Imagine your favorite comedy movie. You know, the Griswald-esque movie, where everything seems to go comically wrong on the way to Wally-World? That kind of stuff is just too bizarre to happen in real life. There is NO WAY someone could experience a day that Murphy's Law touches to that extreme. Well, to the extreme that we see in these comedy movies might actually get us killed, but sometimes life likes to get pretty darn close to a "National Lampoon" movie.
The day started with a morning of running to doctor's appointments. I came home for the day to have something looked at and to potentially have it fixed. After five hours between two doctor's appointments for my mom and I, we are ready to head home to relax for a little bit before heading back to campus.
I invited my best friend, Sarah, to come with my mom and I back to Salem, since she had never seen the area and wants to since she has heard me talk about it nonstop for almost two years! She comes over, and we hang out for a little bit, since mom and I are still a little worn down from our morning of running. We finally leave, run to the store to pick up a couple of things, and then stop to get some gas before leaving town. I go in to get the gas, and when I go back to the pump, I find that mom pulled up on the wrong side of the car. I ask her to turn the car around, and the most peculiar thing happened.
The car would not move.
Everything is working in the car, except for one little thing...the gear shift. Although it is moving, the car will not actually shift out of park. We call my dad to let him know what was going on and where we were. We called AAA, since the car was obviously not going to be going anywhere without a tow. I go back into the gas station to get the money back for the fuel we could not get. While waiting on the tow, I know we had to be a sight for sore eyes.
We survived an almost road trip!
My dad was trying to get the jack that came with our car to work, which it didn't--we have had that vehicle for around thirteen or fourteen years and got it new, and never needed the jack until that day. The one day we need it and it doesn't work because a part in it dried up--at least that's what my dad said. While we were waiting for AAA to show up, we took turns "babysitting" the car. My parents went first, insisting that Sarah and I stay out of the 90-something degree heat of the afternoon. Then we would switch out. In the end, Sarah and I ended up having a conversation about how we were just bad luck for cars in the trunk of the Envoy.
AAA finally showed up after what felt like hours, but was actually an hour at most, and started to fill out the paperwork that was needed to even put the vehicle onto the tow truck. We all finally start to grab our belongings from the car and get into dad's pickup when mom's phone starts to ring.
My Nana is calling, from the Wendy's that is almost across the street from where we are, asking for help. She locked her keys in her car and needed help getting in touch with AAA. Dad drops us of at Wendy's to stay with Nana and then goes with the tow truck to the autoshop. We are hanging out with Nana for a while when Dad swings back by, and asks if Sarah and I would like to head back to the house. We go back home, hang out for a little bit longer. Mom stayed behind to wait for AAA with Nana, who ended up being the same person who towed our car!
Nana, I don't think we have room for you in the car. Are you ok with being on the roof?
I thought I would end up having to spend an extra night at home, but that wasn't the case. Around 9:45, my sister called me and told me to have my bag ready, that she and dad would pick me up as soon as they got back to the house. They come back a short while later, and we are finally on our way...SEVEN hours after I started this trek.
Instead of freaking out about how everything literally went wrong, we spent the time that we were broken down laughing and joking around, sharing stories of road trips past and just having a good time. As a first year college student, I am constantly caught up in the hustle and bustle of campus life and am constantly on the run. This was a good chance to actually change what was supposed to be a whirlwind trip home into a bonding experience. I hadn't seen my best friend since before I left for school, and I got to spend the whole afternoon with her and have fun. It was slightly upsetting that she didn't make it up to campus this time, but I will drag Sarah up here sometime---I have been chewing her ear off about Salem for a couple of years now, she has to see it!
Even though the day didn't go according to plan, it ended up being a good day full of great memories. And who knows, there might be a "National Lampoon" Goes to College movie with inspired by real life events in small text under the title!
