How Lucky Can You Get?
Judy Conlin
I am blessed beyond measure. It seems that Gad takes pity on us who are sometimes so dumb we don’t know enough sense to get out of our own way. I am one of those older but supposedly wiser individuals. I still have some wits about me, but there are some things I’ve never been good at and with the advent of old age, these minor problems become much larger.
One thing I have never learned how to do is put air in my tires. The whole process terrifies me. I lose all my money in the machine and my tires remain as flat as ever. I’ve been shown repeatedly how easy it is, but it still terrifies me. I think I am going to blow up the whole automobile. In my younger days this wasn’t much of a problem. There was always a boyfriend, a spouse or someone to step in and help. Now I live in the backwoods, and when that low pressure light goes on, I panic. I get out all the self-help items I carry with me just for such an emergency, but I have never been able to make it work. Fear motivates me to try and get to a gas station and try the automated machine.
This is probably not a good idea. The whole way there I am afraid I am ruining the tire, that I will be stranded somewhere along a roadway. If that happens one can always call AAA, but that involves using your cell phone-another piece of equipment that I have not really mastered yet.
The last time this happened to me, I went through the usual routines, and even though frightened, continued to the gas station. I pulled up to the hated air machine and fished around until I found enough quarters to fill its hungry mouth. By the time I got the tire ready for inflation, I’d lost the cap and was squirting the air into the air until the meter ran out. I marched into the station to get more quarters. By now, I knew I was not up to the task, so I looked around for a strong young man to help. Luckily the first one I approached took pity on me. He looked at my tire and said it was punctured. That’s why it needed air. Oh no, now what was I to do?
The poor guy tried to calm me down. “I will fill the tire and then you can drive to a repair shop to get it fixed.” He told me in a soothing voice.
Just then my local mail carrier came running across the parking lot. “Are you okay, Miss Judy?” she called out. ‘”Can I help you?”
I was so shaken I had no words. The young man explained the situation to her and she thanked them and left. With the tire now full of air, the young man explained where I was to go.
Again, I panicked. I had been there before, and they had closed down during covid.. “That was a long time ago,” he said. “They have reopened.”
“What if the tire goes flat before I get there?” I worried.
“It won’t,” he said. “You have plenty of air to get there. It is a slow leak so just drive carefully.”
I took him at his word, and with my hands clenched tightly on the wheel I proceeded to go 15 miles per hour to the air place about 4 miles ahead. I soon had a parade of cars behind me-some of them beeping their horns impatiently. They just didn’t understand the critical situation I was in.
A guy in a truck pulled up next to me. “Are you having trouble ,Miss? ” he asked.
I explained the situation to him, adding that I was afraid the tire would go flat, and I’d be stranded along the roadside. By now I was practically in tears. “Don’t you worry,” he said, waving the parade behind me on ahead. “I’ll ride right behind you until we get there and if your tire goes flat before that, I will take the tire and get it repaired and bring it back and put it on for you.”
Well, we made it in time. My tire was repaired. He went on his way as did I. I couldn’t help but reflect upon the type of day I had had. How lucky can one old lady get? 3 guardian angels in one day in a tiny town in Florida.
More later,Grateful Judy
www.nurseudyinfo.com
