Today was the day for catastrophes.  It started out harmless enough as I took the kids to get their hair trimmed this morning.  But when we got in the minivan to leave, the engine turned over and then cut out on me.  I turned off the air conditioning and tried to start it again, but it was determined not to cooperate. 

After a few more failed attempts, I did what every other confident, independent woman does in a crisis.  I called my husband and whined into the phone, "Our car died!  I have so much on my agenda today!  What do I do???"

We played a game of 20 questions that ended in a quarrel over me giving insufficient information.  Then we gave up on the minivan, and he agreed to come to my rescue. 

When we got off the phone, I decided to give the car one more chance to redeem itself.  To my surprise and delight, the engine turned over and purred, and I roared out of the parking lot before it had the chance to fail on me again.  I immediately picked up the cell phone to call my husband and tell him to return to work, but there was no answer. 

Long story short, we met up at the CVS across town, where he got in the car, turned if off and then on again, deemed it suitable to drive, and went back to work.  I went on my merry way.

After several errands and a visit with a friend in my old neighborhood, I headed out of town and made what was supposed to be a quick detour by my favorite pizza joint to grab dinner for my family.  We now live 30 minutes from the best pizza in the Philly suburbs and it’s not often that I get a chance to bring some home for dinner. 

As I pulled up to the pizza place, I pulled in a little too close to the curb (my parallel parking skills have seriously diminished since moving to the country) and banged my tire solidly into the concrete.  Uttering a naughty word under my breath, I jumped out of the car to assess the damage.  I could hear a whistle of air escaping from the gash in the side of the tire.

Two car incidents in one day.  What are the chances?!  I sure hope this isn’t a bad omen for our trip to Maine.  We are supposed to leave TOMORROW!  Or tonight, really, since 3AM has no business being considered part of the morning hours, in my humble opinion.

A man entering the pizza joint who had watched the whole unfortunate mishap unfold said helpfully, "You better get that car on over to a tire place as fast as you can!" 

I figured he probably knew what he was talking about, so without even collecting my pizza, I hopped back in the minivan and made my way up the street to my former car repair shop, thankful that even though I was 20 miles from home, at least I was in familiar territory.  They weren’t able to help me at 3PM on a Friday, but he was kind enough to call a tire place that he recommended and fill my tire so I had enough air to get there.

An hour later, I was on my way home in the Friday afternoon traffic jam with a brand new tire and a lukewarm pizza.  Fortunately I had cleaned the house and packed our clothes yesterday, so all we had left to do tonight was clean out the fridge, load the car, and have a slice of pizza.

Oh, by the way, this is the weather forecast in Maine for the next week.  Jealous yet?  Bwahaahaaaaaa!!!!!!!

Sat Aug 11 81°/59°

Sun Aug 12 83°/61°

Mon Aug 13 80°/53°

Tue Aug 14 75°/55°

Wed Aug 15 76°/55°

Thu Aug 16 74°/53°

Fri Aug 17 72°/53°

Sat Aug 18 72°/56°