Car Troubles

This past week, Elsie had been steadily building up to it--sleeping through the night. We were going 5-6 hours at a stretch. Last night, she slept for 8 hours. Yes, eight. I, however, did not get that much sleep. :(

Yesterday, Eli went to Mobile to hang out with his BFF and go watch some USA football (that's the University of South Alabama, not the United States of America). He told me he would leave after the game and drive back to Auburn since we had to work the nursery this morning.

While he was away, Elsie and I hung out with some friends from church, and we stayed out until around 9. I didn't check my phone until I got in the car to come home and I had a text message from Eli that he was leaving Mobile--time stamped around 7 p.m. I did the mental math and thought, he'll be home around 10:30. So, I put Elsie to bed and was determined to wait up for him.

Small problem. My phone was dying, and I can't find my charger. I knew that I had one at school, but didn't want to get Elsie out of bed to go retrieve it. I tried to send Eli a text message to tell him this, but with the Auburn University football game going on, I couldn't get through on the network or send a text message. So, I turned my phone off to preserve what little juice I had left. At 11 p.m., when Eli wasn't home yet, I turned the phone on to check messages and/or send a text, but it immediately died. I wasn't too worried, though. He may have stopped to rest.

At midnight, Eli came in, and in the back of my mind I knew that I hadn't heard the Subaru pull up. Well, turns out that around 10, Eli stopped in Tuskegee (only 30 minutes from home) to stretch and regroup since he was getting tired and when he got back in the car, it wouldn't start. At all. So he tried to call me but it went immediately to voice mail. And then he started calling people who he thought might be either at the Auburn game or watching it. He found a friend from church who was willing to come rescue him at 11:00 at night. He came home and had two words for me:

LAND LINE

After church today we went to O'Reilly Auto Parts and bought a new battery (replacing the one that originally came with the car FIVE YEARS AGO), hoping that's the problem. We drove out to Tuskegee, replaced the battery and it worked. We came home and napped.

Tomorrow, however, we're taking the Saturn back to the repair place to have the brakes checked. They've been squealing, even when they are not actively being pressed. It's a safety issue. Then, when that's fixed, we have to have the Subaru taken in for a possible electrical issue since the A/C went out, and then the battery.

When it rains, it pours. Murphy's law and all that. We are just so blessed to have people around in our community (church and otherwise) who are willing to help us out.

Here's to a good week, regardless.

Cheers.