My Car--She Lives!

Fantastic News!!! ....wait, let me start from the begining first. 'Tis a good place to start.

Alright, so I left you Tuesday (not yesterday, Thursday, or Wednesday...especially not Friday...yes I tried to type those in. My poor brain is stuck on today (meaning everyday this week) being Friday, silly brain) afternoon with my missing school due to my car refusing to start. Kept trying to fix it, etc.etc. (meaning I'd rather not talk about the rest of the evening...I was less than perky and bubbly)

Next morning (Wednesday) found me waking up and my wonderful mother and awesome neighbor coming to save the day! Awesome neighbor hooks up the jumper cable (my poor battery had apparently died overnight, probably due to my trying ALL day long the day before to get it to start) to my car and we try to jump start it. Nada. We are all frozen, but my awesome neighbor gets his tools out, removes the battery (so we can get a new one), and rushes off to work (he was probably late, he's awesome!). We get a new battery (after waiting for the local auto parts store to open) and another neighbor helps us put it into my car (it is quite a strange battery setup, but what do I know about cars? Not much.).

In the middle of all this it is still very cold (being just before the sunrise into soon after sunrise) and I would like to offer some advice. When it is quite chilly outside and your extremities are already numb, even if you are wearing a magical scarf (all scarves are magical in that they make you oh-so-much warmer!), don't hold your keys (or anything else metallic in nature) in your bare hands. It burns (or freezes, whichever you prefer, the line between is waifly thin). Ouch.

Back to new battery, one that is better for starting in cold weather. We stick her in and turn the key. "Grumblegrumblegrumblegrumble." Back to the sounds of yestermorning. Ah, but I much prefer the "grumblegrumble" to the "click." Much happier. My other awesome neighbor offers a suggestion, a god mechanic he knows. We call round, decide that the car will have to go in the next day due to lack of towing vehicles. Mom decides to drive me up to school so I won't have to miss another day, even though I had been acting not so perky and bubbly, even though my school is an hours drive away, even though Mom will end up missing a half day at work (and I half of my classes). Did I mention that my mom is wonderfully amazing and fantastic? Well, remind me to mention it for every second of the rest of my life.

I get to school drop off my instrument/music, and Mom drives me to the other side of campus to my class of the hour (only ten minutes late, too). I love my Mom. I go to my last two classes (of my four that day) and get a call from my brother asking if I need a ride home then he or my sister-in-law could pick me up after they get off work. I love my family. I end up getting my free bus pass (YAY for free things...well paid for in my tuition anyway) and riding the bus with a friend (who drives me the rest of the way home). I love my friends. (Another one of my friends had offered to pick me up in the morning if I needed a ride, too. I feel so loved.)

The next morning (Thursday...Hey! That's today!) my brother drives me to the bus stop on the way to work. Yay for bus stops! It was a bit chilly again, but I didn't have to wait long. On the bus I ended up sitting next to a really nice girl who answered all my silly questions about where the bus stopped and things. I love nice people. I got to school a few hours early so I sat by the band room (my third home) and read a book (and almost finished it), got flirted with by a cute little baby, got to sample a hand softener system, and generally lazed about until my classes. I got to my first class and was greeted and talked to by another classmate (yay for sneaking around the edges of my comforting shy bubble) who I happened to find out was in another of my classes, then who walks in but the sweet girl from the bus! Wow! Happy times and coincidences that don't happen by coincidence.

I finished up the rest of my classes and headed back to the bus stop to catch a bus home. A handful of people there turned into a crowd, then turned into just a couple of us as a few buses stopped before my bus came. One other girl was waiting for my same bus, we were silent most of the time as other buses came and took away the crowds that had gathered. She asked me if I knew where the gym on campus was. I told her as best I knew (I am not yet an expert on my campus). We made a little small talk, she told me about her having a hard time recently in life and explained to me some of her frustrations, discouragements, and heartache, and I asked questions and tried to give the best advice I could. She told me about how she wanted to just work off all her steam at the gym and how she didn't tell her roommates or even her boyfriend where she was, or where she was going. I worry for her.

Mostly I was just trying to be someone to listen. People need to have others who they can just pour out everything on, sometimes it works best if you know your listener well, other times it is best to have strangers as listeners. I tried my best to become a dry sponge for her to throw out her ill feelings and I can only hope that I took some of her hurt away. Her stop came, she got up. She said "Thanks for letting me vent to you." I said, "Anytime, I hope everything turns out okay for you." She got off, I don't think I will see her again, but I do truly hope everything works out for her. I hope I was enough to help her not be so depressed or discouraged, but I may never know. Maybe I was nothing to her, did nothing for her, wasn't empathetic enough for her, but I hope I was. I may never know, I can only hope.






***Back from the beginning!***


Fantastic news!! My mother phoned me last night to tell me that my car is working again! Her friend came over and tried, tried, and tried again to get it to start...Persistance wins! My car--she purred to life and runs beautifully again! Ah, my car. I am again so grateful for frozen automobie fluids (as opposed to something more serious and costly which I would have no chance of affording), my Mom, her friends, my neighbors, and my family for helping me to get along without and trying to help fix my car! I am so excited to be able to get it back (it is still at my home-home) over this weekend. I love the bus and public transportation, but sometimes I want to get home in the 20 minutes it takes to drive and not the hour and a half it takes to ride/walk, but only when I am really hungry. :) I need the exercise anyway, makes me feel good and not so lazy.

I hope you have had a wonderful day! Be safe and eat your toast! Thank someone for something and tell them you love them, for no reason. Smile at someone, at everyone--it makes the world, and you, happier. Especially since tomorrow is the REAL Friday of the week! (I will probably second guess myself all day since I have already had so many "Friday"s this week already) I am so excited! I loves you all!

-The Band Neeek