Yes it's true. Wednesday began horribly and went downhill from there. Teen son up late, but still needed to get his girlfriend and himself to Regional Band practice (marching band practice starts next week). He has his permit so I white knuckle it while he drives.
Dropped him off and on the way home received a call from an 800 number. I've been applying for jobs like a mad woman since late May when I graduated and got butterflies as I answered and acknowledged I was actually who they were calling. Then she says she's with Portfolio Recovery or some shit about a debt from 2004.
I tell her I've never owed Target $3000, that she bought a debt older than 7 years, and that I went into hiding from my ex husband (my son's dad) who nearly killed me back in 2004 when I might have owed Target just over $200. She wanted to know what that had to do with paying "[my] debt."
Car doesn't have a/c (we're outside of outside Houston where by 11am heat indexes are in the triple digits around the area), and as I hit the highway from a country road, I tell her about the windows being down and that I can't hear her. I can tell she's still blabbing but can't hear what she's saying. I guess she eventually hangs up on me. Don't care. As my grandma used to say, "Ya can't get blood out of a turnip."
Nope, she's not the one who made me cry. Not even close! He came later in the day.
At 2:00pm I go out to check the tire that had been low the day before and that I'd actually added air to. Sure enough - flat. So I air it back up and head 2 miles up the road to the tire guy. Instead of my usual aluminum water jug I carry around like a baby with its bottle or blanky, I just take the glass of water in my hand which is half full.)
Tire guy wants to know where the key is to get that idiotic fancy rim off (ex bf insisted those go on my son's car which is what I'm using now that mine has decided to just no longer start after ex bf "worked" on it). Not in glove box. Might be in trunk but son's huge amp, a guitar, and a trombone are filling trunk. Tire guy has 2 customers behind me. He airs me up & tells me to get air again in little town 15 miles away where son is - whom I have to pick up along with his gf and take her another 10 miles to her home.
Get to school. Check tire. Needs air, bad! Let son drive. Am stressed, which pisses off son because I'm short in front of his gf.
Get to mechanic I've used in past, ask favor. He airs it up and says to be careful.
Make it to gf's house. Check tire. All appears well. Start heading 15 miles home. Slow down to make a turn onto a shortcut dirt road and hear PSSSSSSSSSS. Advise son to go ahead and get off 60 mph highway and get onto side of the dirt road but not onto the grass because we don't want to start a fire - it's been a while since it's rained.
Call my mom to tell her I'm going to call the Allstate Roadside Assistance program. She says go ahead (I've been on her policy since I started back to school.)
As I'm on the phone with the Assistance guy, a little old man comes up in his car and asks if we need help. I explain that I'm on phone with roadside help as we speak. He says, "If you get hot, you're welcome to sit in the shade under those trees at that house." He's pointing about 100 feet behind us. I make sure it's his house, and thank him. Angel #1!
Assistance guy gets all my info and remote location. Finds us. Says a driver will text me with ETA and name/contact info.
Thirty minutes go by and nada.
Call my next door neighbor (who is also my grown baby girl daddy but that's a whole different diary) to ask him to bring us something to drink. He's literally on his way out the door to the game in Houston. (He would've otherwise because that's the type of guy he is.)
Call Mom and ask her to bring us some water or Gatorade and you'd have thought I asked her to lay me a golden egg. She starts in with her regular, "You need to get rid of that piece of shit and the one sitting in your driveway. I think I'm going to add to your lease NO JUNK CARS on premises. And you need to stop buying these old cars."
Sorry, Mom. I don't have the luxury, like you, to trade in for a brand new vehicle every other year and make $800/mo payments. Hell, I don't even get child support and depend on food stamps to feed us when I can get to the damn store. But thanks so much for the advice I didn't ask for and certainly have not heard 10,000 times before. /semi snark
She tells me to call the roadside guy back so I do. Get a female who puts me on hold for a really long time. Comes back and says the original guy is still working on my case and will call me back shortly.
A lady drives up and asks if we need help. I told her we had just called my mom for water. She says she'll be back. After about 10 minutes, she pulls up and hands me a cold Poweraid and a bottle of water but apologizes because they don't refrigerate their water then hands me a giant plastic Taco Bell cup full of ice. Angel #2!
As I'm retrieving the gifts from angel #2, the roadside guy calls back. He apologized profusely for the delay but had trouble finding someone willing to travel to such a remote area. He eventually found one, and explained the benefit limit for the tow is $120 but that the lady tow truck operator wanted $175 so we would be responsible for the other $55. I looked in my wallet and had $43 to my name.
I tell my son to call my mom (who of course had not left with any drinks) and I can hear her screaming, "Hell no! Tell them to just forget it!"
I tell the man I don't have the money, that I'm an unemployed, single-mom, recent grad who just didn't have the money. He asked if I had a credit card and I said no.
Angel #2 heard it all and wished us luck when she heard my mom was (finally) on her way with an air compressor.
The roadside guy told me he'd been in my situation before, to hold my head up, and that things would turn around. Angel #3
I, through tears and that awkward trying-to-stifle-a-cry-voice thanked him. But I couldn't stop the tears or the sobs. I hung up, put my head on the hot steering wheel and cried, complete with heaving shoulders. Not sure the last time my son saw me cry, but he rubbed my back, then we hugged our sweaty bodies and cried together.
Mom and Step-dad eventually pulled up, but tire wouldn't hold air. Then we unpacked the trunk (and son got a lecture from grandma of the year about not doing that blahblahblah). The key to those stupid, ugly rims was down with the little doughnut spare, but lugs weren't budging.
All the while, my son had been in contact with his gf. Her dad showed up complete with bigger compressor, a jack (we didn't have one - I know - lesson learned), a cooler full of ice/water bottles, a son carrying two Popsicles, various other tools and an impact wrench! Angel #4
He also brought son's gf who brought the dog son bought for her as a b-day gift. Girlfriend received lecture from my mom for being stupid and bringing the dog in the first place. Sigh. . .
The tire was changed by Angel #4, and we limped it home with Mom & Step-dad following.
I wondered what on earth I had done for the Universe to seemingly bitch slap me with such force that day. I think I figured it out. I'm lacking gratitude. Being surrounded by constant belittling and degrading, negative statements takes its toll and maybe I needed that slap to actually see that many, many people really are good. They care. There are angels out there and I just wasn't seeing them.
Other things I didn't even mention: the sun was at our back and a wonderful cross breeze blew through the car those 2+ hours we were out there in the Texas heat.
Like that old African (?) proverb says, "It is good!"