top choice, but any information is helpful in this agonizing choice for her.

We were about 20 minutes into the trip, and the brake light and battery light on the dashboard came on.  Odd.  We pulled over and decided that the battery light didn’t mean anything as long as I didn’t shut off the car, and the emergency brake definitely wasn’t engaged.  We continued the trip.  As I changed lanes I realized I had lost power steering.  Not good.  And then the noise started, a rattling crunching sound from underneath the hood of the car that couldn’t be ignored…

We pulled over to the closest safe place, if there is such a thing on the Garden State Parkway, near exit 144, which if you know the parkway, is right about Irvington.  This isn’t the most scenic part of NJ, and a part I don’t go to on purpose.  We sort of just sat there, my daughter and I, deciding how to proceed.  We looked at the clock, and decided to contact my son, who would still be sleeping since it was his day off.  We had left in plenty of time, there was still a chance if he heard the phone, he could make it in time to pick up my daughter on the Parkway and get her to Rutgers.  He heard the phone as a matter of fact, and flew out the door, catching up with us within half an hour, and he did in fact get her to Rutgers on time.

Meanwhile, I dealt with the car.  AAA doesn’t service the NJ Turnpike or the Garden State Parkway, so I was forced to pay $150 towing charge to get my car off the parkway, and after three tries at small corner service stations in Union,  we located one where the mechanic “would return shortly”.  I waited another half hour, meanwhile my son found me on the return trip home from Rutgers (thank you God for cell phones…) and we sat in the car, in the damp cold, eating Quick Check egg sandwiches and drinking coffee, trying to keep warm.

What I failed to mention here, was that I have the flu.  I had a raging fever.  All I wanted to do was curl up in bed and die.  Here I sat in a desolate station with a broken car and feeling very sorry for myself.  I have never loved my son more than having him sit with me in my misery.  When the mechanic returned, he opened the hood, we all huddled together under the hood, and discovered that of  course one of the Serpentine belts had popped off, but that was because the crank shaft fell apart.  He did one of those eye roll expression “this can’t be good” kind of reactions and got out a jack.  He jacked up the car, slid underneath, and one by one bolts and parts came out from under the car.  Turns out (thank you God more than you’ll ever know) that all parts were accounted for, nothing had actually broken, and he took the next half hour to put all the parts securely back together and told me to take it immediately to my usual mechanic, which I did, followed by my son, and then immediately curled up in bed and just laid there…  I wanted to die…  I can’t tell you how high my fever was, because my thermometer doesn’t work.

I slept for a couple of hours, sort of, not being able to take the drugs I wanted to take, knowing I would be driving again.  I got back in a different car, and headed down to Rutgers by way of the Art Center of New Jersey in Summit, where I dropped off the piece I finished that I’m donating to their Blank Canvas event fundraiser.

I managed to pick up my daughter, after sleeping in the car for another hour once I got there, and brought her home, another hour plus driving in the car.  Traffic was very heavy, rush hour had already started.

So the day wasn’t one of my favorites, but no one got hurt, and my car is drivable, I’ll have my own mechanic take it all apart once my husband returns to Saudi Arabia next weekend, when I don’t need my car for a couple of days.  The crank shaft parts are very worn and with 168,000 miles on the car, probably should be replaced or tweaked, or something.  I’m not ready to give up my red wagon…  (I feel like Mme Romatswe and her tiny white van…)

I made dinner, cancelled a workshop I was suppose to attend today, which made me sad since I rarely get to take workshops and I was looking forward to this one.   My son went out and bought me some Jack Daniel’s and I had a good shot of whiskey, and curled up in bed and slept long and soundly through the night, and woke up feeling like I’m actually going to live.

Meanwhile, in spite of the flu, I did manage to teach my two classes on Tuesday, survive the back to back snow storms that produced beautiful wet chunky slushy snow with back to back delayed openings for my daughter, and finish the commission that I have to deliver tonight. I also managed to finish the jacket with the handwoven trim.

It was an odd week, full of planetary collisions, and atrocities in the world, and for the most part, I felt safe and comfortable in my own studio, except for the flu part, and next year, I’ll get a flu shot.  That wasn’t fun.  My car is temporarily repaired and drivable, thanks to wonderful mechanic from Union, by the name of Joe,  and my daughter got to spend the day getting a feel for Rutgers.  Her first choice is Webs, oops I mean University of Massachusetts Amherst, she will be visiting that school at the end of the week.  My husband will take her because I’d probably spend the day at Webs and spend her first year’s tuition there…

I win…