Twilight Zone

I don't know what the deal is lately but my family and I have been having a run of bad luck or misfortune, whatever you might call it. Oddly enough, it seems to mostly center around vehicles. I have mentioned in a previous post how we feel about our cars. So, this current run of bad luck is really beginning to get us down.

It all started as far back as two years ago when my boy had a white 2000 Jeep. He bought it in June and over Labor Day weekend, my beloved repainted the Jeep. My beloved is a perfectionist, so believe me when I say that this paint job was done right. Long story short, my boy wrecked his newly painted toy (his fault) and it was totaled. Good news, of course, is that no one was hurt in the accident.

With the insurance settlement, my boy bought a black 2001 Jeep. This one had quite a few miles on it, but had all the extras that the previously mentioned Jeep did not. However, it was a problem from the very beginning. A rebuilt transmission, new clutch, rebuilt transfer case (4X4) stuff, etc. (almost sounds like I know what I'm talking about, huh?) later, this piece of $%&* cost us a fortune over the almost 2 years that he owned it. And, my boy is a poor college student, so guess who paid for it all. Consequently, we have been holding our breath and waiting for the next thing to go wrong. My boy decided that enough was enough and sold it earlier this summer.

In the meantime, we bought a 2001 Mustang for my girl. In early August, a moron, who was likely texting or talking on his cell phone, plowed into my girl and her little red car. Yes, folks . . . it was totaled. Again, the most important thing is that my girl was not hurt. However, she was hurt emotionally. This was her first car and man, did she LOVE it. Love I say. L.O.V.E. It broke her heart. She had visions of driving to school on the first day of Junior year in her new car. Poof! Up in smoke. The moron's sorry insurance company ripped us off and we were back to square one. No car and less money than we had only 5 weeks before when we bought the Mustang. Again, this was not my girl's fault, yet we got the raw end of the deal.

We went about the long process of looking for and finding just the right car. It was taking so long and the first day of school was looming. Silver lining here is that we found a beautiful smoke grey metallic 2004 Mustang on the Saturday before school started and my girl couldn't be happier. She is in L.O.V.E. again.

In the meantime, again, my boy bought a white 2003 Mustang with all kinds of after market toys on it. Things that make it very LOUD and give it more horsepower. An alarm, headers, and lots of other things I'm sure I don't know about. It also has a remote start feature. This is where the latest fiasco comes in. Last night, the car started all by its self. It was in 1st gear (manual trasmission) and had the emergency brake on. It drove up over our deck, where it became stuck. To say this is bizarre, is an understatement. What in the world?

I tend to really try to see the "silver lining" at all costs. So, I am thankful that this happened at our house, at the time that it did as there was no one outside. I'm also thankful that it got hung up on the deck, because if it had actually gotten over it, the car would have ended up in some trees and our basketball goal. And who knows if it would have stopped there. Thank God it didn't happen in the school parking lot. Or in the parking lot where my boy works. I'll say it again, thank you God.

After about 45 minutes of staring in disbelief and shock and cogitating on the best way to move the car, my beloved figured it out and the car was off of the deck and back in it's parking space. Since this happened after dark last night, we aren't sure of the full extent of the damage to the car or deck, but at first glace, it looks minimal. (Hopefully!) The only known casualty is the 40 year old metal glider/porch swing that was mangled in the melee. And, possibly the barbeque pit. We'll see . . .

See, Twilight Zone . . .