Cartastrophie

So I have yet another "cartastrophie" to add to my already long list of cartastrophies. I'm not sure why I have such bad luck with motor vehicles. Maybe I just have bad car-ma.

Here is a brief and shortened version of my motor vehicle mishaps so far...

Missouri: I had just moved down there and managed to blow up the clutch of the loving boyfriend's (now husband) truck as I was job hunting 30+ miles from home. I had to ride back in a smelly tow truck with a greasy driver and his half-eaten lunch.

Michigan: First time was the flat tire I got on the way to pick the loving fiance up from his new job. I had to catch a ride with a very nice trucker to the salt plant he worked at so we could go back and change it. The second time was when the loving husband was out of town and took the "good" car. The one I was driving decided that it needed a new alternator and stopped on the side of the road as I was on my way home from work. I got a ride home from a good Samaritan and called a co-worker of the husband to tow my car. Unfortunately, the county decided it was a road hazard and towed it for me--without bothering to inform me--and I had to pay $200 in towing, impound, and car rental fees.

South Dakota: This happened when we went back to visit family while we were living in Michigan. I was driving to Rapid City from Yankton when the transmission went out. I got to spend a lovely few hours at Do Wah Ditty's Restaurant in Kimball, SD while waiting for my parents to drive out and pick me up. The husband ended up buying a car in Yankton and driving out to Rapid City to get me and we managed to get the other car back to his parents farm where we left it.

So as you can see, the list is impressive and does not include the minor stuff like speeding tickets, crashing into a traffic light signal box due to icy conditions, backing into things or misjudging the space between the van and garage door. Yes, I am a car klutz.

The latest "incident" was pretty innocent really. Last Friday night we decided to go to Jazzfest. Jazzfest is a 3 day concert event featuring some really great Jazz and Blues artists. The loving husband had to go to Brookings for Hapkido class so we decided to just meet down there. We parked in a nearby parking lot and walked over to the festival 3 kids in tow. It was a really hot muggy night so we opted to go to the later concerts. I had my big bag of everything with me and my van keys safely tucked inside. At some point when we got to the concert area, Carolyn wanted to sit down but we didn't bring the blanket with so I put my bag down and told her to just sit on that. Note to self...make sure big bag of everything is zipped before laying it down on the ground.

A little later we decided to head back home and trekked back to the vehicles. It was there when I noticed my van keys were not where they were supposed to be. I dumped my bag out on the ground and everything-except keys- fell out. It was now 11 in the evening, we were hot, the kids were tired, and it was dark out. It was a very quiet car ride back to Brandon.

We got home, put the kids to bed and turned the house upside down looking for the spare set of keys. No luck. The next morning I called the car dealership to ask about getting a spare key. I was told that to do that they would have to tow my car there to make a new key--OUCH. I then decided to go back to the scene of the crime and look for the keys myself.

I had posted a status update on my Facebook page about my lost keys and my dear wonderful friend Tobi called to let me know she had metal detectors. I met her at the park and we spent about an hour looking for them. As I was sweating like crazy in the hot sun I promised God that if I found/got my keys back I'd get up and go to 8 am Mass the next morning. No luck. The lost and found was not open so I had to go back home.

Thankfully this story does have a happy ending. I went back a few hours later and indeed someone had found them and turned them in. My van was still where I parked it and I got up bright and early the next morning and headed over to Church where I celebrated a Mass of thank you thank you thank you God.