**This is one of my most favorite stories in recent years. In hopes of being a little on the lighter side today, I share with you a tale of my faithful Jeep Cherokee, which, while I no longer own it, will always have a huge place in my heart.**
Pizza. Cici’s Pizza. That’s all I wanted. Really. It’s not like I can go there for their cheesy garlic bread anymore, thank you very much! So there I was last night. The parking lot.
Now, having just come from a football game-which the school I taught at won 30-16!-I was still in a skirt. Well, there’s a quick way to change without having to go into a building and use their bathroom. It’s called slip into the passenger side of the car, pull the jeans on under your skirt, take your skirt off, and you’re set to go. So that’s what found me in the passenger seat of my car.
Change successful.
I open the car door to get out.
Open successful.
I went to close the car door.
Close…unsuccessful?
This door had given me trouble for as long as I have had the car (three and a half years), so I do what I normally do and push harder.
Close unsuccessful.
Push. And push. Lift and push. Heave. Pour water on metal piston for lubrication (yes, I KNOW the principles of rust, but I’m desperate here!) and push with all my might.
Will. Not. CLOSE!
What in the world?!? I’ve had cars stall, cars not start, cars lose their muffler while I’m driving (oh, how I miss that wagon!), but this?? A door not closing? Stupid.
So I call my friend Adam, cause he’s the only guy I can think of that could help, since he was on his way to Cici’s anyways. He says he’ll be right there. Well, he gets there, parks his van, and he, his wife Jen, and his brother John come upon me looking absolutely pathetic next to a door that will not close.
Adam tries to close it.
Will not close.
John tries to close it.
Will not close.
Jerrill pulls up and tries to close it.
Will not close.
The next hour consisted of hard work and sweat on Adam’s part, flashlight and keep-this-stuff-from-falling-on-Adam on John and Jerrill’s part, and keep-Tammy-sane on Jen’s part. We borrowed tools from Cici’s. The (owner?) came over to see what was up. He thought it was hilarious.
He tries to close the door.
Will not close.
Adam has the kick panel off. It’s getting later and later. We talk about leaving it and just coming back to it and praying God will protect what’s in the car. Jerrill tells me if we do that, make sure I roll up the window so no one gets in. Thanks, Jerrill. Good ol’ Mr. Owner Man comes back out and gives us a free pizza and tells us good luck. That was totally cool. Thank you, Mr. Owner Man! We finally send Jen to Walmart to buy a hacksaw, so we can just cut through this piston and shut the stupid door. While Jen is on her way, Adam puts the kick panel back on, cause there’s really not much more we can do. He gets kick panel put back on.
Jerrill tries to close the door.
Will…close??
WHAT?
The door closed!! CANCEL THE HACKSAW!! Apparently Adam had done enough banging around in there to get the door to close! YAY!!!!
We have a celebratory slice of pizza and get ready to go into Cici’s and enjoy what is sure to be, after all the drama, the tastiest Cici’s pizza buffet ever.
Then we hear John’s voice. “Hey, Tammy. Your interior lights are on.”
Ok… Doors closed? Check. Not turned on manually? Check. Dimmer switch not set to some weird function? Check.
Uh oh.
Somehow, something got messed up with the sensor in the passenger door, so that, even though it was now closed, the car wasn’t registering the fact that it was closed, thereby assuming it was open and keeping the stupid light on.
STUPID!!!
Well, we obviously couldn’t leave it like that. So we figure we’ll take out the fuse that controls the interior lights. One problem, though. The diagram doesn’t seem to match the fuses actually in there. CRAP! So we mess around with the fuses under the hood. Jerrill takes each one out until, finally, at the last one he tries, the interior lights go off. Yay!! So we turn on the car to see what else has been affected.
Heart. In. Feet.
I HAVE NO RADIO!!!! Now, this might seem like not a big deal to some people, but those of you reading this who remember the rusty bullet know EXACTLY why this was a big deal! Ok. So no radio and no odometer. I will survive, as long as the car starts when I need it to. So we go into Cici’s and enjoy our buffet.
After dinner, I get in the car to go home, after making plans with Adam to look at the car on Monday afternoon to see if we could figure out what was going on. I begin driving through the parking lot in a very silent car (but at least my windows work). I look down to see how fast I’m going.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
I have no console gadgets. No gas gauge. No speedometer. No odometer. No temp gauge. *sigh*
I turn on my GPS, so I will at least have a speedometer. I’m pretty sure I am a little over half a tank on gas. I go home.
STUPIDEST CAR REPAIR EVER!!
CHALLENGE OF THE DAY: We all have those situations that come into our lives that seem so negative when we are going through them, yet somewhere in the back of our minds we realize that it’s something we’re going to look back on one day and laugh it. If you’re facing on of those situations today, keep breathing. This, too, shall pass, and one day you will look back on it and maybe laugh, maybe smile, but hopefully always will remember the lesson you learned. Keep that in perspective, and the problem here and now will seem not so insurmountable.
LOBLA
Live Like That 