Today, I got a ride in to the school with Norma Metz, who has been my angel! She has been so kind and sweet to me in light of the car problems I've had recently. I am so grateful to her for being the person she is- she is always giving of herself and making sacrifices for others. She is the type of person who would do absolutely anything for anyone. I will strive to emulate her amazing example and hope that one day, I may also, be somebody's angel in their time of need.
I have to be honest, last week when the car issues arose on Thursday evening, I was freaking out. I was worried about everything! Would it take a long time to make repairs on it? Would towing it be covered by my car insurance? How in the heck was I going to get to Jump Start on Monday? Would I have my car in time to go clothes shopping? grocery shopping? All of these thoughts were racing through my mind at the same time that my stinking wheel wouldn't turn for the 5 minutes or so that I made the scary drive home on that fateful night. I was terrified... and I was alone with no sibling or close family member out here to help me in my time of need. Chris lives an hour away and I knew that he wouldn't have the ability to take me to school (and understandably so). It's funny how your mind can race a million miles an hour when something like this happens. By no means am I saying that this situation was awful and woe is me! I know that it could have been way worse. The wheel of my car could have stopped turning while I was far away from home... I could have wrecked... I could have been stranded somewhere... The possibilities are endless and I count my lucky stars that those scenarios did not happen.
Today, I realized how fortunate I am when I called the mechanic I had my car towed to yesterday and found out what was wrong with my car. Thankfully, it was way less serious than I had anticipated it would be! I was worried the power steering pump might need to be replaced, which would cost hundreds of dollars plus the cost of labor! I was also worried the problem may be the alternator, which could also cost $350 plus. By the way, I'm not even going to pretend that this car knowledge came from this brain of mine! Daddio told me about the possible problems and helped me to learn what the various parts in question do. When I spoke with the mechanic today, I found out that the tensioner belt and pulley in my car had broken into pieces. The mechanic was able to fix this problem in two hours or less. I was able to get my car after Jump Start ended and when I did, the mechanic was kind enough to show me what the broken part looked like. When I called my dad to tell him what was repaired in my car, he said that the problems I experienced as a result of it breaking, made perfect sense now. When the tensioner belt is broken, it affects the belts connected to the alternator, power steering, battery, etc. It made sense that I heard a metal clink sound before any problems manifested themselves that Thursday evening- I now know that sound was the tensioner belt breaking. Once that happened, my wheel wouldn't turn; my battery light turned on; and my air conditioning wouldn't work because all of these things depend on the tensioner belt and pulley to function properly.
I am grateful my car was fixed so fast and that I was able to take it to an honest mechanic, who didn't try to nickel-and-dime me with other repairs that were "necessary." NAPA has done that in the past, particularly with Jenni. I feel so bad for her- one time, they told her tons of repairs needed to be done to her car. I truly believe they were being dishonest. Those repairs cost over $900. More recently, Jenni took her car to NAPA prior to going on her road trip back to PA for Physician's Assistant school. They told her she needed a new water pump, which was going to cost over $500 or something like that. When she picked the car up from NAPA, the woman who was in line behind her at that time, said something to the effect of "Wow. It must be the time for water pumps. They just put a new one in my car." What are the odds that this woman's car would have the exact same problem Jenni's car did?! Is it possible this problem could have existed in both of their cars? Yes, it's possible. Possible, but not likely. It was at this point that Jenni took her car to a mechanic her co-workers highly recommended. She wanted to get a second opinion. Her co-workers said this mechanic was honest and trust-worthy. When she took it there, the mechanic said there was nothing wrong with her car and told her she was safe to make the road trip back to PA. Her car made it back there safely. I believe that NAPA was dishonest and shady; it seemed as if they were making up problems that didn't exist in order to make more money. I will never take my car there again. I had peace-of-mind taking my car to the same mechanic Jenni had gone to when NAPA was trying to screw her over. They seemed like honest people and they were very kind to me.
What did I learn from this little trial? I learned that it's important to just breathe and let things fall into place; God will take care of His children; just believe in Him and His love for them. I learned that patience is a trait I'd like to improve in possessing. More than anything, I realized how much I wish that when situations like this arise, I would not get so worked up and over-analyze them. I learned that I needed to wait to see what happened before overreacting and thinking of the millions of things that could be wrong with my car; I needed to refrain from wasting my energy on something I didn't know.
On a random note, tonight, I watched "The Bachelorette" (which I have never watched before) and I felt terrible as I saw Andi break Nick's heart when she told him she didn't feel the same way about him as he did about her. I hate watching that heartbreak unfold- real people with real emotions are shown and knowing that someone is going to inevitably get hurt is so painful. Such is the case in life. I've experienced it myself; I have liked people and not had that feeling reciprocated. It's a tough pill to swallow and I can only imagine how much harder it is to swallow when love is involved. The classic song, "Everybody Plays the Fool" hits the nail on the head when it says, "Everybody plays the fool, sometimes. There's no exception to the rule... Fallin' in love is such an easy thing to do, but there's no guarantee that the one you love, is gonna love you."
The song I'm posting today is called "Thank You for Breaking My Heart" by Alexz Johnson. I have loved her since her days on the Canadian show, "Instant Star." She has written some awesome songs in the past few years and I really like the retro, soulful sound of this one, in particular. It has been in my head for a while and it perfectly coincides with the events that took place on "The Bachelorette" tonight. This song depicts the growth you experience from having your heart broken. I am sure that reaching such a point of growth takes time; I don't think it happens overnight. I believe this song speaks about the human condition- we humans, have a desire to love and be loved in return. We grow when we get through trials like that of heartache and we learn important things about the inner strength that lies within us in moments like that. Above all, we learn that we are "braver than [we] believe, stronger than [we] seem, and smarter than [we] think..." -Whinnie the Pooh.
Enjoy!
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