Friday, December 18, 2009

Black Ice

Yesterday I had to make a work call really early in the morning out in Tremonton. Wednesday had warmed up a bit melting a lot of the snow, but now, at 6:45 AM, the air was cold and the perfect temperature for black ice. I drove carefully on the small country roads. I got to my destination safely, few, and upon leaving was told to drive careful because there was a lot of ice. I drove slow; the road was slick. Just as I started my descent down a hill I could see a school bus at the bottom and a blinking stop sign on the side. Great...on a hill covered with slick black ice. I gently tapped the breaks, one, two....ohhp....my care was sliding sideways almost the second I touched the breaks and heading right for a deep ditch off the side of the road. There really wasn't time to do anything. I tried all of the ice driving techniques, but to no avail. Gravity pulled my car sideways off the road, the ditch was too steep, I was tipping over. I had that feeling of, oh what do you call it, the 'oh no' feeling. It was literally oh no, oh no, oh no... oh well I'm tipping over now. I knew it what was going to happen, I could feel it. All the energy from my car was pushing me and gravity was pulling me. Right before it happened I remembered to cross my arms over my chest and then suddenly it stopped. Just stopped. Like everything was absorbed somewhere else. Weird. I looked out my window and within seconds the driver behind me was out of his car to see if I was okay. He pulled me out with his truck, I thanked him and was on my way...or so I thought.

The second I started driving my car was in all directions. I pulled over and checked all of my wheels. Sure enough the stabilizers for the back passenger tire had totally bent meaning my tire was anything but straight. Well, I knew something was up, so I called AAA. And you know what I got?
"Well Mame I'm sorry but we can't service you unless your husband Ashton is present."
"But I am his wife and this is our car and he is in Wyoming."
"Mame, the road side assistance is under his name, but we can add you to it for $27."
"Okay...do I pay over the phone and then someone can come pick up my car?"
"Well it takes 48 hours for the transaction to go through and we would have to send some proof to the AAA station so they would know you are a member."
What? Are they serious? Yes, they are serious?
"So you are telling me that my husband and I have been paying $59 dollars a year for a service that we can't even use because only one name is missing from the card?" (PS I was sobbing by this time...yeah that's right, a real damsel in distress, lovely).
After realizing that this was going no where and expressing my deep disappointment in the AAA company I said good by and called Ashton. That is when I totally lost it. After making sure I was okay, he asked me for the number of AAA and said he would call me right back. I tried my deep breathing, but that didn't stop the stress headache from developing in my lower back neck and head. Ashton was in south Wyoming... What do I do???? He called me a minute later.
"I'm on my way there, mom is going to pick you up so you don't have to sit there and wait till I get there."
My sweet mother in law picked me up soon after and I waited for Ashton. To make a long story short. Ashton was in Brigham within two hours, gave me his car, towed my car back to his dad's and went to work. Come to find out, if the wheel hadn't bent my car would have tipped over, oh thank you bubble gum steel. At around 9:30PM Ashton was home with my car, completely fixed. Yeah, he fixed a bent wheel stabilizer and without spending a dime...that man can fix anything. It made me appreciate and realize how often he goes around mending things of mine/ours that are broken regardless of how difficult or unfixable the thing is. I have a man who is not afraid of work.

Lately my job has been pretty stressful and my house keeping has kind of been put on the back burner...but surprisingly the dishes have still been cleaned and put away, the laundry has been washed, folded and put away, and the house has been picked up. All without a word. Thanks babe for all of your silent deeds, they do not go unnoticed, and I appreciate everyone of them.
Loves

4 comments:

Robert said...

Meghan,
While I don't know you, I am slightly addicted to your blog--yeah, I gotta lotta "free time"--so I am very glad to hear you weren't hurt in this mishap.
Black Ice is yet another great reason I hate winter.
Take care.
Robert

Dani Christensen said...

Scary!! I went off the road on I-15 the other day (going 70 mph) when a darn tanker semi jack-knifed in front of me. I hate the winter, and I REALLY want a 4-wheel drive vehicle!!! haha

Forever Young said...

Dani,
Oh my gosh...I am glad you are okay. Goodness, that would officially freak me out. I am glad that you are okay.

PS A four wheel drive would be lovely.

Dani Christensen said...

Glad you're ok, too!! You had it much worse. I got myself out in like 10 minutes (although I did cry, too) haha.

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