The Neon Goes Too

I think that the Mayan apocalypse actually happened two days ago, but its effects were limited to our driveway. If you're a regular reader of my blog--this would be my wife and maybe my Mom--you know that we've recently been having lots of trouble with our PT Cruiser, also known as "the Gaxmobile." My parents have been kind enough to lend us their pick-up truck to get through Christmas Eve, so Julie took that to her church job in Warsaw today. Because you aren't supposed to put carseats in pick-ups, I loaded James into our well-loved 2000 Dodge Neon and drove off to my church job in Gates.

Almost as soon as I pulled out of our driveway, I noticed something was wrong. The car was making a funny sound and felt very sluggish. I pulled off to the side and fiddled with the sometimes sticky parking brake. Nothing. After a few more minutes of trying to disengage the parking brake, I put my four-ways on, and (being sure to check for traffic) stepped outside to go through my usual auto-trouble ritual. My auto trouble-ritual consists of kneeling down, looking under the car, making a thoughtful face, and calling someone for help. There was no one else around except James, but I still feel better when I make my concerned face. One of these days I might actually see something under the car that I understand (currently I only see magical calculus problems) and then I'll be glad that I've practiced a facial expression that conveys to everyone around me "I see that something is wrong which has caused my car to stop working."

As it happened, I did recognize the source of my automotive woes for the morning. My driver-front tire had no air in it. I'm not a tire expert, but I understand that it's usually inadvisable to drive your car without air in your tires. I stood up, made sure that James was okay, then engaged the parking brake, secured the rear tires with props, jacked the car up, and replaced the flat tire with our spare.

I am, of course, totally kidding. I am a pathetic girly musician-man, and I wasn't about to change a tire in my only half-decent suit on a hill with my infant son in the back. So I called AAA and asked them for some help. It was probably a good thing I didn't attempt to change the tire anyway, because, as our AAA representative informed us, our spare tire currently doesn't have any air in it.

My pastor drove out to rescue James and I when she heard about our predicament, and drove us into church with enough time to make most of choir rehearsal. James was great through the whole mess, never fussed, and happily exclaimed "yeah!" to every question she asked him. I left the Neon unlocked with the key under the visor, cursing (not out loud--we were with our pastor) our simultaneously broken vehicles and very relieved that we have such a well-behaved son.

I fielded phone calls from AAA, the tow truck driver, and from a Firestone clerk throughout the church service by ducking out during the hymns. Firestone was the only local tire shop open today, and certainly the only place that would be open tomorrow on Christmas Eve. I knew that we were overdue for replacing the very bald tires on the back of the Neon, and we ended up agreeing to replace all 4. (It was buy 3, get 1 free.)

I picked up James from the nursery, where the nursery worker told me that he had been very well behaved and that "he sure does love that bear." Yes, we've noticed that too. I collected all of his snacks and diaper bag and Steven and binky and carried all of those things at once with him over to his car seat, and as I squatted down to put on his coat

RIIIPPP

...there is now a hole in the crotch of my "only half-decent suit."

Uncle Pax and Aunt Kylie came to rescue us from GPC and drove us home after stopping by Hilltop to pick up the finished copy of A Very Uncles Christmas on the way. (We did not remember to pick up James' missing bottles.) The Uncles sounded good. James makes his presence known on the last track. On the way back I got a call from the Firestone rep.

"Hey, did you guys have a tire-rod replaced recently?"
"Yes, we had one replaced about two weeks ago."
"Well, they didn't align it properly afterwards...that's probably what caused the flat. We'd recommend our standard alignment."
"Okay, how much?"
"That's another 79.99...which will bring your total to $420."
"...Okay, go ahead and do it."

Once we got back I gave James some peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. He was a great sport, and even insisted that he feed me some of his sandwich. (This is cute, but also a little gross. His food travels many miles before he eats it or offers it to anyone else.)

J got back around 12:30 and we waited for the call from Firestone that our car was done. Around 1:00 my phone lit up.

"Hello, Mr. Smith?"
"This is he. Is the car done?"
"I'm afraid not. We found significant rust under the car, and it looks like we're going to need to replace another tire rod."

The total came to $575.

 I will say this about today and about all of our recent auto troubles: We are very thankful for cellphones. I can't imagine how we would have done this sort of day without them. We are thankful for Pax and Kylie, who rescued us again. We are thankful for Christmas gigs, which keep money coming into the bank account. We are thankful for neighbors who are willing to watch James while we run to the mechanic. And we are thankful for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and little boys willing to share them. That may be all we're eating for the next few months.