Dead Car

"Babe, good news. I got your car running. It's back to, well, normal."

Crap.

The black Honda Passport with leather seats, CD player, AIR CONDITIONER, and ski rack that I had longingly been dreaming about quickly vanished from my mind.

My car was running. What should have been good news was quite disappointing, in all actuality. I had been looking forward to test driving the Honda, although my tears the day before proved that I loved my Mazda.

And I do. I love my Mazda. And I had cried (twice) the day before thinking about my dead car.

The drama started on Thursday morning when I went to leave for work. It was 6:10 a.m., and my car wouldn't start. Dead. Panic set in. I knew I could call Shannon and Jeff and they would be there to help, but I also knew they were still in bed. In fact, most people are still in bed at that hour. My next option was a co-worker. I called Liz to save the day. Although she lives in the completely opposite direction of me and the school, she was more than willing to come pick me up. Thanks, Liz, for saving the day!

After school that day, my friend Lauren graciously offered me her daughter's car for the rest of the week. That got me to school and lacrosse on Friday without having to bumm a ride from Liz again.

Friday evening when Josh arrived, we jumped my car and discovered it was just a dead battery. Phew, easy fix! My car would be running by morning, just in time for my lacrosse game.

Saturday morning, Josh woke early to run to the auto parts store. One hundred dollars later, I had a new battery and Josh was installing it while I was getting ready for my game. Twenty minutes before I had to leave for my game, I went downstairs to check the progress of the battery installation. Supervisor, I call myself.

This supervisor knew immediately something was wrong. Not only were sparks flying through the air, but the battery was backwards. Although I know nothing about battery installation, I gave Josh my opinion.

"Ummm, the battery is backwards."

"No, it's not. Some batteries are made differently than others, and this one happens to have the negative and positive on different sides than your other battery."

Well, I'm not the mechanic, just the supervisor, so I shrugged and continued to watch him install the battery.

Upon completion, I went to start my car. Nothing. Deader than it had been the day before. I stuck my head under the hood to inspect (also part of my job description) and saw with my own eyes that the battery was in fact backwards. Using my memory from the night before when I had hooked up the jumper cables, I informed Josh that negative had been on the right and positive on the left. He had the new battery hooked up opposite.

"Babe, you ARE smarter than me." (A previous discussion about who was smarter). "I'm surprised I'm not dead. I could have electrocuted myself."

Tears are welling in my eyes. Josh quickly turned the battery around and hooked it up. "Ok, now start it."

Nothing. Dead. Really dead.

At this point, I had to leave for my game. I hopped in my loaned car and arrived at my game. Josh called to inform me he had fried my car and we were going car shopping after lacrosse.

More tears welling in my eyes. I love my Mazda.

We spent all of Saturday car shopping. After a drink stop at Sonic, I lost it. With tears running down my face, it took everything in me not to yell, "This is all your fault." Instead I cried, "I don't want a new car. I want my Mazda working." I was frustrated, hot, and tired. I just wanted to be with my family instead of driving to car dealer after car dealer and finding nothing but junk.

After a sleepless night Saturday, Josh awoke at 3 a.m. Sunday morning and went to work on my car. He found a blown fuse and hoped it was the problem. Since auto part stores are not open that early, he also did some car shopping from the computer. He found a beautiful black Honda Passport with everything I want, plus it was without our price range. Low miles, too. He was in love.

When I woke up, he showed me the Honda. I was in love.

Maybe my car dying was going to be OK after all. I wouldn't mind a new SUV if it looked like that.

At 7 a.m., Josh went to the car store and bought a new fuse. He installed it, and low and behold, it worked. My car started!

Bummer.

No new car.

But that's OK, I love my Mazda. I really do.

I'll just continue saving my money so I can buy a pretty new car in the near future.