There are moments, seemingly innocent moments when something doesnt go quite right or when something goes just right that hit me and make me wonder just how much are we truly in charge in this world.
Thursday lunch time I head out to my car. I put my one and only key into the door to unlock it and turn. The top of the key in my hand turns but the lower portion inside the door lock only moves a fraction of what my hand does. I instantly stop turning and pull the key back out. Bent and cracked. Without even much thought I head directly over to the lock and key shop located just a few doors from where I am parked. How many times over the last weeks have I looked over at that shop and thought golly I really need to go get a spare key. I have known for awhile that my key was partially cracked.
How many times, so many times I had looked over at that shop and didnt get my lazy but a moving over there. It didnt bother me though, having to go over there and get a new key cut. Actually got two car keys done so now I have a spare. The whole thing could have troubled me, put a black spot on the day but it didnt. I could have got in the I should have mode. . . . oh golly how many times have I been there, too many to count, and then get upset or flustered because something happened. I didnt go over there before well because I really didnt need to until now. I could have prevented this whole moment but I didnt and I got a weird sense of peace. It was as if it was suppose to happen on this day, just this way. Which after the morning drive in through the pouring rain, trying to get my car to work I only had the angels holding on to thank for getting us safe and sound to our destination.
When I bought my car the tires looked somewhat okay. Not the best but looked as though they would last a month or two at least. I was wrong well not completely wrong they did last a month or two but the interum mix has been definitely interesting.
Now for a lot of folks an ounce of prevention goes a long way and I believe in prevention particularly with maintenance on vehicles. Yet I am a single mother and finally am in a position that will allow us to survive and maybe just maybe make it through this world financially. So as it happens many times I do as much as I can with prevention and what I cant I get to when I can. I often have to pick and choose what I can do and when I can do it. Its not something I can just go off and do because it needs to be done. This is where I was with my two front tires. I realized shortly after getting the car on a rainy day that my tires were not as good as I thought. They are wearing stranger than normal in a way and one in particulary wore pretty darn fast. A month in and it was pretty much bald. Going down the highway when it was raining I came close to loosing control as I went thru a puddle in the road. That day when I got to work and after it stopped raining I took a look at my tires and sure enough I found the bald one, and another that would soon be bald. Skip ahead several weeks. . .. .now to the last few days, Thursday and now it is Friday. . . .
Friday morning just as I was heading out the door, I went to grab my car keys to get in the car to go. . . . I looked and looked all over the place and no where could they be found. I began to panic, I was going to be late. . . . . the tension in my voice got stronger with each second as it passed and I couldnt find the keys anywhere. . . . I dumped my purse out tossed thru the bag I carry with me to work . . . . . and still no keys to be found!!!
I looked at the clock and all I could think was that if I didnt find them right this second I would be late for work. I havent had a hard time about loosing my keys, been putting them in the same place for some time now so I dont have this problem in the morning. I began to become frantic looking for the car keys when finally there they were under a pile of stuff I had dumped and gone thru at least 3 times from my bag.
I jumped in the car, racing my way to work. Thinking golly how fast can I go without getting a ticket, how much time can I make up for surely I am within minutes on my route to work. Trucking along at a goodly pace, and the miles are going all too quickly for the time I have to get there. Pass Counsel Grove, 30 miles to go. . . . . and the miles eek by and the time marches on.
I cross the Osage County line and I know from experience I am will just make it if I keep at it, just make it within a minute or two of my start time.. . . . . . . When suddenly the front end of my car begins to shake. Shaking really bad and I see some smoke . . . . . then there is black rubber shreds flying. . . . . . I take my foot off the gas. . . . the car begins to slow. . . . . . . . and I pull over to the side of the road, climb out and walk around to the front passenger side.
Sure enough, the tire is shredded. Not much left of it sorry to say. I flip open my phone and check the time. . . . nope, no way am I gonna be on time today. I look at the tire. . . .and I do believe I may have been numb at that moment but it was just like wowzer . . . . . . .
So I went and opened up the truck of the car, hoping beyond hope that the spare had air in it. Pulled up the trunk floor cover. There it was, the little spare. I went about the business of getting the spare out, pulling out the jack and getting the car up just a little. Took a moment or two to find the tire iron and went to try and loosen the lugnuts. Two tries and I knew it was useless, there was no way I was going to be able to loosen those lug nuts. So I called my boss at work, left her first a voicemail and then a text message. . . . . and went to sit in my car and hope and pray someone stopped that was strong enough to loosen the lugnuts.
I dont know something came across me about then, guess a certain amount of peace about all of it. I wasnt worried or upset that I would be late – have some vacation time saved up, and golly it could have been on my way home and edged into my weekend. I just got this sense that for whatever reason I wasnt suppose to be somewhere on my normal time. Kind of got the feeling that this was one of those times when things are suppose to fall apart a little. I dont know why my tire blew when it did, dont know what I missed in my rush to work this day, but what ever it was must of been sort of important because no matter how hard I tried I wasnt going to be there on time today.
Wasnt long after that when a couple of KTA workers pulled up behind me. The KTA worker tried my tire iron then took a closer look at it. . . . dang thing was cracked, no way I could have ever got those lugnuts loose with that thing. The tire iron they had didnt fit my car but they ran and got a socket set with a socket that did. The KTA guy loosened my lugnuts and helped me to get the spare on the car. I thanked them profusely and headed back into work. At lunch I went over to a shop I had been told about from a coworker and got a good deal on a couple of new used tires to get me by for the time with plenty of time to spare. Those guys changed out two of my tires in dang less than 15 minutes total. I was amazed and grateful. . . . . the ride home went smooth. Guess those angels I have watching over me did their job and got a break for a moment or two in the morning 
For the first time in a long time I realized there was no point in worrying, none what so ever. Could I have done things a little different to prevent it, possibly, probably but the means was not there. . . and I was safe, the car didnt roll or nothing, no damage was done beside me being a little late. Sneaky suspition that it was all in God’s timing for whatever reason it may have been.
I got off of work and headed home, knowing financially things would now be really tight for me until payday. . . tight as in there is nothing left in the bank except enough gas money for one more fill. Figured I better get that taken care of before Monday and so I decided I better stop on the way home. Pulled into the stop just outside of Emporia and pulled up to the pump. The guy on the other side began a conversation with me, I was a little leary at first but he seemed to be very pleasant and friendly. He said that he had been passing me on his way home for months now and proposed possibly car pooling. I was a little nervous about it but I told him I would think about it and got his number and gave him mine. Texted back and forth for a few as I pulled away from the station and I told him that I would get ahold of him on Saturday. Saturday rolled around and he texted me first. I told him I would thought it could be good to car pool, safe money and what not. . . . and he seemed good with it. I told him I had had to talk it over with my kids before I agreed and that was what took so long. . .. so will see how it goes, hoping it goes alright, golly nervous about this. . . . aw well thats how the weekend rolls and I am going to go back and try and finish up this quilt.
