The Green Beast Turned On Me

Well, my husband didn't get the job. He seems pretty relieved though, so I will be too. Guess the 200 mile commute to drive a truck underground for less money than he was making doing what he loved just wasn't quite flipping his bic. The extra money had my attention, but if Papa ain't happy, Mama ain't happy, and vice versa, so it's all good. Something fine, scratch that, something great, will come along eventually.

Right after I dropped Willie off at daycare today, in the middle of some morning rush traffic, my new-to-me minivan stopped. Yeah, just stopped. As if I'd turned the engine off. I tried to pull aside but there really is no "aside" on the street I was on, but there are lots of hedges that stick out, so along I went branches screeching along the side of the minivan, tire bumping up on top of the curb then down again....to all who know me and enjoy the occasional laugh at my expense this would certainly have been a hysterical scene to witness. To those behind me, in a hurry to get to work, not so much. Oh and don't you worry, they let me know! They made liberal use of their horns, encouraging me to snap out of this apparent fit I was having.

I had to jam on the break to finally get the green beast to stop. Took a breath, turned it off for real, then I turned it back on and it acted as if nothing ever happened and we were still on speaking terms. Trembling, I puttered down the road a ways and turned into a parking lot, did a quick walk around (no damage), thanked goodness Willie wasn't with me - more b/c of the humiliation factor than the safety factor, got in and went to work. My husband came to check on it this afternoon and though the van has many issues that need to be addressed, he could find nothing obvious that would have caused it to shut down on me in rush hour traffic. So I'm forced to confront the fact that I simply am unable to have easily identifiable problems, as this is EXACTLY the scenario I JUST went through with my dang tooth! There always has to be long drawn out drama and setbacks and anxiety involved.

I did ask for it though. I finally gave up on my cute Subaru Forrester that had all the bells and whistles (leather, sunroof, 6 CD changer, sigh) because it let me down and had a similar habit of allowing mystery issues result in rather dramatic failures to run (read the damn thing quit on me in REAL rush hour traffic, going 70 mph on wet roads in the fast lane!) So I figured if I was going to have a vehicle with issues I might as well not be paying $340 a month for it. So it was out with the Subaru and in with the minivan, all its room, and paid for in cash. Up until today it's worked out great, here's to hoping this morning is not a sign of bad juju to come!