Tuesday, July 15, 2008

When It Rains It Pours...

So...Saturday night when we went to see our friends in Gardner, KS, our car kind of broke down. The shop that we took it to called me on Monday and told me that we would have to have a new radiator put in. That repair was quite a few big bucks. We drove back to Gardner yesterday to pick our car up. We came back to Lawrence and everything seemed to be just find. I woke up this morning, went to work, came home, things were great. Tom and I decided to go for a bite to eat downtown. We are driving on the main street "Massachusetts, aka Mass" the car starts to run funny. We have an automatic and the gears aren't shifting. Tom and I look at each other and just kind of shake our heads. We get to nearby where we are going. I go to step on the gas and the car doesn't move. I put the car into neutral and kind of coast into a parking spot. I put the car in park, then put it into reverse...nothing. The car stays still. I put the car into drive...nothing. The car stays still. We were both so annoyed we didn't really want to eat anymore. The car was too hot at this point to open the hood right away, so we decided to go in and eat anyway. When we came out we opened the hood and there was fluid that seemed to have exploded under the hood. There was quite a bit of fluid underneath our car as well. RIDICULOUS. We were so mad.
We called the place that had fixed our car and asked if they had touched our transmission when they replaced the radiator. Sure enough they had. We called the same repair shop here in Lawrence and talked to the owner. They sent out a tow truck. We arrived at the shop with our car and the owner said it would be a couple of hours for the repair to be done and he personally drove myself and Tom home. He called us later this afternoon and told us that the car was done and that he would be bringing it to our house. Basically what happened is that the hose that connects between the transmission and the radiator was old. When they undid the hoses while replacing the radiator, the hose cracked. So this place replaced the hose. We were charged for nothing. It surely was a blessing in disguise.
They say that bad things happen in three's. We have either beaten that and set a new record with five, OR we have another bad thing coming. We prefer that we have set a new record.
1)Tom's hand, no insurance.
2)Air conditioner in tenants side of the duplex quit working on a very hot day.
3)Our car broke down in Gardner, KS - Expensive Repair
4)A check that was written TO US bounced
5)Transmission Issue - A wrong made right.
We really hope that we can go on vacation and return relaxed without having to overcome any more big obstacles.
I guess it is all part of life.

4 comments:

Me said...

Erin,

Hate to say this, but in my family things never happened in threes. They usually happened in twenties to thirties (i.e. mom breaks knee, week later I'm in a car accident that totals her car 2 weeks after leaving a summer job and starting a new one, then have to be taken to the hospital with whiplash, while dad is going through major work stress, while....My favorite was my grandfathers dying 4 weeks a part, I was going through a year at work from you know where, took the GRE the week in between the funerals, my grandmother was showing major signs of alzhiemers, while....) ya...anyway, hate to tell you that. I'm to the point now sometimes where I say "You know that line some people got in heaven where a hang nail is the biggest trial they seem to have to deal with? Yea, I think we should have gotten in that line, rather than the "AP trial" line :) (not that my trials or my family's are the worst or anything, it's just like you said, how so many come on at one time...)

Me said...

P.S. disillusioned is Mary P.

April said...

Erin! So sorry to hear about your car. What a bummer, but you can't go anywhere but up now right? We need to see you guys!!!!

Jen said...

It's been over a month now...updates. We miss you guys :(