Rolling with the punches

Some days you just have to roll with the punches that life deals to you. Have you ever had the type of day where you felt you were the captain of a ship that was out on the high seas and the waves were crashing all around you and even though you are at the wheel you are really not making much headway? That has been how my week has gone so far. I figured this week would go ok since I had four days off last week. I was off due to illness but I was not as sick as I possibly could have been so the time off was much needed, appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed.

Tuesday evening as I got off the bus I walked toward my car in the gentle mist that was falling here in Charleston. As I drew near to my SUV I noticed that it was listing to one side more than normal. As I drew closer my worst fears were imagined. I had a flat tire to change in the rain. The alpha male in me immediately drew up a contingency plan, made a mental check list of what I would have to do and endure and then engaged in the task at hand. I thought to myself, HA, I can do this, easy as falling off a truck.

The first thing I had to do was find all the tools necessary to do the job. I searched for the jack for about five minutes and after not finding it I called the dealership and one of the service advisors told me where to find it. They hid the thing under the second row seating on the passenger side. The scissor jack was not big enough to jack up the back end of a sea turtle much less an SUV that I am driving. I thought about that as I attempted to turn the tiny wing nut that secured this device to the floor board of my SUV. I attempted to turn this wing nut however it resisted to the point that I just gave up. I figured I would tackle the easier tasks first and headed over to the spare tire which is underneath the vehicle. I crawled under the back of the truck to remove the spare tire. As I looked up I noticed a metal flange extending past both ends of the middle of the tire onto the rim holding the tire securely in place. I thought I needed to turn this flange and it would just rotate off of the middle bolt holding it on. As I tried this feat I once again was defeated. I crawled back out from under the truck and as I was standing there feeling useless another bus rolls up and everyone onboard scatters through the parking lot. As I was standing there observing this activity and hoping that someone would be able to help a young lady named Tamara stopped and asked if I needed help. I must have looked like a mess with my dress shirt off and my hands dirty with a look of frustration on my face. I just looked at the ground and then back at her and said yeah apparently I can't change a flat tire anymore.

Luckily for me Tamara had a father who taught his daughter how to work on vehicles right along with her brothers. Tamara was all about trying to help me change this flat tire and I was glad for the enthusiasm and extra help at this point. The first thing my young female friend did was to guide me to the owners manual so we could figure out how to get the spare tire out. Tamara told me that the tire was held in place by a cable and that somehow we had to find the hidden crank mechanism and release the cable low enough for the tire to come off. Sure enough it was just as she said and the spare tire was in our hands. Tamara tried to grab the tire and move it to the front of the truck but my male ego kicked in and did not allow that to happen as I told my guardian angel that I could handle that task just fine.

I had already loosened the lug nuts on the flat tire so as to loosen the lug nuts and to give my bruised ego a tiny lift knowing that I could accomplish something even if it was not much. The next thing that we needed to focus on was the scissor jack. We finally managed to yank the toy jack out of the truck and get it onto the ground. What we did not realize is that the jack would not expand. After what seemed to be about ten minutes of doing this and that we finally gave up on the jack. I whipped out the cell phone and called my wife Katy because I knew she had a floor jack in the back of her station wagon and was only about 7 minutes away from us. Katy arrived, I grabbed the jack and thought. We will get this flat tire off of here in a jiffy now that I have a real jack. As my luck went from bad to worse the floor jack would only go up so high and then it would stop. It did not matter what we did or how we did it the darn thing would not work either. We even tried the scissor jack that was in Katy's Ford Escort Station wagon but it would not raise up high enough to even reach the frame of the truck.

At this point I just gave up and rummaged through my wallet to see if I had some sort of road side assistance through my dealership and I found just the thing I needed. I called the number verified my contract number on the card and within 40 minutes a panel truck showed up with all of the right tools and my tire was changed and the flat put in the back of my vehicle within about 10 minutes.

The first thing I learned is that no matter how new your vehicle is you can still get a flat tire. I have not had this vehicle for very long and because it is new I have never had a problem with it. Imagine my surprise at finding a flat tire when I never would have expected that to happen.

The second thing I learned was that it is very important to be prepared for emergencies. I was no more prepared to change this flat tire than I was to perform brain surgery. You not only need to know what tools you need but you must be able to put your hands on them and then use them to perform the task at hand.

The third thing that I was reminded of is that I am not as young and invincible as I used to be. It is much harder to get on the ground, roll around and then bounce back up off the ground. My angel Tamara demonstrated this for me and my wife as we watched her gracefully moving about on the ground and hopping back up as if this were normal.

The last thing that I was reminded of is that there are good people still living on planet earth and the old adage that says what goes around comes around. I cannot tell you how many people that I have stopped to help over the years. I do not say that to give myself a pat on the back but I say it because I feel that we owe it to one another to stop and help someone in distress. We should use common sense and keep our personal safety in mind but there are always opportunities available to help others. Our guardian angel Tamara stayed with us through most of the event until I finally convinced her that help was on the way and thanked her for her assistance. Tamara was ready to go to her Aunt's house around the corner to get a better floor jack.

My heartfelt thanks goes out to our good Samaritan friend who is a nurse at Roper Hospital. Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to help a stranger with a flat tire. I also appreciate my wife coming to my rescue and bringing me the floor jack even if it does not work.