My stupid and almost paid for car

Here we go again. The transmission went out on May 9 and again on May 24. It was still acting a bit funky throughout the summer but the check engine light never came on. Until today. Driving to school. Yeah for me. I was only about 3 miles from school so kept going. When I got to a stop sign, the van started again but wouldn't leave first gear. I completed the rest of the trip in first gear. I called Dave and told him the wonderful news. He called our local garage once he got to work so we could arrange to have them come tow it. I also called Katie to warn her that she may be picking me up after school.

I went in to tell my principal what was happening. As it turns out, my assistant, Sonya, wasn't here today as she was taking her son to college (Morehouse---full academic scholarship!! Go Thaddeus!!) My special ed assistant was with me part of the morning so I filled her in. My concern was that once the tow truck guy arrived, Amanda (special ed asst) wouldn't be in my room any more. Sure enough, that's what happened.

In fact, our secretary made an all-call announcement across the school saying, "If you own a white van and have called for a tow truck, please call the front office". When this call went out, my principal heard it and passed along the info that it was mine and to please find me a sub so I could meet the tow truck dude. In the meantime, Amanda had asked another special ed TA to come help me out. So I had two people show up to watch my class. We needed the help!!!

I met him, pulled the car seats out of the car since I wasn't sure how I was getting home, and went back to class. By then, my schedule was completely messed up. My kids missed recess so I let them play for a bit in the room.

About two hours later when my kids were at lunch, I stopped by the front office to chat with my principal. I was filling her in on the day---by then I was exhausted. I jokingly said I wanted to go home. She laughed and said, nope, you've got a few more hours. Then I hear this shout from another area in the office. It's one of our front desk ladies----she yelled, "You can't go home. You don't have a car!"

Heck, I could have walked to Katie and Alex's school and gotten her car. It's not that far!

Man, what a day.

Dave ended up leaving work early to come pick us up. The little girls were very excited to have both mommy and daddy pick them up at school today. The plan for tomorrow is to have him drive us to school and either work from home or leave early again.

Oh, and the garage said some sensor in the transmission went bad. I don't remember the exact name. Anyhow, it's covered under warranty so I don't care. But they can't get the part until Monday. So we'll hopefully have it back and working again Monday night.

Four more payments and we're free and clear. I can sort of deal with issues if I'm not paying car payments too. Keep your fingers crossed that this is the end of it all---meaning that our transmission problems are solved!! Not that the car croaks permanently. Whew.