Waking up at 5 a.m. for a quick run seemed like a good idea last night. It even seemed like a good idea this morning as I casually got ready for work, packed the boys’ lunches and readied them for school with time to spare. We were in the car with our seat belts on at 7:30 sharp when I turned the key in the ignition and went to move the gear shift from Park to Reverse.
Then nothing. It wouldn’t shift down. I pumped the breaks, restarted the car, and tried again. Nothing.
For a moment, I stared into space. Now what? Back to bed? Spend Monday in my PJs? Refill my coffee mug? Brownies for breakfast?
The ball finally began to roll in my head as I made a slew of phone calls – to a friend who could take Jeremy to school, to my dad who might know of a secret button underneath the dash, to our auto insurance to inquire about towing, to the dealership to see about repair, to my boss to say I’m going to be really late to work, to my psychic to see if this is all a sign of things to come…
To keep a very long story short, the tow truck man – a tattooed man named Hugh – ended up dragging my car out of the garage because he couldn’t disengage it from Park. (By drag, I mean the tires didn’t spin. The screeching was probably heard for blocks.) The same friend who took Jeremy to school took Jack to school and me to the car rental place where I proceeded to rent a plastic roller skate for the week. I got to work at 11:30 and stared at the computer screen for three hours in total oblivion.
The good news is that repairing the Pacifica shouldn’t deplete our life’s savings, according to Chuck, who’s been co-managing the debacle via long distance. It seems the problem is related exclusively to one part of the transmission rather than the entire transmission, which should cost hundreds of dollars instead of thousands of dollars.
While getting up at 5 a.m. to run may have helped me to better manage the morning, it’s now the culprit of my headache and droopy eyelids. Needless to say I DID eat brownies for breakfast and, when I got home, I DID get back in my pajamas.
Monday, you are now On Notice.
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