One of our cars has been down with a busted transmission since Aug2010, and our other vehicle, a Suburban from 1992 (which is less fuel efficient than an ARMY issued Humvee and has exactly ZERO cool factor points) had been having some issues with stalling for the past few weeks. I'd be driving along in traffic and it would just...die. Nerve wracking to say the least, and dangerous as well! When the truck dies, so does the power steering, power brakes, etc...and a truck isn't exactly easy to maneuver under those circumstances.
So, this one very bad day happened to be a Sunday. We were piled in the truck heading to church when it starts with the "dying in traffic at random times" thing again. We knew we had to get it looked at but had exactly no extra money to do it. We were waiting, you see, on our 2010 Tax Refund which was due literally the next day (we filed early and electronically!). About 200 yards from our church's driveway, the truck stalls again and this time, it would not start. At all.
After five minutes or so of trying, Tall says to me "Why don't you and the girls go ahead to church, I'll take care of this". He was so patient and cool about it all. I was remarkably unfazed by it...just kept repeating in my head "I will trust you Lord, I will trust you Lord" and we got out and walked the rest of the way.
It took Tall about 20 minutes of working with it to get it going again and he limped it to the parking lot of our church where...as expected, our poor little truck finally said "enough already!" There was no more driving it that day, lol!
Ugh.
Tall delivers the news to me in resigned whispers half way through service and we prayed. Not much else to do at that point. Afterwards we called a tow truck and had it towed to our excellent local mechanic who would look it over the next day. The problem was, I had to work the next day and take the girls to school, and pick them up, etc. At least the ride in the tow truck was amusing. *bouncey* *bouncey* *bouncey* all the way down the road. It was what I'd imagine a bouncy house would feel like if it was turned into an actual car. Nice driver, he took us to the mechanic's shop then dropped us at our house a few miles away. I'm sure it was all the same to him, he got paid either way but he was very kind, especially to our girls and we so appreciated that.
Later that afternoon, still not having fully figured out how to get everyone where the need to be the next day, Birdie asked us if she could go and visit her friend down the street (sweet girl who lives with her grandmother, "June"). We've known "June" for a long time and have often marveled at her ability to handle pressure with grace and seeming ease. She is the best kind of neighbor to have...a kind of shining beacon in the darkness of life in general.
Anyway, I get a call from "June" about an hour after Birdie arrives at her place. She says to me "Birdie told me about her adventure in the tow truck...Do you need a car? You should borrow mine!"
I just about fell over because the thought of even asking anyone for something like this didn't even cross my mind! I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even have dreamed of asking...it's kind of humiliating, plus, it's a huge imposition and I just could never, ever see myself doing that. I tried to decline her offer saying "Wow! That is so, so, so kind of you! We actually have already got a kind of plan in place though...we'll take the bus in the morning..." and that's when she cut me off, lol!
"Don't be silly! I've got 3 cars here and I can't drive them all. Plus, if you use my truck, then my son can't use it and that will be really helpful to me because I don't really want him using it right now, he never returns it when I need it, uses up all the gas, I've had it with him. Can you believe that?" and she was laughing on the other end of the line! What can one say in the face of such generosity?
I said "Thank you so much, June!" because that was all there was to say.
We used her truck for two days while ours was being fixed, then washed it and filled it to the full with gas and returned it. While our transportation situation hasn't fully resolved (getting the cash together to get the transmission fixed and our Suburban tuned up again 'cause now it's having random starting issues, it never ends, lol), we don't feel quite to alone in the world. Tall and I have no relatives locally, but "June" has been officially adopted by our family. In truth, we adopted her a long time ago, people like her are rare these days. We are there for her too, everyone needs a good neighbor and friend.
Sadly we are using it again (at her continual, generous prompting), we hope to have both our own cars fully on the road soon (though the Suburban as little as possible, freakin' gas hog! lol!). She kindly insists that we are helping her out..."trucks shouldn't sit for too long and I don't want to drive it all the time", and we are taking extremely good care of it for her because that's just what you do! Still feels like I'm imposing but then she says something like "Well geez, Stuck, you'd loan me your truck if I needed it wouldn't you?" OF COURSE!!! "Well there you go! This is what neighbors are for! We help each other!" And then I feel all better again.
Thank you and God richly bless you, "June". You are one in several billion, and we will always be here for you! (((HUGS)))
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