Thanks Big Blue! And.... Be Grateful for the Things you weren't grateful for before... S

So you may remember an earlier post about my car losing air conditioning.  Then later on, my parents let me borrow their Cadillac.  Let me fill you in on "The Rest of the Story".

Just as I was getting used to driving (and parking) the unfamiliar car, the unexpected happened.  But first, let me give you some backstory.  We had discussed options with them where we would have use of the Cadillac for as long as we wanted, meaning we would be free to sell the Subaru now for whatever we could get for it.  Ultimately, though, we determined that the "Big Blue" Subaru still would have some value to us in the winter.  So we decided to basically just store it in the garage until then.

However, last week, I was working out of state and was trying to find a Costco.  I realized that the GPS in the car couldn't find the Costco and I got lost and ended up going to google maps.  By the time I got re-oriented (a half hour trip instead of a ten minute trip), I was growing impatient.  I was on my lunch break and I didn't have that much time.  Then it happened.  The car was barely moving.   I immediately put on the hazards.  There was no space to pull over, no shoulder.  I was on a major highway.  I tried to get into the right hand turn lane to get off.

A man in the car next to me was motioning and as I rolled down my window the man told me a bunch of fluid had just come out of my car.  Then I smelled the smoke.  This is not good...  Everyone behind me is honking to try to get me to move.  I can't move and even worse, if I try to move, I roll backwards.  I just shut down the car.  I try to call AAA and its like the downward spiral of numbered menu Haades.  I then tried the Onstar as I was trying to tell AAA "Need an operator" and pressing 0 over and over.  I tried calling my mom and then Onstar came on, I finally got through to AAA and about 10 cars were beeping and swearing at me.  Some good samaritans, a immigrant man and his son came over and tried to help me roll the car as I balanced the phone, my AAA card and my sanity. They could not roll it, but the man gave me good advice to put the hood up so people behind me could see that my hazards were not on just because I was on the cell phone.  My mom heard me saying "Gracias" and the other man,"DeNada" in the background.  AAA came through and I told them where I was.  They said they would stat the order as I was at a dangerous intersection.  We scrambled to find a dealer to get it towed to.  The tow truck driver came and got it put on the truck very quickly and gave me a ride.  As we travel maybe a block or two, his tire blows.  I'm also in communication with my workplace at this time and they are very understanding.

When the tow truck blew his tires.  I just started laughing.  This day just couldn't get any better.  I saw the comical effect in it.  The tow truck driver just kind of looked at me.  I just said, "I'm so grateful that I have another car at home.  It doesn't have air conditioning, but at least it doesn't leak fluids and smoke in the middle of the intersection."  I think he thought my response was definitely a glass half full perspective.  When I asked him if he deals with angry, upset people a lot, he said he did, but most of the time they weren't upset at him.  He said it was much better than his previous employment when he was a car repossession man, then he was avoiding people chasing him.  I guess he was a glass half full type of guy!

I had brought my dog in that day so that I could give him some vaccines and get assistance with a badly needed nail trim.  This ended up being a huge blessing, because my husband and son had to come directly from work/daycare to pick me up about a little over an hour away and by the time we got back to our house, even if we had left immediately, my dog would have been alone for 12 hours.  I was also fortunate that the clinic I was working at was also a boarding facility, so he stayed the night and my family was able to go out to a nice barbecue dinner (why rush back when the dog's okay and it's during rush hour?).  My son thought we were having a vacation.  He was totally oblivious to my tumultuous day and was happy to get an Oreo from the waiter at the end of his dinner.  We then went on to Costco, to get the supplies I had originally set out for before the car gave up.  My son then asked if we were going to Putt-Putt next because he just thought this after work excursion was all fun and games.

I just felt a deep sense of gratitude that I was not hurt (would have been very easy for a car accident to occur where I was at) and that everything had worked out smoothly and alas, we had not sold Big Blue.  I don't think I've ever been so grateful that I have a car without air conditioning!