Deborah Woehr

Monday started off just like any other, but with one thought on my mind: Please let my car get through the next nine days without any major mishaps.

Well . . .

I was driving along, thinking about the things I needed to do that night, when I felt the car jerk. My first thought was a flat tire. California’s freeways are atrocious, to say the least. But then my car started losing power. Fortunately, I didn’t have to fight traffic to move over.

Sitting on the side of the highway, with semis hurtling inches away is not fun. The first thing I did was call my husband to go pick up the kids. Then I got out and walked to the nearest exit, where there was supposed to be a gas station. But of course the gas station was boarded up.

To cut this scene short, I had the car towed to a friend’s garage. My original thought was that my transmission broke. I was able to turn the car on, but it wouldn’t move. When I arrived at his garage and he tried to start the car, it wouldn’t. He’s 99% sure that my fuel pump gave out. That’s a helluva lot cheaper than a new transmission.

The final cap of this glorious day was an abcessed tooth that decided to come alive. This sent me to the dentist on Tuesday. Basically, I have to have a specialist yank out both of my bottom 13-year molars. Not fun and very expensive.

The good news is that my husband just walked in the door and told me that my car is fixed. I’m blessed to have mechanics in my life. Here’s more good news . . . I won’t have to see my boss for the rest of my time at that company.

I apologized to the new secretary for having to endure this woman’s tirade. Apparently, my boss was going off about everybody, including the secretary’s innocent mistake of mailing something instead of sending it via Fed Ex. The good news is that my boss hasn’t chased the new girl off, which was exactly what I was afraid she would do.