Car Ordeals

One more week until the glorious homecoming! Plans are underway for Dates with Dad. The list of good places to eat and fun places to play and discover has grown. Also planned, of course, is lots of quality time at home, including multiple evenings on the lanai with summer beverages.

Unfortunately, in the midst of our pre-homecoming preparations, we had not one but two car malfunctions last week. This should not be surprising given the age and mileage (17 years and over 300,000 miles combined) of these vehicles.  With only one driver in the house, getting the cars fixed required a bit of forethought and finagling. To be honest, only one of them has been fixed so far. Figuring out what to do with the GMC – the entire molding is falling off the passenger door –  has been postponed by liberal use of Gorilla tape until I can get it to the body shop, or let Dad take a look at it during one of his days of liberty.


The problem with the Volvo was a little stickier. The window wouldn’t roll up. With rain in the forecast, I couldn’t ignore it any longer, so I took the car over to the import place in the next town and made arrangements for a friend to pick me up. The station manager quickly diagnosed the problem and replaced the switch for a relatively inexpensive price before my friend arrived. A relief.

The deal was sweetened even more because in the waiting room magazine rack, not only did I find back issues of The Oxford American, but also a photocopied essay about Julian of Norwich. The best car repair shop reading I have ever come across.