for me...things happen in fours

a year ago November, M made the switch from his jeep to a work truck and I was so happy to call the jeep my own. I had been, after all, taking the transit for more than 10 years and it was nice to have a vehicle that shaved hours off my commuting time (I now work at home so commuting isn't really relevant any longer...but anyway...)

although I am very happy to have my little jeep, i haven't had the best of luck with her over the past year a a bit. They say things work in threes but I've just had my fourth so not sure what to think:

#1. a month after getting the jeep, I was at home for Christmas and my tire blew on the highway. I calmly led the car to the shoulder and quickly got the jack kit to change the tires. I couldn't budge the darn bolts but up came an old high school mate and he and his cousin managed to help us out.

#2. about three months ago I was on my way to yoga and ended up hitting a car who hit another car who was turning left. I'm still waiting the outcome of the charge but that was a nice $4700 damage to the jeep - thankfully insurance paid for it but not without a few headaches of course.

#3. I was on my way to soccer one night and as I was pulling the car out of my spot and veering towards the stop sign I noticed my breaks weren't working. I panicked slightly and then I heard a huge kerplunk and then everything was fine. i went around the block and proceeded to my game. half way there the car stopped working and the engine light came on. I started it back up again and it came on again. so I called M who looked at it and then followed me to my game -- it was fine but the light was still on. I had to take it in for anyway so they checked it out and just turned the engine light off and it was back to normal.

NOW -- usually that would be it -- it would stop at 3 right?

#4 my family was throwing me a wedding shower this weekend and we hemmed and hawed to see if we should come down because we were expecting a million cms of snow. we decided to risk it. All was fine but half way there the snow started to get really bad and I started to get nervous. I was with my sister in the car and we were trying to figure out what to do. we decided to keep going but the stress and white-knuckle driving was taking its toll on my body -- I wasn't sure how much more I could take. so just as I decided that we would find a place to stay the night, we did a nice 180 on the road. I quickly straighted out and kept moving, taking the first exit I saw with a picture of a little man with a roof over his head. K and I got up early this morning to set off again -- it was a clear day so we didn't think we'd have any problems. Along the way we saw the odd car and tractor trailer in the ditch likely leftover from the conditions from the night before.

Then about an hour or two later (I should just say that the whole trip should only have taken 3.5 hrs total -- it was now hour 5.5 or thus far) it started to snow pretty bad again and visibility wasn't that great. Up ahead we saw another trailer in the ditch to our left and to the right of us was a truck stopping to help. I quickly noticed that a man with an orange coat was at the lip of the highway trying to cross. Well just as I thought he was going to wait for me to pass, he started crossing (we were about 20 ft away). I tapped my breaks because I was sure I would have hit him and lo and behold we started fish tailing out of control. we swerved and slid right into the ditch beside the trailer landing on the side of the jeep -- we thought for sure we would hit it, we were that close.

So there we were: K was dripping wet from the tea & coffee we just bought while I was hanging over top of her, held tight from the seat belt. The worst part of the whole thing is that we could see the cars on the highway zipping passed us and we both could just picture one following our tracks and smacking into us. But it didn't happen and minutes later a few cars stopped to help (the orange coat must not have seen us because he took off!) -- one car had a volunteer fire fighter, and the other had a woman from the army. the fire fighter helped us through the sun roof and led us to safety in the warmth of the army chick's car. I had to leave my little jeep in the ditch but I think she'll be ok - she's at the tow truck place waiting to be taken to the shop for some work.

K and I are at my mom's now safe and sound -- I feel a bit of soreness now but hanging from a seat belt will do that to you. I certainly don't know how I've managed to get out of these incidents unharmed. I'm not a religious person, but I do feel that someone is watching over me somewhere. Let's hope she sticks around for a little while longer.