So with my last blog post in mind, I set out to work a little Christmas magic of my own. A friend of mine needed a ride to the Salt Lake airport on Christmas Eve, and knowing that I'm one of the very few people left in Provo this time of year, I quickly responded with "of course!" to his plea. Thus embarked a series of events that is truly nothing short of miraculous.
About two hours before the time that we had agreed that I would pick him up, I went down to my apartment's parking garage to rid my car of the abundance of old receipts, water bottles, and very random items (such as the necklace I had been searching for everywhere during the last two weeks) that always seem to form a nice, cozy blanket over my backseat. (Side note: this is one of the ways that you know when I consider you a really close friend...when I say I will give you a ride and I don't clean out my car. I just know that my close friends accept me as what I actually am - a closet hoarder/lazy slob. Well, either we've become close friends, or you caught me by surprise with your request for a ride. :) ) While I was in the middle of the Great Backseat Garbage Takedown of 2012, I happened to glance over to my dashboard to do what all of us hate doing - check the gas meter. I don't know about you, but I happily live in denial as that little orange needle slowly creeps over to that unassuming little "E" that should be labeled "where there goes another $50." To my dismay, I realized that I most definitely did not have nearly enough gas to make the 90 mile round trip to and from SLC. So I ran back up the stairs to my apartment to bundle up, and off I went to the gas station.
I was about a mile away from home when all chaos broke loose. I started smelling burning rubber, which I was quick to blame on the ancient Datsun that had pulled up beside me at the stoplight. Once I had turned right, and the smell stuck with me, I was searching my rear-view mirror for another junker to blame, when all of a sudden I felt like I was on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, or in other words, like I could feel every pebble out on the road. And then I knew - I had a flat. I looked up to see where the best place to pull over would be, and to my relief I saw that the gas station I had been headed towards was literally 10 feet away. So I pulled into the gas station parking lot, then got out to survey the damage. And this was the sight that greeted me:
(FYI: These pictures are hazy because there was smoke billowing from the general area of this tire)
So I went to my trunk to gather the necessary implements only to discover that I didn't have a lug wrench to remove the bolts securing the tires in place. So I said a quick prayer, hopped back in my car, and called AAA. They were there within 20 minutes, slapped my temporary spare on, and sent me on my way.
There are two very important things I learned about temporary spares that day. 1.) It is called a TEMPORARY spare for a reason. It's a lot smaller than an actual tire, and isn't meant for driving long distances. 2.) It doesn't have the same traction that normal tires do...especially on snow. I had the presence of mind to read the tire before I drove on it, so I knew that I needed to get to a tire store, and soon. I knew of one that was a couple miles away from where I was, so I started my car and turned out of the parking lot. And then I just kept turning. Remember what I said about zero traction? Mustangs have problems with fishtailing on icy roads anyway, but add a tire with no traction and suddenly I was doing donuts in the middle of University Parkway - arguably the biggest and busiest street in Provo.
Here's where my second miracle came into play - as noted in my ealier post, Provo is a ghost town this time of year. So at this particular moment when I learned that I have no desire to become a stunt car driver, there was nobody else on the road. There was nobody else on the road. On Univeristy Parkway. At 12:30 in the afternoon. Had there been other cars on the road, I'm fairly certain this story would have had a different ending.
I gained control of the vehicle (Yeah, what you learned in Driver's Ed. about skidding on icy roads flies right out of your head when you need it the most. I at least had time to trial-and-error it. Turn the steering wheel in the direction that your car is going. If you try to force it to go the opposite way, you'll just start turning donuts in the opposite direction.) and made it to the tire shop with minimal fishtailing. I looked at their holiday hours as I went on in. I had pulled into the shop with only five minutes to spare (Miracle #3? I think yes).
At the tire shop, I was given some bad news. Buying only one new tire is not only bad for your car and your gas mileage, but is also really dangerous on snowy and icy roads given the varied treads (I knew this was true, having just barely experienced it myself). After having bought Christmas presents and paid some unexpected bills, my finances were looking pretty meager compared to the price of four new snow tires. And then another miracle happened. As I was sitting there, staring at my mobile bank statement, the numbers literally grew before my eyes. Turns out Santa (a.k.a. my dad) deposited a check in my name at our family's bank at home as a Christmas present...right when I needed it.
I got the tires on my car, picked up my friend, and got him to the airport with more than enough time to spare. I then went home, changed, and went to work. I normally don't receive tips at work because I only answer phone so I don't run things up to the rooms. But our runner is currently on a cruise for the next three weeks, so I'm running the show all on my own. I tell you this, because it is my next (I lost count. Fourth? Fifth?) Christmas miracle. Over the last two days, people have been remarkably generous with their tipping. I think they took pity on me having to work over the holidays. No matter what their motivations, the fact of the matter is, in the past two days I have earned more than the tires cost me - so it's not going to set me back at all.
I hope that you all were filled by the love and light of Christ over the holidays. And even though Christmas is now over, I pray that we will all be blessed in this coming new year. He truly is the reason for this season, and for the miracles in our daily lives. As per tradition in my family, I read the Christmas story in the Bible on Christmas Eve. One verse in particular stood out to me in light of the previously recounted events.
"For with God nothing shall be impossible."
- Luke 1:37
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