Blowout!!

On my drive to the office this morning, my tire blew out. No warning. Not an old tire. It just blew. My husband said that it looks like I must have run over something, but who knows? I was going about 50-55 mph and it was my front driver tire. I got pulled off to the side of the road, drove a hundred feet with a flat flat and pulled into an auto salvage business. My husband thinks perhaps I hit a piece of scrap metal that fell from a truck or something? Anyway, I was lucky. First off, I didn't over compensate, which is how most people wreck via a blowout. They jerk/overcompensate and then lose control of the vehicle. Not sure why I didn't, but when it happened I kept a cool head. I was on the phone even---scared my friend badly. Second, the weather was gorgeous. If you're going to have a tire blow-out, I highly recommend a day when the sun is shining. Third, blowing a tire in front of an auto salvage business can come in handy since there's guys who know their way around vehicles. Fourth, have blow out when there is no oncoming traffic and no one behind you.

However, when I called the office to say that 1.) I was going to be late. 2.) My tire was flat. The guy who runs our lab came to my rescue. Did I mention that I also highly recommend that if you're going to blow your tire, do so less than 2 miles from where you work. Makes things much simpler that way. Anyway, a real life hero came to my rescue, changed my tire, which turned out to be quite the dirty job---Something I don't recommend: Parking over a mudpuddle. Yes, we had snow on the ground yesterday morning so there was standing water today. By the time he and I got back to the office, he had mud on him and black on his hands and face. Moi? Oh yeah. Despite the fact that I did very little, I had black on my hands and face too. I decided that I was going for the hardworking look--you know like the rice crispie treat commercial where the lady throws flour on her face? Yeah, that's me, the hardworking mechanic fearlessly changing a flat and getting black smudge on my face.

The funny thing is, my dad made me learn to change a tire before he'd let me drive alone. Which I always thought was a brilliant thing to do and that I'll make all my kids learn as well. I know how to change a tire by myself---so why did I have to have a man come to my rescue? Well, beyond the obvious. ;) Let's just say that mechanices stick those lugnuts on with air guns and I couldn't get the suckers off if I'd had to. Oh, and did I mention that I couldn't even find the spare until I pulled the owners manual out? Seems that with every new vehicle you should practice such things.

Anyway, I know that I had an angel watching out for me today. Had to have for something that could have been so bad to have turned out without any permanent damage--except to the tire. So tonight I'm sending out a special thank you to that angel and to my fabo co-worker who is a true gentlemen and a real life hero. THANK YOU.

The Law of Jude shall continue until I finish this book.