What is it with us and cars lately? New vehicle, different problem, sidelined again. We’ve been visiting friends in the capital lately, but at last it was time to head back. Our family had been on the road for about a month now so we were really looking forward to getting back to our own place. About an hour into our trip, husband dear makes a noise and a fast maneuver to the shoulder. It looked like Christmas on our dashboard, all the red lights were lit up and blinking. Husband dear exits the vehicle, lifts the hood and diagnosis the problem this time. A belt, probably the serpentine belt (who knew car parts had such descriptive names?) had come loose, which rendered our vehicle undriveable and me very unhappy. I cried for a minute—more from frustration than anything, “how come, why us again?” Thankfully my pity party was unobserved by the children and short-lived. A couple of deep breaths later, and husband dear’s well-timed jokes and I could acknowledge that this perhaps was not the end of the world, just a diversion. The kids finished watching their show on the computer under the shade of several trees that just happened to be growing off the shoulder right where our car broke. A breeze picked up and they started building things from the rocks, rolling in the dirt and generally having a great time—oblivious to our obvious departure from the planned route and schedule. As I watched my children I recognized the joy of living in the moment, of being thankful for the gift sometimes hidden away in unplanned detours and forced stops. And of course you know I can say all this, because we also are blessed with friends who we can call to come and rescue us, err pick us up, from our tiresome car troubles, err unplanned stops. What can I say? I’m a work in progress. =)
